THE PRELIMINARY ESTIMATE of net migration in calendar 2022 hit a new record of 386,970. In the 12 months to March 2023, another new record was set at 454,400. Media commentary criticising the Albanese Government for allowing this level of net migration is currently focused on the impact on the housing crisis and on a per capita recession.
Another STROLLOUT by Morrison whos still behind doors Planning
Australia’s peak doctors’ body has revealed that it had warned governments to secure rapid antigen tests when they began planning to open up the country, after Scott Morrison described the scarce screening tool as a “precious commodity”. With fresh claims that the long-standing PCR testing system was “crumbling” as the country recorded more than 18,000 daily Covid cases for the first time, Australians were lining up at pharmacies to try to buy rapid antigen tests (RATs). Some state governments on Wednesday accused the federal government of not “stepping up” to “fill the gap” by failing to procure more supplies of the vital screening tool, while Morrison called a snap national cabinet meeting for Thursday to discuss the sharp rise in cases fuelled by the Omicron variant.
A new report by the University of NSW, commissioned by the CFMMEU, sketches two futures for the 8000 direct employees in Australia’s 23 coal-fired power stations: one is a just transition into new jobs with no forced redundancies, emulating Germany’s Ruhr district; the other is the entrenched poverty left by market disruption in coal districts like Appalachia in the US, where pointless ideological warfare takes the place of proper planning. Given that 10 coal-fired power stations have shut down in Australia without a transition plan since 2012, and the Coalition’s science-deniers are in charge of energy policy, still trying to stave off the inevitable decarbonisation, this country is on course for the latter.
Hazelwood was the prime example of what not do: the Greens argued for years for a just transition, but the major parties at state and federal level were in denial. Suddenly, when the time came, workers got short notice and power prices spiked across the National Energy Market, even though the closure was completely predictable. Now, says Sheldon, when AGL does the right thing and flags that it will close Liddell in 2022, “it gets canned for it”.
olddogthoughts 
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