Tuesday 15th Feb Todays News Explored
Nurses strike NSW
Anyone who has been paying attention in Australia is aware of the absolutely appalling state of health care in NSW with nurses chronically understaffed while the premier, Dom Perrottet and Minister of Health, Brad Hazzard, blithely informing the public that its all fine.
Today they have taken to the streets for the first time in ten years, in spite of directions not to by the Industrial Relations Commission. Nurses have been working hours of overtime, with staffing ratios at unmanageable limits.
Many have quit, putting even more pressure on the system. Years of neglect, casualisation of workers, and use of labour hire firms to provide staffing has been exasperated during a pandemic, especially as sensible health measures were removed by the premier.
A resolution on pay rates and staffing ratios has not been met and is unlikely to be in the near future.
Tax Offsets a 'stimulus' not an 'election bribe', says treasurer.
Low and Middle income tax offsets have been proposed by the current treasurer, Josh Frydenberg. However, with mounting concerns that these cuts could be detrimental to the government bottom line, the treasurer now insists that these tax cuts are a temporary measure.
He has likened the cuts to a stimulus and certainly not an election bribe. Inflation is apparently set to rise, currently sitting at 3.5 per cent. Unemployment figures of 4.2 per cent do not reflect the reality of people out of work as a person working one hour per week is included in the fully employed category. Petrol and house prices continue to rise.
Labor's policies will see cheaper child care, cleaner and cheaper energy and a plan to see wages rise according to Shadow Treasurer, Jim Chalmers.
Taxes are collected by government to supply services for the population. This government has spent large amounts of taxpayer dollars in handouts to profitable companies and overinflated contracts to government connections, while cutting back services to the disabled, freezing medicare payments, cutting many items off the pharmaceutical benefits fund and refusing to lift the unemployed benefit to a liveable allowance. Will a temporary tax cut be the answer to a fourth term for them?
Homosapiens and Neanderthals co-existed in Europe earlier than thought
A tooth from a Homosapien has been found in a cave in France sandwiched between layers of Nenaderthal remains. The tools and other archeological remains imply that humans were present in Europe around 10,000 years earlier than thought. The theory that the arrival of Homosapiens meant the end of the Neanderthal has also been challenged, as the two species appeared to have lived side by side. DNA testing has shown that the two species mated, leaving traces of Neanderthal gentic makeup in our systems.
Anti-vaccination Mandate protests occurring worldwide, some longer than others
Canadian truckers have pushed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau too far as he invokes the Emergencies Act to dispel it. All truck drivers must be vaccinated to cross the Canadian/American border which has led to three weeks of chaos. The emergency powers allow protestors bank accounts to be frozen, as one measure. The Prime Minister has been criticised for his lack of action in relation to the protests thus far.
Meanwhile NZ protestors have caused havoc on the roads and blocked people from their homes and businesses by parking their cars around the streets of Wellington. Instead of immediately towing the vehicles, police have offered to pay for the protestors to park their cars in a nearby multi-story carpark. Police say they have been trying to find a solution, but their efforts have so far been unsuccesful and the protestors have not been inconvenienced by suggestions that they stop.
The speaker of the house of parliament put on the sprinklers and played music, however in a country where rain and wet weather is an everyday occurrance, this has also not provoked them to leave.
Case numbers are continuing to rise in NZ.
Six billion new tweeters added, for $5 billion.
Twitter continues to grow steadily, with another six billion new users, mainly from outside the US. This may sound great, but as most of the companies revenue comes from within America, flat user growth there is concerning apparently, as $1.57 billion in revenue with ad revenue $1.4 billion just isn't enough for anyone.
Abritrary growth targets that weren't reached, do not impinge on the fact that Facebook and Pinterest are losing users daily. Tik Tok also shows signs of growth. The reality of social media is that there is always a new app waiting for you just around the corner.