Greens leader Richard Di Natale raised the prospect of a 鈥渇our-day work week or a six-hour day鈥 as part of an on March 15.
This is a good discussion to be having in a country where people work among the longest hours in the world and where productivity growth has massively outstripped wage growth in recent decades.
Di Natale also flagged the possibility of a Universal Basic Income 鈥 which he described as a 鈥済uaranteed adequate income鈥.
The so called Fair Work Commission made the decision on February 23 to cut Sunday and public holiday penalty rates, affecting nearly 500,000 workers in the retail, hospitality and fast food sectors.
The cuts to public holiday penalty rates will take effect from July 1, however it has not yet been decided when the cuts to Sunday rates will take effect.
Widespread community opposition has reportedly pushed the NSW Coalition government to prepare to back down on its plan to move the iconic Powerhouse Museum in Ultimo westward to Parramatta.
The Inner West Courier reported on March 7: "Well-placed sources revealed last week the government believes taking down the current Powerhouse and selling the land to developers is so unpopular that it has decided to can the move."
Opposition is growing to the NSW Coalition government鈥檚 move to privatise the state-owned land registry, the Land and Property Information office (LPI). Sources inside the LPI are increasingly alarmed at the government鈥檚 rush to sell the office as community concern mounts against the sale itself.
Taxpayers will subsidise the clean-up costs of oil spills in the Great Australian Bight under the terms of the controversial Petroleum Resource Rent Tax.
Treasury officials have confirmed that clean-up costs for oil spills from exploration wells would be classified as 鈥渆xploration expenditure鈥 under the PRRT regime, meaning they would be tax deductible for oil companies and could be held over and 鈥渦plifted鈥 into future years at an annual rate of 17.5%.
The containment of Islamophobe Geert Wilders鈥 Party of Freedom (PVV) in the March 15 Dutch general election was greeted with relief by the mainstream European media.
Nonetheless, the election result primarily reflected a conservative and safety-seeking consolidation of the right and centre parties. It will result in a more right-wing cabinet than the previous 鈥渞ed-blue鈥 coalition of the VVD and Labour Party (PdvA), and throw up big challenges for progressive politics in the Netherlands.
A hundred years ago, on March 12, socialists in Petrograd distributed the following appeal for an insurrectional general strike to bring down tsarism. That day 鈥 the culmination of the Russian February revolution 鈥 witnessed the crumbling of tsarist power.
A group of Brisbane grandparents occupied the South Brisbane headquarters of Queensland Labor for 10 hours on March 6. The Grandparents for the Galilee came prepared with food and bedding, vowing to stay until Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk signed a legal letter rejecting the proposed $1 billion loan to Adani.
In public policy, there are many dog鈥檚 breakfasts presented as considered initiatives. Rarely, though, are we served up such a self-contradictory, irrational and generally talentless a dish as the new 鈥渆nergy intervention鈥 announced by South Australia鈥檚 Labor government on March 14.
Aimed at side-stepping conservative attacks over recent power cuts, the government鈥檚 plan makes some provision for storage back-up to underpin wind and solar. But mainly, the $550 million scheme consists of large-scale concessions to fossil fuel interests 鈥 in this case, the gas industry.
鈥淚鈥檇 rather kill myself than return to Iran 鈥 to the hell where I was violently raped by my own stepfather. But unless immigration minister Peter Dutton urgently intervenes by exercising his discretion and allowing me to apply for a partner visa while in Australia, I鈥檒l spend my life in limbo with the never-ending threat of indefinite detention in Australia or forced return to Iran.鈥
A Federal Court judge has blasted the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) for wasting time and taxpayers' money on taking two Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) officials to court for 鈥渉aving a cup of tea with a mate鈥.
Justice Tony North said on March 10 it was 鈥渁stounding鈥 that the ABCC had conducted days of hearing with dozens of participants over two years for 鈥渟uch a miniscule, insignificant affair鈥.
The disarray among politicians of both major parties on display in last year鈥檚 election campaign has intensified in the first two months of Donald Trump鈥檚 presidency.
Charges and counter-charges are hurled between the Democrats and the Trump administration, prompting Congressional investigations that may bring in the FBI, CIA and other spy agencies.