News
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More than 60 vehicles joined a car convoy on April 9 to demand the federal government give all workers a living wage as part of its COVID-19 stimulus package, report Rachel Evans and Jim McIlroy.
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With protesting suspended, the refugee movement is exploring new ways to express solidarity with those left in precarious situations in their continuing detention hell, writes Zebedee Parkes.
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Maritime Union of Australia officials are angry that some container corporations are operating as if they were not part of the global pandemic and putting the lives of workers at risk, reports Jim McIlroy.
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Workers at the Powerhouse Museum and the Sydney Observatory have been told to accept redeployments to other areas or lose special COVID-19 leave, writes Georgie Dixon.
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A large section of the population — renters — has been left to fend for themselves in the coronavirus crisis, writes Pip Hinman.
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Road building, ahead of logging, has begun in the unburnt southern section of Nambucca State Forest in New South Wales, writes Kerry Smith.
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The mining industry is focused on continuing production through the COVID-19 pandemic, writes Margaret Gleeson, despite workers' and local communities' concerns.
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The NSW government has quietly approved longwall mining under the Sydney water catchment, reports Rachel Evans.
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Being Indigenous in one of the richest countries in the world is a risk factor for COVID-19, quite apart from the other factors dispossessed people struggle with, such as high rates of incarceration, unemployment and suicide, writes Emma Murphy.
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The Refugee Action Collective in Victoria has vowed to hold a car cavalcade in defiance of a police ban, to demand freedom for detained refugees, reports Chris Slee.
Analysis
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While the JobKeeker allowance is significant, the package has a number of major weaknesses, writes Lisbeth Latham.
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The federal government’s JobKeeper package will be a relief for about 6 million workers, but more than a million workers will be left to fend for themselves, writes Jim McIlroy.
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Michael Bull reveals JobKeeper as a thinly disguised handout to businesses, and argues we need an assistance package that directly supports workers.
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John Passant passed away peacefully on April 5. Paul Oboohov recounts the life and achievements of this socialist activist, poet, lawyer, academic and tax expert.
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Whatever the early delays and bungling in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we can be relieved Australia did not follow in lock-step with Britain and the United States. However, governments here are not pulling out all stops to save lives, writes Sam Wainwright.
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The federal government plans to spend $130 billion for a wage subsidy, but Peter Boyle argues it is more a corporate survival subsidy.
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The Socialist Alliance has released the following plan to combat COVID-19.
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Abigail Boyd had a front-row seat to watch the wealthy be bailed out after the Global Financial Crisis in 2008. She warns the same is already happening with the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Socialist councillor Sue Bolton writes that years of cut-backs and privatisations have made it hard for councils to rapidly put in place a COVID-19 public health response.
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Other than those held in detention, refugees and asylum seekers living in communities across Australia are probably the most vulnerable to COVID-19, writes Jonathan Strauss.
World
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The US military’s decision to move thousands of sailors from the stricken USS Theodore Roosevelt onto Guam has angered indigenous Chamoru people, reports Nic Maclellan.
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Key to Venezuela's success to date in quashing the coronavirus have been the existing community organisations that permeate Venezuelan society. To get a sense of how the local communities are coping with the pandemic, Green Left’s Federico Fuentes spoke to Altos de Lidice Commune spokesperson Gsus Garcia.
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World-renowned journalist and filmmaker John Pilger speaks to author TJ Coles about the coronavirus crisis in the context of propaganda, imperialism, and human rights.
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War-torn Syria faces the danger of a potentially very severe COVID-19 crisis. But in the north and east of the country, the Autonomous Administration is working hard to stop the spread of the virus and save lives, writes Chris Slee.
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Barry Sheppard writes that, in another indication of the abject failure of the Donald Trump administration, there is no national plan to confront the pandemic, or even to collect true information.
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A reporter recently told US President Donald Trump he had a moral responsibility to help Iran as it is hit by the new coronavirus. No mention was made about Venezuela. Why Iran and not Venezuela? Steve Ellner explains why.
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Malaysia is being battered by a serious three-faceted crisis, argues Jeyakumar Devaraj.
Culture
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Phil Shannon reviews Oxford University historian Marc Mulholland's book about the 19th century French Republican and communist revolutionary Emmanuel Barthélemy.
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It is one more mind-boggling tragedy, in a world full of them, that COVID-19 can claim John Prine and yet Donald Trump is still alive, writes Carlo Sands.