The Covid-19 shutdowns and recession, along with the Morrison government’s initial unorthodox response, has generated a number of economic policy proposals, that share some of the features of a Green New Deal approach. This forum, organized by the Climate Justice Collective, will be a guided discussion applying a critical eye to these following three Deals, focusing on their attitudes towards economic investment and the labor movement. These include:
– A Real Deal, proposed by the Sydney Policy Lab. https://www.sydney.edu.au/…/news…/a-real-deal.html?
– Australia’s economic reconstruction after COVID-19: a national jobs plan, and five ways to get started, proposed by Australian Unions. https://www.actu.org.au/…/national-economic…
– The million jobs plan, proposed by Beyond Zero Emissions (promoted by School Strike For Climate). https://millionjobs.org.au
For Beyond Zero Emissions, the starting point is the need for climate action. Australian Unions has revitalized its call for job creation since the job losses at the start of the pandemic shutdown. The Sydney Policy Lab has worked with a number of partners including The Climate Justice Union (WA), the United Workers Union, and the Tomorrow Movement to produce a more synthetic Real Deal. These are sources of well-thought out ideas for reducing emissions and providing goods and services that people need. However, not one identifies the commodity system of private investment and profitability as being at the centre of the limitations on both meeting people’s needs and slowing climate change.
It is recommended to read the executive summaries of each of these documents before the discussion. Additionally, these two articles will inform their critical perspectives:
– ‘The Three Big Questions for Any Australian Green New Deal’ by Osmond Chiu in Challenge Magazine
https://www.challengemag.org/…/the-three-big-questions…
– ‘In Australia, Keynesianism Is Back in Fashion — but It Still Won’t Work’ by Dave Eden in Jacobin
https://www.jacobinmag.com/…/australia-neo-keynesianism…
The Climate Justice Collective’s open forums are aimed not particularly at activists, academics or those in the policy space, but at any who are interested in learning and sharing ecosocialist ideas.
