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Issue No. 129 22 March 2002  
E D I T O R I A L

Not So Happy Campers
It's a crude political truism: it's better to be inside the tent pissing out than outside the tent pissing in. At least for those on the inside.

F E A T U R E S

Interview: Pulling the Pin
Victorian union leader Dean Mighell outlines the thinking behind his decision to quit the ALP and join the Greens.

International: At the Crossroads
From Germany, to Britain, to South Africa, Canada and the USA it seems union members are turning on their political partners � and talking about divorce.

Unions: A Case Of Lost Identity
Victorian Trades Hall secretary Leigh Hubbard warns that more unions could leave the ALP if the current policy review hits the wrong note.

History: Rocking the Foundations
There was not just one model of what a political wing of the labour movement should be, Don Rawson writes.

Industrial: Rocky Road
Thirteen hundred Rockhampton workers are putting cars and houses on the line in an effort to beat off bully-boy tactics from Kerry Packer-owned Consolidated Meat Group.

Economics: Cracking a Coldie
As Australian icons fall around him, Neale Towart charts the rise and fall of the Great Aussie Esky.

Poetry: The Right Was Wrong
A glimpse of history shows that waterfront workers deserve the high moral ground.

Satire: Heffernan�s Evidence Conclusive: Proves He's An Idiot
The evidence released by Senator Bill Heffernan to substantiate his allegations against Justice Kirby have proved conclusively that the senator is an idiot.

Review: Upstairs, Downstairs
Robert Altman's latest movie Gosford Park is hard yakka no matter what side of the class system you sit on.

N E W S

 Giant Rat Fights Cole Commission

 Dodgy Bosses To Get Life

 Unions Back Rugby World Cup

 Queue Jumper Abbott In Cash Grab

 Refugees Face Bank Imbalance

 Guards Act to Plug Leaks

 Rabbit Fence Leads Reconciliation to Classroom

 Spy Bill Under Fire

 Council Takes Up Discrimination Challenge

 Power Workers To Decide Own Fate

 Thumbs Up for Super Deal

 G-G Warned Off State Schools

 Fee Pressure Builds on Beattie

 Nobel Committee 'Subordinates' Union Rights

 Columbians Level Death Charges

 Call To Blockade Burmese Junta

 Indonesian Threat To Unions

 Activist Notebook

C O L U M N S

The Soapbox
Dealing with Prejudice
Former Liberal senator Chris Puplick did not pull any punches launching a new guide for union reps dealing with discrimination issues.

The Locker Room
The Bigger They Are, The Harder They Fall
Phil Doyle tries to get sport off the front pages and back where it belongs ...

Postcard
Greetings From Lao
In the first in a new series, Union Aid Abroad's Phillip Hazelton, reports from Lao, where he is establishing a vocational training centre.

Cole-Watch
Go West
The Building Industry Royal Commission caravan has rolled into Perth.

Week in Review
Top of the Pops
Johnny Howard and his Masters of Deception kept the beat during a week in which secrecy took over from blatant fibbing as the dark art or choice, leaving the national Hit Parade looking something like this �

L E T T E R S
 Letter to Howard #1
 Letter to Howard #2
 Letter to Howard #3
 Jump Before You're Pushed
WHAT YOU CAN DO
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Letters to the Editor

Letter to Howard #3


Dear Prime Minister,

I write to you regarding a matter of National importance. For some time now I have lived in the leafy riverside suburb of New Farm in the inner North of Brisbane.

It has become increasingly obvious to me over recent times that scores of Upper Class, Socially Conservative, Economically Well Off individuals having been moving into our once "Working Class haven" and changing the social fabric of our neighbourhood.

They are moving in by there thousands in their Mercedes M-Class 4 Wheel Drives and Range Rovers and appear to have no respect for the laws or values of our lovely little community. They are erecting high rise slums and basically changing the whole ambience of our community so as that we are now left to feel like foreigners in our own suburb.

These people have moved in with their socially divisive politics and racial intolerance and have shown absolutely no regard for the generations of workers and their families that have made New Farm such a great place to live.

May I request Mr Prime Minister that you remove New Farm from Australia's Migration zone so as to avoid the continual moral and social decay that we are subjected to. May I also suggest that you have the Australian Federal

Police conduct a sweep of the area to round up all these horrible people (they might even uncover some evidence against Justice Kirby).

Maybe these awful beings could be stored pending a decision on their status in that wonderful new detention centre that you are building on Christmas Island. Given the overwhelming success of your Governments Pacific Solution

it obviously won't be needed to house those pesky boat people and it would be such a shame to see it go to waste.

I know this request may seem a little out of left field, but I understand there is some precedence for it.

Yours sincerely

Gerard Carlyon


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