The overall capture of the meaning of “health” by the medical industrial complex and its hospital systems and departments has helped to hide the absence of policy and structures to specifically address the health of the public. It’s time we named our health departments to describe what they actually do – provide illness care -and time to make health and equity explicit central goals of the whole system of government. (more…)
Fran Baum
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Attention Australia: The climate crisis is a health crisis too
After more than two years coping with a pandemic, the last thing we want to hear about is another global health crisis. But it’s becoming increasingly clear that as we continue to heat our fragile planet, we face a threat to public health that will eclipse even COVID-19. (more…)
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South Australia’s impressive renewable energy transition
South Australia underwent a significant renewables transition under successive ALP governments from 2002 until 2018. In 2002 SA generated its electricity locally from brown coal and gas and imported around 30% of its annual needs from Victoria where brown coal production dominated. There was no production from renewables. Jump to 2018, when the ALP lost office after 16 years, and the state was generating 52% of its electricity from renewables with the remainder from natural gas, with 3% of net annual production being exported east. (more…)
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Universities at the crossroads – will town trump gown?
University mergers proposed for SA may be the wrong answer to the wrong question. We have let universities become captured by commercial interests and corporate culture. Now Covid has wrecked their business model. It is time to reclaim them for the public? (more…)