The Policy Post

  How civilised? A scorecard of the 20 richest nations.   The wealthiest countries have no excuse for neglecting their own people. Here’s an assessment of the good – and the not-so-good.

  Does gun control work? Australia’s much-praised gun laws have almost eliminated mass shootings. But they’ve done little about the homicide rate, and nothing at all about suicide.

  Inequality and the neoliberal legacy. Half a century of trickle-up economics has decreased prosperity,  overburdened the health system – and caused a vast number of premature deaths. In Australia, the Howard government did most of the damage.

  The pandemic has caused hospital chaos. It didn’t have to be this way. Health systems should be built to withstand shocks like this. Ours wasn’t.

  So there’s a crisis in global democracy? Actually, no. It’s the autocrats, not the democrats, who are in trouble.

  Need health care in Australia? Just try not to be young. When there’s not enough health care for everyone, who misses out?

  How the Tasmanian government screws its workers. Most state governments have tried to suppress the wages of their employees. Nowhere have the effects been as savage as in Tasmania.

Labor on refugees: just as nasty and even more secretive. Refugees in Australia’s detention camps learnt long ago that hope was an illusion. The new Labor government, endorsing the Coalition’s cruelty, has again shown them the bleak wisdom of hopelessness.

Do our climate targets mean anything at all? Reaching net-zero in 27 years looks near-impossible. It's going to take a hell of a lot more than getting rid of coal-fired power stations.

You’re better off than you think. (Who knew?) All the news is bad. Power prices up, wages down, interest rates up. Poverty and doom await. Or do they?