
Issue No 101		06 July 2001

LaborNET	Ask Neale	Tool of the Week

News

Clairvoyant PM In Secret Deal Fantasy

By Noel Hester

The noises coming from the empty drum called John Howard are becoming shrill. In his latest foray into fantasy land he's come across a secret deal between the ACTU and Kim Beazley over the GST.

John Howard's increasingly desperate attempts to avert disaster in this year's election took a bizarre turn yesterday when he accused Kim Beazley of cutting a secret deal with the ACTU over the GST.

The paranoid PM construed comments made by ACTU President to Sharan Burrow to ABC Radio about the Opposition leader's long-stated public position on GST rollback, as evidence of a 'secret deal.'

Burrow made the comments before she met Kim Beazley at the ACTU's executive this week.

'Kim Beazley's made a commitment on rollback of the GST. That will be on fundamental household items. We'd like to see that, with perhaps some additional tax relief and commitment to a decent living wage as the package that goes to the election for working families,' Sharan Burrow told the ABC's PM program.

From this Howard drew a very long bow to a secret deal between the ALP and the ACTU involving roll back on the GST on household items, on household utilities and on tax cuts.

And in a moment of supreme hypocrisy, the man who has championed the interests of big business in the creation of the Workplace Relations Act, with corporate tax cuts and the joint government-business crusade to smash the MUA, accused the ALP of being beholden to unions.

'We don't make any secret deals with anybody. If I've got a policy I tell all of the Australian people, I don't tell my political masters, I don't have any, my political masters are the Australian people,' he said.

Worthless profligacy.

   Visit the ACTU

  View entire issue - print all of the articles!

  Issue 101 contents

Interview: A Little Knowledge
Labor's science spokesman Martyn Evans was the Opposition's key player on the Knowledge Nation inquiry. He fills us in on the process.

Education: Theory and Practise
Whether or not you agree with the priorities for of Barry Jonesï¿½ Knowledge Nation Taskforce, Julie Wells argues its boldness has to be admired.

E-Change: 1.1 Email Nation
In the first of a series of articles on politics and the new economy, Peter Lewis and Michael Gadiel argue network technologies are reshaping the fundamentals of society.

Economics: Banking on the Goodwill
Given their history, Evan Jones wonders whether banks can really claim to be "just like any other business"

International: A Deathly Struggle
In this dispatch from PNG, a trade union leader briefs us on the situation following the shooting of seven students at an anti-privatisation rally.

History: Enlarging Human Personality
Mark Hearn argues that Lloyd Ross's post-War approach to Workplace Democracy seems contemporary by today's standards

Satire: Shit is a Four Letter Word
Australian TV drama is lame and gutless just look at the ABC's Love is a Four Letter Word, says Tony Moore

Review: Tribute to an Artist
Dalgarno painted the seagulls circling the seafarer like flies buzzing around the face of a bushman. Thus did the artist depict the maritime worker.

» Academic Freedom On Trial

» Unified Approach to Sheahan Inquiry

» Living Standards Shape as Election Factor

» Clairvoyant PM In Secret Deal Fantasy

» Hotels Face Workers Quiz

» Call for Senate to Decide Spammer's Fate

» PNG ï¿½ Howard Should Speak Out

» Couriers Buck Over Tax Ruling

» Kempsey Killing Highlights Health Fears

» Checkout Operators Better Paid Than Aged Care Workers

» ACTU Weighs Into Bank Campaign

» Fund Bad Health for Families

» Australian Music Web Radio Station Needs Recruits

» Activist Notebook