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Issue No. 126

01 March 2002

E D I T O R I A L

I Don�t Like Sprouts
I've always thought brussel sprouts tasted like reconstituted vomit, so the latest smart-arse advertising campaign for the Clearview pension fund doesn�t really wash with me.

F E A T U R E S

Interview: Clean Hands
Susan Ryan was Labor's first female Minister, today she represents the trustees responsible for our super funds, where the move to socially responsible investment is happening, albeit slowly.

Corporate: Out of Asia
The decision by America�s biggest employee pension fund to pull out of a number of Asian countries because of their poor labour rights and civil liberties standards has sent shock waves through the region.

Unions: Tears, Real And Crocodile, At The Ansett Wake
It�s ended in heartbreak but the campaign to keep Ansett flying should really be remembered for the courage, determination and decency of the airline�s devoted staff writes Noel Hester.

Economics: Labour�s Capital: Individual Or Collective?
More Australians own shares than ever before, asks Frank Stilwell, but is it the best way to share the wealth?

History: Mardi Gras: The Biggest Labour Festival?
The struggle for the rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender workers has been part of the wider struggle for workers rights, in Australia and internationally.

International: Driving A Hard Bargain
Public sector workers in Korea are using the last twelve months before local and national elections � and the up-coming soccer World Cup � as bargaining chips in their campaign against privatisation of public utilities.

Review: In Bed With a Sub-Machine Gun
In this extract from his new book, Night Train to Granada, GB Harrision travels from Drepression era Newcastle to Spain under Franco's heel.

Satire: Whitlam Forgives Kerr: "At Least He Didn't Dismiss A Rape Victim"
Gough Whitlam claimed today that the man who dismissed him is no longer Australia�s worst Governor-General. �Sure he dismissed me, but at least he never dismissed a child rape victim like Governor-General Hollingworth,� said Whitlam.

Poetry: Dear Mother
Thanks to the generosity of the Defence Signals Directorate, Workers Online has obtained intercepts of recent communications between Australia and London. A transcript is below:

N E W S

Unions Stats Snow Job

BHP Strike Over Super Control

Some Light Reflects Off Ansett

Net Porn Highlights Privacy Lag

Mad Monk To Float Down Oxford Street

Burma the Next Chernobyl

Govt Breaches Its Own Guidelines

Sartor Policies Irk Council Workers

Service Fee Push Hots Up in Qld

Casino Workers Show Their Hands

Hotel Bosses Have Full House But Cry Poor

Airport Screeners Win Training Rights

CFMEU Korean Activist Honoured

Support For Fijian Union Battle

Beer Cold and Prawns Peeled

Activists Notebook

C O L U M N S

The Soapbox
Grumpy Old Men (And Bettina)
Scratch the surface of most conservative commentators and you'll find a lapsed Leftie, Paul Norton argues.

The Locker Room
Black and White
The Australian way of playing rugby union, cricket and the development of our own game, Australian Rules, were profoundly influenced by a forgotten man.

Week in Review
Gridlocked
Jim Marr loooks at a week when trains, planes and ships of shame all threatened to come to a grinding halt.

L E T T E R S

Repeating History

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it Santayana

The above photo was taken at Dachau Concentration Camp in the 1940's where an inmate realising the futility of his incarceration ends it all by throwing himself on the wires is and is automatically shot.

This is the constitutional monarchy of Australia (then again we could be the 51st State of America) in the year, 2002.

Refugees (they come seeking refuge/safe haven) are demonised and dehumanised before being transported everywhere but their chosen destination:

 Papua New Guinea - Malaria

 Christmas Island and Port Hedland Cyclone Chris

 Woomera extremes of heat and isolation.

Tampa

The ship's master was only upholding maritime tradition and international law in rescuing people at sea after being requested by the Australian Government to do so.

We use sledgehammers to crack walnuts:

 Boatloads of commandos pirating the Tampa against unarmed people.

 Shots are fired across the bow of an unarmed vessel.

An Hazara man has thrown himself on razor wire to draw attention to the plight of his sister and her 5 children.

This is what he thought he must do in Australia to try to unite his nephews and nieces and sister with their father /husband. The father arrived earlier and has been processed as a genuine refugee.

The robotic RUDDOCK's official answer to this was "family members who arrive seperately are assessed seperately and not all relatives suffer persecution.

The hazara are an ethnic and religious minority dating back before the time of the Taliban and have faced near genocide at the hands of the Taliban.

Honest John is transformed into Mushroom John (keep him in the corner and feed him bull---t), and blames incompetent officials. Commonwealth Public Servants and defence forces are having their reputations sullied and tainted by Government Ministers and their minders. A retiring Reith was always going to be the logical scapegoat.

It is fitting that a woman Carmen Lawrence shows moral leadership whilst her party doesn't, these refugees as women and children have been incarcerated against all known conventions. These unarmed refugees are portrayed as terrorists or their men are portrayed as having no respect for women. More demonisation and dehumanisation. What civilisation has not discriminated against women??

The election of a government that could have spoken and negotiated with Indonesia would have saved the enormous expense ($500 million at last count) of transporting refugees to all parts surrounding Australia.

Howard flipflops back and forth between the greatest republic (the United States of America run by republicans) and Mother England. Two years ago he spoke against becoming a Republic. The queen arrives again soon so we will definitely be a Constitutional Monarchy once again for a short period. Australians could not be blamed for being schizoid with visionless government like this. The authoritarian figure ever trying to please the mythical mother.

Refugees breakaway from Oppression with courage to start again in a new land. They remove themselves from their motherland. These are independent qualities that we as Australians lack.

Lord Archer is in jail for several years, in England for perjury and perverting the course of justice.

In Australia guided by the Westminster system also, the incumbent government wins an election by lying and the GovernorGeneral still retains office even though he perverted the course of justice to Australian children.

Hollingsworth protects the abuser and turns his back on the abused, turns his back on the children of Oz

Once again Australian law is seen as being not impervious to privilege.

Do you think Equal Employment Opportunity applied to all other parties (other than the Coalition at the last Federal election)??? Was it a level playing field??

I'm stunned by the one-sided "Australian Story where the G-G. sympathetically packaged his response to recent allegations. Hopefully the ABC will give equal time to the abused/aggrieved to give a more balanced program.

Is this the price of having a heavily politicised ABC Board??

Why are do-gooders denigrated in the Australian press?

Welcome to another day in Paradise.

Mike Hudson

PSA Delegate

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