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Issue No. 136 17 May 2002  
E D I T O R I A L

Modern Labour
Unveiling his 'modern Labor' pitch in the Budget in Reply, Opposition leader Simon Crean seemed very 1950s � when 'modern' was good in itself, like spray-cans, zippers and uncomfortable furniture.

F E A T U R E S

Interview: Licking the Wounds
Elder statesman Neville Wran expands on his review into Labor's performance at the last federal election.

Industrial: The Accidental Tourist
Standing on a picket line, just metres from the sleaziest part of Kings Cross, was not what Cheshire chemist David Lui had in mind when he was saving for his trip of a lifetime.

Unions: Stars And Stripes
Fly the flag, beat the war drum and screw the old, the sick and the poor � Peter Costello�s budget aims to emulate the worst aspects of American politics argues Noel Hester.

International: The Un-Promised Land
Andrew Casey lifts the lid on a little-known campaign to establish a Jewish homeland in the Kimberleys.

History: Mate Against Mate
Neale Towart trawls the records to recount some of the more acrimonious ALP State Conference debates.

Politics: Reith's Gong
Peter Reith's medal from the HR Nicholls Society overlooks a number of lamentable aspects about his character as Stuart Mackenzie reports.

Poetry: You've Got a Friend
A friend is someone who protects you, but in an interesting twist the Federal budget has redefined the notion of 'protection' by adding the word 'from'.

Review: War on Terror: Now Showing
Arnold Schwarznegger's latest flick Collateral Damage is spooky for many reasons, writes Tara de Boehmler.

Satire: Burmese Regime Makes Genuine Commitment To Pretence Of Change
The government of Myanmar (Burma) released democratic opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi today after a year and a half of house arrest.

N E W S

 Solidarity In The Post To East Timor

 Joy Wins For All Workers

 Workers Call Abbott On Democracy Bluff

 Wran Tells MPs: Talk to Unions

 Family First on Conference Agenda

 Cole Commission Declares Paper War

 Yarra Workers Thank Australia

 Budget Attacks Retirement Incomes

 PSA Challenges Carr�s Secrecy Shield

 Election Talk Aint Cheap

 Hotel Bosses Back Down On Pay

 Welfare Staff Strike Out At Harrassment

 Della Ups DIR Inspectorate

 Fake Notes Expose Government as Tax Cheat

 Labor Faces Acid Test on Asylum Seekers

 New Project Encourages Cultural Exchanges

 Bush�s Western Saharan War And Oil Deal

 Activists Notebook

C O L U M N S

The Soapbox
Border Solidarity
The Australian Workers Union's Bill Shorten explains why he drew a line in the cement in support of the CSL Yarra crew

The Locker Room
The Dangerous Life Of A Hot Dog Seller
Phil Doyle ruminates on the virtues of processed meats in the world of elite sports.

Bosswatch
The Bottom Line
Peter Costello wasn't the only one flaunting a budget deficit this week, as Rupert Murdoch announced the largest corporate write-down on record.

Postcard
East Timor Appeals For Help
At midnight on Sunday 19 May, the UN mandate in East Timor comes to an end and East Timor becomes a new independent nation.

Week in Review
The Spin Cycle
Budget week brings that much spin you half expect to see Shane Warne wheeled out as a spokesman on health, economics, or whatever else the combatants are blabbing about. Jim Marr lifts the covers.

L E T T E R S
 Gangsta Rap
 More May Day Hate Mail
 What Women Want
 Chucking a Wobbly
 Is Caustic Costello the Despot of Despair?
 East Timor: Independent Or Mendicant?
WHAT YOU CAN DO
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News

Cole Commission Declares Paper War


The CFMEU will abandon normal business to meet �oppressive� discovery orders filed by the Royal Commission into the Building Industry.

State secretary Andrew Ferguson labels 11 pages of discovery orders, requiring the production of everything from former employees� diary notes dating back six years to fighting fund accounts, a �ridiculous fishing expedition�.

The union has four weeks to provide the commission with a mountain of paperwork and comprehensive electronic records.

"Basically, we have to stop our normal functioning to comply with these demands," Ferguson explained. "They are oppressive in that they require us to spend enormous amounts of workers money and allocate resources we don't have to meet the commissioner's whim.

"Some of it amounts to a gross invasion of the privacy of our young staff and they regard it as harassment."

He objects to providing the personal diaries and personnel records of non-industrial staff but will do so.

"We will comply fully but under duress," Ferguson says, "we know this is a witch-hunt but it would only play into their hands to do anything else."

Ferguson estimates it would take a minimum of three experienced people working fulltime for four weeks to bring the required information together. Enquiries about the possibility of financial assistance have drawn a blank.

Ferguson's witch-hunt analysis is borne out by commission insistence on running anti-union claims publicly while side-tracking wider issues, including safety, phoenixing, immigration rorts, workers comp and tax evasion into "research" committees.

All-up the commission is demanding records under more than 160 different headings.

Two of the first set the tone for what follows:

- "All work diaries of employees (current and ex-employees) including electronic daires (sic) and daily appointment tasks, of the CFMEU (New South Wales Branch) that have entries dated as from 1 January 1996", and

- "All work diaries of members of the Committee of Management (current and ex-members), including electronic diaries and daily appointment tasks, of the CFMEU (NSW) that have entries dated as from 1 January 1996."

The Cole Commission is demanding EBA kits, every piece of correspondence to or from 39 different construction companies; the names, addresses, birth dates and membership numbers of every union member, financial or unfinancial, and much more.

The commission has also flagged its intention to undertake microscopic investigation of every financial transaction the union has undertaken, including its fundraising and practical support for East Timorese reconstruction and the Children's Healthcare Trust.

More Legal Threats

Meanwhile, a demolition contractor is threatening legal action against the CFMEU as the Gazebo Hotel shutdown enters its second week.

Thirteen backpackers, all newly signed-up union members, are maintaining their picket after learning they had been underpaid and denied the most basic safety provisions.

WorkCover has issued a string of Breach and Improvement Notices, along with four health and safety fines, against employer Australian Development Corporation, since demolition work stopped last week.

The backpackers were distributing leaflets in the Kings Cross shopping centre today, drawing attention to the type or rorts the Royal Commission has indicated it won't be treating as priorities.


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