ACOSS and UNSW Sydney survey shows popular support for the Federal Government to intervene to directly tackle poverty and the wealth gap that is threatening Australia’s social and economic fabric

 

This snapshot makes an interesting read. However, participants' responses to questions asked may have elicited attitudes that do not extend beyond the period in which the actual survey was conducted.

"2,000 people from around Australia aged 18 years and above completed the 2023 survey.....

Participants were recruited via a market research panel coordinated by Qualtrics which operates a panel of potential participants who have signed up to be contacted for research participation opportunities."

[Australian Council of Social Service and UNSW Sydney (2023), Treloar C. et al, Community attitudes towards poverty and inequality, 2023: Snapshot report, p.12]

Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS), media release,13 December 2023:

Most people support lifting incomes for those with the least

Three-quarters of people in Australia support an income boost for people with the least while less than a quarter think it’s possible to live on the current JobSeeker rate, new research by ACOSS and UNSW Sydney shows.

The latest report from the Poverty and Inequality partnership, Community attitudes towards poverty and inequality 2023: Snapshot report, also shows 74% think the gap between wealthy people and those living in poverty is too large and should be reduced.

The survey of 2,000 adults in Australia shows most people (62%) think government policies have contributed to poverty, while 75% think it can be solved with the right systems and policies.

• More than two-thirds (69%) think poverty is a big problem in Australia

• Just 23% agreed they could live on the current JobSeeker rate

• Another 58% said they would not be able to live on that amount, while 19% were unsure

• Three-quarters (76%) agree the incomes of people earning the least are too low and should be increased

• Most people think no one deserves to live in poverty, and that unemployment payments should be enough so people do not have to skip meals (86%) and can afford to see a doctor (84%)

ACOSS Acting CEO Edwina MacDonald said: “This survey shows popular support for the Federal Government to intervene to directly tackle poverty and the wealth gap that is threatening Australia’s social and economic fabric.

“Most people know it is simply not possible to live on the punishingly low rate of JobSeeker that traps people further in poverty. Instead, the majority of people think the government has a responsibility to look after those people struggling the most.

“We know from the pandemic that the key to solving poverty is lifting income support payments. The government has no excuse not to bring them up to at least the Age Pension rate of $78 a day in the face of such strong public support.”

Scientia Professor Carla Treloar of the Social Policy Research Centre at UNSW Sydney & lead author of the report said: “Community attitudes can wield significant influence on social policy.

“This research underscores the public’s awareness of policy impacts. The fact that the majority of people in Australia believe that government policies both contribute to and can solve poverty and inequality demands immediate policy reform. It’s time to address unjust policies failing those in need.”

UNSW Sydney Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Attila Brungs said: “The Poverty and Inequality Partnership between ACOSS and UNSW exemplifies our University’s vision for societal impact and the power of research to influence positive change.

“The insights and robust evidence that the Poverty and Inequality Partnership provides are vitally important for understanding how we can do better for some of the most disadvantaged groups of people in our society.

“Millions of Australians live with poverty and inequality. Highlighting community attitudes can help inform shifts in social policies that lead to better outcomes for us all.”

Mission Australia CEO Sharon Callister said: “This report makes clear that Australians want poverty eliminated in Australia, and that most people believe current levels of income support aren’t enough to survive and make ends meet.

“For people who are receiving income support and access Mission Australia’s services, the current rate of JobSeeker is profoundly inadequate and simply does not help get people back into work. It often traps them and their families in survival mode and pushes them into rental stress and homelessness.

“We hope that the government will start to take community expectations seriously and implement real solutions like adequate income support to end poverty and poverty-induced homelessness in Australia.”

Read the report at: https://bit.ly/communityattitudes2023

Australia, New Zealand and Canada "support urgent international efforts towards a sustainable ceasefire" and "oppose the forcible displacement of Palestinians from Gaza, the re-occupation of Gaza, any reduction in territory, and any use of siege or blockade".

 

Joint statement by the Prime Ministers of Australia, Canada and New Zealand

Joint statement

Wednesday 13 December 2023

The Hon Anthony Albanese MP

Prime Minister of Australia

Rt. Hon Justin Trudeau MP

Prime Minister of Canada

Rt. Hon Christopher Luxon MP

Prime Minister of New Zealand

__________________________________________________

Australia, Canada, and New Zealand mourn every Israeli and Palestinian innocent life which has been lost in this conflict and express our condolences to all families and communities affected by the violence.

We unequivocally condemn Hamas’ terror attacks on Israel on October 7, the appalling loss of life, and the heinous acts of violence perpetrated in those attacks, including sexual violence. We condemn Hamas’ unacceptable treatment of hostages and call for the immediate and unconditional release of all remaining hostages.

We recognise Israel’s right to exist and right to defend itself. In defending itself, Israel must respect international humanitarian law. Civilians and civilian infrastructure must be protected. We are alarmed at the diminishing safe space for civilians in Gaza. The price of defeating Hamas cannot be the continuous suffering of all Palestinian civilians.

We remain deeply concerned by the scale of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and ongoing risks to all Palestinian civilians. Safe and unimpeded humanitarian access must be increased and sustained.

The recent pause in hostilities allowed for the release of more than 100 hostages and supported an increase in humanitarian access to affected civilians. We acknowledge the persistent diplomatic efforts of the United States, Qatar, and Egypt to broker this pause, and we regret it could not be extended.

We want to see this pause resumed and support urgent international efforts towards a sustainable ceasefire. This cannot be one-sided. Hamas must release all hostages, stop using Palestinian civilians as human shields, and lay down its arms.

There is no role for Hamas in the future governance of Gaza.

We support Palestinians’ right to self-determination. We oppose the forcible displacement of Palestinians from Gaza, the re-occupation of Gaza, any reduction in territory, and any use of siege or blockade. We emphasize that Gaza must no longer be used as a platform for terrorism. We reaffirm that settlements are illegal under international law. Settlements and settler violence are serious obstacles to a negotiated two-state solution.

We recommit ourselves to working with partners toward a just and enduring peace in the form of a two-state solution, where Israelis and Palestinians can live securely within internationally recognised borders.

We remain concerned about the impact of the conflict spilling across the region and urge all governments in the region to work towards containing the conflict. We call on the Houthis to cease immediately their attacks on international shipping and crew operating in the Red Sea.

We condemn rising antisemitism, Islamophobia, and anti-Arab sentiment in our countries and around the world and remain firmly committed to combatting prejudice, hatred, and violent extremism.

SEE: https://www.pm.gov.au/media/joint-statement-prime-ministers-australia-canada-and-new-zealand 

Rachel Withers observed in The Monthly, 13 December 2023, excerpt:

It was little surprise to see members of the opposition immediately seek to politicise this new action from the Albanese government. After all, they have politicised every inch of this conflict, every slight tweak in Labor’s position, every expression of sympathy for the Palestinian people. Today’s calls for a ceasefire are not particularly radical. The UN resolution calls for “all parties [to] comply with their obligations under international law”, and the vast majority of the world voted for it. Nevertheless, shadow home affairs minister James Paterson was quick out of the blocks, declaring the vote a “shameful abandonment of Israel & our US & UK allies” and “another display of weak leadership on national security”, arguing that the PM was “caving to domestic political pressure”. “The Albanese Government voted with the Islamic Republic of Iran, Russia, Syria and the Taliban on this motion,” added Liberal Senator Claire Chandler in reply, as if we didn’t also vote with New Zealand, Canada, France, India, Japan and a vast array of our allies.....

At 1:50:41 of this video of the resumption of the U.N. 10th Emergency Session of the General Assembly the representative for Australia speaks.

The final vote breakdown:

In Favour 153

Against 10

Abstentions 23

Click on image to enlarge

COP28 Global Climate Action State of Play: the 1 Per Cent are mocking the rest of the world

Shorter version of two of the documents set out below which were produced by the United Nations Climate Change Conference of Parties (COP28) which was held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, from 30 November to 12 December 2023:

• There should be no restraints placed on the production of fossil fuels - especially oil, gas and coal.

• All that is needed is for nations to magically make the greenhouse gas emissions (created by the production and use of fossil fuels) disappear so all manifestations of the global fossil fuel industry can claim they are clean and green.

• Some of the ways to disappear emissions might be to create new definitions for old problems, use more creative carbon accounting, shove those national emissions into a dark cupboard somewhere and, make the end users of fossil fuels pay more for the product.

•  The nations of the world need to relax, there's plenty of time, so go back home and think about the fact that fossil fuels are good and climate scientists are just being alarmist.

Summary of Global Climate Action at COP 28, created 11/12/2023, 23:32:26, excerpt:

III. Fast-tracking a just, orderly, and equitable energy transition

6. A rapid decarbonization of the energy system is the key to keeping the goal of 1.5 oC within reach. This requires accelerating clean energy transition both from the demand and supply side, while such transformation should be orderly, just and equitable and also account for energy security.....

DRAFT TEXT, excerpt:

on CMA agenda item 4

First global stocktake under the Paris Agreement

Version 11/12/2023 16:30

Draft text by the President

First global stocktake under the Paris Agreement

38. Recognizes the need to accelerate sustainable, affordable, and inclusive energy transitions, taking into account different starting points, national circumstances and pathways as well as ensuring energy security, affordability and accessibility and the need for sustainable development, eradication of poverty and international cooperation;

39. Also recognizes the need for deep, rapid and sustained reductions in GHG emissions and calls upon Parties to take actions that could include, inter alia:

(a) Tripling renewable energy capacity globally and doubling the global average annual rate of energy efficiency improvements by 2030;

(b) Rapidly phasing down unabated coal and limitations on permitting new and unabated coal power generation;

(c) Accelerating efforts globally towards net zero emissions energy systems, utilizing zero and low carbon fuels well before or by around mid-century;

(d) Accelerating zero and low emissions technologies, including, inter alia, renewables, nuclear, abatement and removal technologies, including such as carbon capture and utilization and storage, and low carbon hydrogen production, so as to enhance efforts towards substitution of unabated fossil fuels in energy systems.

(e) Reducing both consumption and production of fossil fuels, in a just, orderly and equitable manner so as to achieve net zero by, before, or around 2050 in keeping with the science;

(f) Accelerating and substantially reducing non-CO2 emissions, including, in particular, methane emissions globally by 2030;

(g) Accelerating emissions reductions from road transport through a range of pathways, including development of infrastructure and rapid deployment of zero and low emission vehicles;

(h) Phasing out of inefficient fossil fuel subsidies that encourage wasteful consumption and do not address energy poverty or just transitions, as soon as possible;....

The Guardian, 12 December 2023

A statement delivered by the Australian climate change minister, Chris Bowen, on behalf of what’s known as the umbrella group of countries, came as tensions flared at the United Arab Emirates over the text of a draft deal proposed by the summit presidency.....

Bowen referred to Schuster’s statement in his intervention in a later meeting between government representatives and the UAE summit president, Sultan Al Jaber. He was speaking on behalf of the umbrella group of countries, which also includes New Zealand, Norway, Israel, Ukraine and Kazakhstan.

“My friend Cedric Schuster, the Samoan minister, said tonight of this draft that we will not sign our death certificates,” Bowen said. “That’s what’s at stake for many countries who are represented here tonight and many people who do not have a voice. We will not be a co-signatory to those death certificates.”

Summary of Global Climate Action at COP 28 by clarencegirl on Scribd

UNFCCC COP28: Draft text by the President First global stocktake under the Paris Agreement by clarencegirl on Scribd

When the next unnatural disaster strikes Australia will your household have enough emergency savings put by to deal with the immediate aftermath?

 

It was a bit like a first draft outline for a B-grade disaster movie plot. 

At various points along the timeline of the first eleven days of December 2023 there was a heady cocktail of high surface temperatures across the continent, as well as high seas expected in coastal waters and flash flooding occurring after rain. 

Drought and widespread heatwave conditions were occurring in New South Wales, extreme fire weather warning in Victoria's mallee district, wild winds, rain dumps and flooding in South Australia. And to top it all off, a tropical cyclone expected to reach landfall on Queensland's far north-east coast.

So it wouldn't have been unusual if thoughts of personal emergency plans didn't pop into our heads - especially as cost of living pressures mean that many household budgets are tight.

So can we afford to live off our own financial resources in the weeks following flood, fire or storm?

Here is what Finder thought on 30 October 2023, excerpt:

Nearly half of Australians have 1 month's worth of savings or less

A worrying 46% of Australians could only survive off their savings for 1 month or less, with just 24% saying they could last six months or more.

Women (54%) are more likely than men (38%) to have one month's worth of savings or less. One in five women (18%) are living paycheck to paycheck with less than a week's savings, which is double the percentage of men doing so (7%).

The War on Gaza has entered its 10th week and nothing changes - a recounting in video clips

Yesterday, 10 December 2023 was the 75th Anniversary of the United Nation's Universal Declaration of Human Rights. 

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by the UN General Assembly on 10 December 1948 during the tenure of Australia's Dr HV Evatt as President of the General Assembly. 

Australia had been on the UN Drafting Committee responsible for formulating the draft declaration and pushed for the declaration to include a covenant making it legally enforceable. Australia went on the become one of the original signatories to the final form declaration. 

Seventy-five years later...... 

On 10 December 2023 media sources stated that the death toll in the Gaza Strip was thought to be over 17,700 dead or missing presumed dead since Israel's sustained retaliatory bombardment began on 8 October 2023. UNWRA the UN relief & works agency confirms the vast majority of the dead are believed to be Palestinian civilians with an estimated 40 per cent being children, including newborns, infants and toddlers.

These deaths are now occurring in both the north and south of Gaza as Israel conducts its ground war.

"There is no safe place to go in the Gaza Strip" 

[Palestinian Health Ministry, 9 December 2023] 

The International Criminal Court (ICC) continues to investigate alleged crimes committed "in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, since June 13, 2014". The Israeli Likud Government has refused the ICC and foreign media access to the Gaza Strip since 8 October 2023.

According to the World Health Organisation the Gaza Strip remains cut off from food, water, electricity, civilian telecommunications and health care, with little humanitarian aid allowed to pass though Israeli checkpoints.

The War on Gaza has entered its 10th week, nothing changes and Australia refuses to acknowledge those humanitarian obligations it espoused in 1948.

A recounting in video clips:

9 December 2023

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOe_6xoGXXA]

Note: Australia does not currently sit on the U.N. Security Council

7 December 2023

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtgfXG2Oimo]

BACKGROUND

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAuRU8wCG5w]

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJV3Tx2x56c]

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PsOw7hxiXs]

 

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u24WzpCNKrY]

*Supplied transcript*

"And we will tell you, what we tell you every day.

We are coming to Gaza.

We are coming to Lebanon.

We will come to Iran.

We will come to everywhere.

Can you imagine how many we are going to kill?

How many of you, we are going to kill? On each of the 1,300 people you killed, kidnapped.

You did not see these numbers in all Arab history. i assure you, that it will come, in case you are confused.

I assure you it will come, Numbers that you did not imagine, that it is possible, it is possible to get them.

And we are ready to enter International Unity.

We are prepared to fight United States and the entire world.

How long it will take untill all of you, including all your supporters go up to meet Allah? We will kill, it will be clear. This is the sentiments.

So wait in the social media. Do a free palestine. Do all your crying. We will destroy you.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyKB1kwVbdY]

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYevQ467lA8]

DEEPER BACKGROUND

Twelve months ago on 11 December 2022......

Middle East Eye 

Far-right Israeli member of Knesset Zvika Fogel's disturbing response to Channel 4 Foreign Correspondent, Secunder Kermani, on how the new Israeli government intends to de-escalate the tension between Israelis and Palestinians in Israel and the occupied West Bank moving forward.

Is United Arab Emirates & international fossil fuel industry scheming about to turn UN COP28 into a crime against humanity?

Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber is a 50 year old Emirati politician with a undergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering, a Master in Business Administration and a PhD in Business and Economics. 

His studies appear to have been funded by the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) - a state-owned multinational corporation of which he is currently Director-General & Chief Executive Officer. ADNOC is considered one of the world's largest energy companies measured by both fossil fuel reserves and production.

Critics tend to characterise ADNOC under his guidance as a corporation which focuses on 'greenwashing' rather than genuine greenhouse gas emissions reduction/climate change mitigation.

Al Jaber is currently the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology.

He is also President of the 28th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28) which is being hosted by oil-rich UAE and therein lies an immense conflict of interest which has the potential to fatally weaken the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

COP28 was convened for thirteen days with around 199 nations participating and concludes on Tuesday 12 December 2023. 

AlJazeera, 8 December 2023:

The head of OPEC has urged members to reject any COP28 agreement that “targets” fossil fuels, highlighting deep divisions as the UN climate conference in Dubai enters its final week.

A new draft of the final agreement published on Friday includes a range of options, from agreeing to a “phase out of fossil fuels in line with best available science”, to phasing out “unabated fossil fuels”, to including no language on them at all....

The nearly 200 nations gathered in Dubai are now expected to focus on the issue of fossil fuels in the hope of reaching a consensus before the gathering’s scheduled end......

The most vocal holdout to calls to end fossil fuels is Saudi Arabia, which like summit host United Arab Emirates, is a major oil producer.....

TheGuardian, 3 December 2023:

The president of Cop28, Sultan Al Jaber, has claimed there is “no science” indicating that a phase-out of fossil fuels is needed to restrict global heating to 1.5C, the Guardian and the Centre for Climate Reporting can reveal.

Al Jaber also said a phase-out of fossil fuels would not allow sustainable development “unless you want to take the world back into caves”.

The comments were “incredibly concerning” and “verging on climate denial”, scientists said, and they were at odds with the position of the UN secretary general, António Guterres.

Al Jaber made the comments in ill-tempered responses to questions from Mary Robinson, the chair of the Elders group and a former UN special envoy for climate change, during a live online event on 21 November. As well as running Cop28 in Dubai, Al Jaber is also the CEO of the United Arab Emirates’s state oil company, Adnoc, which many observers see as a serious conflict of interest.

More than 100 countries already support a phase-out of fossil fuels and whether the final Cop28 agreement calls for this or uses weaker language such as “phase-down” is one of the most fiercely fought issues at the summit and may be the key determinant of its success. Deep and rapid cuts are needed to bring fossil fuel emissions to zero and limit fast-worsening climate impacts.....

Guterres told Cop28 delegates on Friday: “The science is clear: The 1.5C limit is only possible if we ultimately stop burning all fossil fuels. Not reduce, not abate. Phase out, with a clear timeframe.”.......

Newsweek, 1 December 2023:

The annual United Nations climate summit started yesterday. We're up to the 28th edition: "COP28." Past UN summits have obviously failed us, but this is a new low. Everyone on Earth needs to know that the meeting has been overrun by fossil fuel executives, making it a sick, planet-destroying joke. There's no real hope of stopping catastrophic global heating until we fix this.

The primary cause of global heating is fossil fuels; and global heating is what's driving all the crazy heat, fire, smoke, storms, flooding, drought, crop yield losses, and ecosystem death that is intensifying everywhere as Earth breaks down. This is basic physics and it's merciless. If left unchecked, every year on average will be hotter than the last, and at some point—no one knows exactly when or how it will unfold—global heating will take down civilization as we know it. Billions of lives are at risk, and the damage to Earth's habitability will last for so long that it will be essentially permanent as far as humans are concerned.

Since fossil fuels are the cause, the only way out of this emergency is to ramp down and ultimately end the fossil fuel industry. Recycling and composting aren't bad things in and of themselves, but they will not stop global heating. The cause is fossil fuels. The only real solution is ending fossil fuels. If you want to help, and you should, forget recycling. Instead, fight the fossil fuel industry every way you can.

It's easy to imagine an alternate universe in which fossil fuel executives were like, "We already have more money than we know what to do with, so let's not destroy the planet." In this alternate universe, the fossil fuel industry uses its vast power and resources to accelerate humanity's transition to clean energy, so we can all have a planet to live on. Makes sense.

In reality of course, fossil fuel executives made the opposite choice: to spend billions to hire the best and brightest to spread disinformation and block action. Which is sad, and horrible, and nightmarish. They've been doing this for half a century. And they recently promised to keep doing it.

In 2021, six fossil fuel executives testified before congress. They were Darren Woods, CEO of ExxonMobil; Michael Wirth, CEO of Chevron; David Lawler, CEO of BP America; Gretchen Watkins, president of Shell Oil; Mike Sommers, president of the American Petroleum Institute; and Suzanne Clark, president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. When asked in several instances by Congress if they would agree to stop spending to spread disinformation and block climate action, these fossil fuel executives refused. They clearly signaled to the world that they plan to blithely continue dishonestly destroying Earth's habitability for the sake of corporate greed. They are literal supervillains, stealing our future.

This year, 2023, is the hottest in recorded human history. This should surprise no one: global heating is driven inexorably by trending accumulation of fossil fuel carbon dioxide and methane emissions. In this hottest year in human history, the climate summit is being held in the United Arab Emirates and presided over by a fossil fuel chief executive named Sultan Ahmed Al-Jaber. It's hard to imagine anything more cynical or more evil. And yet, things did get more cynical and more evil, with recent revelations that the U.A.E. has been abusing its host role to strike side deals to expand fossil fuels......

Read the full article by Dr. Peter Kalmus, a climate scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory at:

https://www.newsweek.com/climate-summit-sick-joke-you-should-angry-afraid-opinion-1848719

The New York Times (Late Edition), 29 November 2023:

A leaked document has talking points for the president of the United Nations climate conference, who is an oil executive in the United Arab Emirates, to advance oil and gas deals.

As the host of global climate talks that begin this week, the United Arab Emirates is expected to play a central role in forging an agreement to move the world more rapidly away from coal, oil and gas.

But behind the scenes, the Emirates has sought to use its position as host to pursue a contradictory goal: to lobby on oil and gas deals around the world, according to an internal document made public by a whistle-blower.

In one example, the document offers guidance for Emirati climate officials to use meetings with Brazil's environment minister to enlist her help with a local petrochemical deal by the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, the Emirates' state-run oil and gas company, known as Adnoc.

Emirati officials should also inform their Chinese counterparts that Adnoc was "willing to jointly evaluate international LNG opportunities" in Mozambique, Canada and Australia, the document indicates. LNG stands for liquefied natural gas, which is a fossil fuel and a driver of global warming.

These and other details in the nearly 50-page document -- obtained by the Centre for Climate Reporting and the BBC -- have cast a pall over the climate summit, which begins on Thursday. They are indications, experts said, that the U.A.E. is blurring the boundary between its powerful standing as host of the United Nations climate conference, and U.A.E.'s position as one of the world's largest oil and gas exporters.

"I can't believe it," António Guterres, the United Nations Secretary General, said at a news conference Monday. The U.A.E. had been "caught red-handed," Christiana Figueres, a former United Nations diplomat posted on X. Ms. Figueres led the negotiations that yielded the 2015 Paris Agreement, the pact among nations of the world to work to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

"At this point we might as well meet inside an actual oil refinery," said Joseph Moeono-Kolio, lead adviser to the campaign for a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, an advocacy network.

Members of Emirates' climate delegation didn't respond to requests for comment.....

Cartoon of the Week

John Shakespeare