E D I T O R I A L

A Values Call
Opposition leader Kim Beazley has copped a bit of flak in the past week for his Aussie Values Pledge, but we reckon he got it at least half right.

F E A T U R E S

Interview: Australia�s Most Wanted
The ACCC is the latest state agency to turn its guns on the construction union. National official, Dave Noonan, discusses the implications.

Industrial: The Fox and the Contractor
With new laws looming for �independent contractors�, Foxtel subbies have had the carpet pulled from under their feet, writes Nathan Brown.

Unions: Industrial Wasteland
A group of inner-Sydney veterans appear to be working to strip their families of retirement incomes. Jim Marr records their desperation.

International: Two Bob's Worth
German and British workers are participating in business decisions while WorkChoices locks Australians out of the conversation, writes Anthony Forsyth.

Economics: National Interest
John Howard claimed that interest rates would always be lower under a Coalition government than under Labor, Neale Towart crunchess the numbers.

Environment: The Real Dinosaur
Economic ignorance remains at the top and the critics are oblivious says Sol Power

History: Only In Spain?
The experiences of self management during the Civil War have been the one positive factor to come from that tragic event, and the Mondragon Cooperative Corporation thrives today.

Review: Clerk Off
Nathan Brown draws solace from some fellow social misfits.

N E W S

From Comrades to CUBs

Workers Demand Right to Know

Flying Kangaroo Eyes Passage to India

It�s A Secret: Ballot Boosts ABC Campaign

Brake WorkChoices, NSW Urged

City or the Bush? It�s Telstra�s Call

Compo Rights a Burning Issue

2500 Get Coles Shoulder

Hardie Payrise Stiffs Victims

WorkChoices Reverse Somersault with Pike

Qantas Workers Ground AWAs

Latest Import: Childcare Workers

Let Tem Eat Cake!

Mugabe Thugs Mug Unionists

C O L U M N S

Legends
Westie Wing
MLC Ian West ventures beyond Macquarie St and into the desert of the eco rats.

The Soapbox
Testing Times
Former RLPA secretary and Newcastle Knights prop, Tony Butterfield, fires up over dawn raids.

Obituary
Dare to Win
The union movement has lost an inspirational leader of working men and women, writes Jeana Vithoulkas

Fiction
Tommy's Apprentice
Chapter Two - Tommy�s Tale.

L E T T E R S

WHAT YOU CAN DO

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Aussie Values DOA

I received an Ambulance bill today, a $663.90 bill, but as a Disabled Pensioner I assumed that I would not have to pay. So I phoned, well much to my surprise I was told that I would have to pay $330 dollars. Now having just sold my guitar in order to pay a $400 dollar electricity bill I was not pleased by the prospect of having to pay for the ambulance. It's not just the money but what it means for some one like me the next time I'm considering calling an Ambulance.

When faced with such costs will I delay? Will it affect my decision to call? Well it certainly will, even though last time I lost conciseness in the ambulance, then spent three days in the ICU and two weeks in hospital, I will have to ponder the consequences of that bill, and the weeks of not eating properly as this is the only thing that can be sacrificed in order to pay the bill. I don't drink at all or use any drugs, so I like to eat healthy food and this costs more, yet now though it's all Bi-Lo brand for a time.

So will I delay my call next time? Probably yes. Will such a delay endanger me further? Most certainly. Does this effect others like myself? It must. How many then I wonder will die as a result? Will any one ever know? Does anyone care?

If nothing else this event has made me finally face something I have tried to ignore, for this is just another symptom of our emerging New Australia, one built on self interest where the only goal for most is the acquisition of money.

And I find I'm well qualified to speak of what this future means to us all, so I should give you some ideas of how best to survive this changing Australia. You see I have lived and worked in the USA where the only true god is money and anything goes as long as you make a buck.

So here is your new Americanised Australia, and the following paragraphs hold the key to surviving in this new environment.

First you must learn to ignore any troublesome pangs of conscience, scruples or social decency. Be one with your self and think not of your neighbour. Greed is good. You must learn to be able to walk down streets lined with people living in cardboard boxes, and step over those dying on the side walk without seeing or feeling anything. I have done this, not in India but a mile away from the Washington monument in downtown Washington.

You must celebrate the fact that you will be able to pay someone brought in from overseas to work for you at 50 cents and hour, learn not think of this as creating an underclass, or those cannacks we use to import, or it being like South Africa was, no be happy we have slaves, I mean cheap labour. You will though have to put lots of extra locks on your doors, windows and be very careful when you go out side, you see as those of lower class will have no access to social welfare, when they are down and out they will have to take from you in order to survive, therefore you should carry a gun with you at all times, or like a friend of mine in the USA maybe have a car gun, a lounge room gun, a bedroom gun as well the usual personal gun.

Now the other thing you will have to do is make lots and lots of money and don't worry to much if you do it by unethical means, for as long as you make a buck then it's ok, you see you will need it, I mean aside from what you need for a house etc. If you have say two kids and you want them to be properly educated you will need over a million to do that and the hundred thousand per year for medical insurance, you see if you don't have insurance they will leave you in the Ambulance, you would not be admitted to any hospital. what am I saying that's not an issue at all as you wont even be able to get an ambulance without cover, so no problem you get to die at home alone where no one can see you and you wont be an embarrassment.

So here we are, on the cusp of this bold new Australia where the notion of looking after your mates can finally be totally ignored, where you may and should talk about saving the environment but don't really have to do anything about it, where you pretend to be social but only go to parties if you can get ahead through meeting the right people� and where it would be of great benefit to you if you learn to lie very well, the current government should be used as an example of how to do this well.

If though you find you are still not happy, no matter that is what annalists are for, and plastic surgery can replace those frown lines with happy ones, remember in this new world it's all about appearances, - substance counts for nothing. So folks just celebrate the fact the best Australian Prime Minister the Americans ever had is leading us all irreversibly towards this great new experience, this America, right here, right now, not just on our TVs but everywhere.

Finally then, how do you know when you have made it? Well when you are driving a big 4WD truck in the city and suburbs I can tell you your well on your way, as you obviously don't give a stuff about those around you, or the environment, and that is a good start.

Jeff Morgan, SA

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