
Issue No 116		19 October 2001

LaborNET	Ask Neale	Tool of the Week

Tool Shed

We're In the Money!

Treasurer Peter Costello serenades his way into this week's Tool Shed by breaking one of the cardinal rules of politics - attempting to sing on radio.

As a singer Costello makes a great Treasurer - his rendition of ABBA's 'Money, Money, Money' in Brisbane radio was of a quality rarely plumbed to even in the grottiest karaoke bar at a few minutes to midnight. He started off trying to talk it through Rex Harrison-style but even his talking was out of tune. As the chorus came around he tried to pump it up to a higher-pitched monotone. By the crescendo he was positively growling.

It was not pretty television. While politicians may think such performances give them a human face - the reality is they come across with all the humanity of a mannequin. It's the same when you see them at sporting fixtures and child care centers. As humans, politicians just don't cut it. They'd be far better advised locking themselves in a gated community and keeping away from the rest of us. Come to think of it - that's what Canberra's for.

You could say that Costello's budget performance is the equivalent of fiscal karaoke. Three years ago, the 2001 budget was $10 billion in surplus and Costello smirked up the brownie points. Now he's squandered it all - and again he's taking quiet pride; hiding behind the international turmoil to claim it's external factors - rather than the $1 billion spent boondoggling in the name of Federation, the millions more winding back GST and keeping a lid on fuel prices. All have been abjectly devoid of vision, attempts to band-aid over popular unrest. Needless to say Costello's financial credentials should be in tatters.

But there he stands, the man waiting for Howard to slip over the line in this militaristic fervor, knowing it won't be two years that he'll slip into the top job. And what's his vision, further industrial relations reform! Hardly surprising coming from the Dollar Sweets man, although for some reason his moderate positions on Republic and reconciliation have given him a softer edge than Howard. Make no mistake, Costello is another union hater and he will pursue working people with the same ideological further as his factional opponent Abbott.

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Issue 116 contents

Interview: The Green Machine
Nick Bolkus outlines Labor's environmental stance and lays down the gauntlet to Bob Brown's Greens.

Industrial: Regaining Control
Franceï¿½s 35 hour week stems from the program of the Left coalition government which went to the polls in June 1997 with the policy of ï¿½worksharingï¿½.

Unions: Home Of The Longest Day
Australia has a dubious new prize to put in its cluttered national trophy cabinet. We are increasingly the most over-worked nation in the world.

Campaign Diary: Week Two: Fightback
Labor's doing everything to win a normal campaign - but this is no normal campaign.

Economics: Who Will Notice When You Die?
Johann Christoph Arnold asks whether the anti-globalisation movement is the answer to an epidemic of loneliness.

History: American Terror
Incredible revelations about the work of the US National Security Agency through the Cold War years help put the current War of Terror into perspective.

International: Global Day of Action
In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks in the US last week, the ICFTU has announced that preparations for the Global Unions Day of Action on November 9 will go ahead.

Satire: World Gripped by Fear as Howard Third Term Looms
The global community has uniformly condemned the recent terrorist attacks, which horrifically helped revive the re-election prospects of John Howard.

Review: Flashbacks
Cultural theortician Neale Towart consults his record collection in a bid to understand the chaos gripping the earth.

» Unions Triumph in Bra Battle

» Ansett's Redundancy Edict: Hand in Uniforms

» Economic Management Libs Style: Porkbarrelling And Profligacy

» Long Hours Ranks Swell

» Extra Security Urged at Chemical Sites

» Regional Airport Security Ignored By Anderson

» "Sack or Back" Shier

» Backpay For Exploited Guest Workers

» Nurses to Test New Equal Pay Laws

» Libs Back Unions as Compo Police

» Racism Rocks Workplaces

» Community of Sydney to Back CFMEU

» Green Activist Restrictions Lifted

» Hotel Union Cautious About Employer Gloom

» International Workers to Converge on Sydney

» Workers' Bank Opens Shopfront

» Face The Music And Shove It Up The Junta!

» Activists Notebook

» The Soapbox

» The Locker Room

» Trades Hall

» Tool Shed

» Joy is at it Again!

» The Extra Yards

» Water Aid

» Redunancy Under Attack

» Orwell No Anarchist

» Ways Around Treaty Rights

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