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Issue No. 356 21 December 2006  
E D I T O R I A L

The End
In vintage Workers Online fashion we have detected a minor, but telling, factual error in last week�s missive/suicide note. It�s not a seven year itch � this is, in fact, the end of an eight year project.

F E A T U R E S

Interview: The Terminator
Unions NSW secretary John Robertson looks back on the highs and lows of a year when the battle lines were drawn.

Industrial: Vive La Resistance
Jim Marr glances back through a year of news and discovers plenty of reason for optimism�

Unions: Breaking News
The web offered new ways of covering unions issues. Here�s ten ways Workers Online tried to do things differently.

History: Seven Deadly Sins
Looking back on our annual year-ender editorials gives a nice overview of the journey we have taken.

Economics: Back to the Future
Political economist Frank Stilwell looks back at a year that saw the passing of the drivers of two strains of economic thought.

Politics: Organising and Organisations
Organising for unionists can mean overcoming the �union�. The �rolling of the right� by the BLF rank and file shows the power of workers united to defeat the power of bosses and certain union bosses.

International: Web Retrospective
Unions and the web � What's changed in the last seven years? The short answer is � everything and nothing, wrties Eric Lee

Review: Shock Therapy
Unreconstructed Kazakhi journalist Borat is unleashed on the �US and A� offending everyone � except the bigots.

N E W S

 High Flyers Go For Gold

 Hospital Staff Prescribe Radical Surgery

 Holland Goes Dutch on Safety

 New Thinking to Transport Sydney

 Check Mate - Track Your Personal Info

 WorkChoices on a Trolley

 See No Evil, OEA

 Feltex Carpets PM's Fibs

 Workers Blood on the Walls

 Lift For Unfair Dismissal Campaign

 No Discrimination on Choice

 Vanstone Opens New Meat Market

 Activists' Notebook

C O L U M N S

The Future
So Where to Now?
Amanda Tattersall outlines her plans for Working NSW and the challenge of connecting research, communications and campaigning.

Obituary
Gone But Not Forgotten
Augusto Pinochet Ugarte (1915-2006). His memory is still being honoured, writes Jim Marr

Parliament
The Westie Wing
Our favourite politician bids adieu and hangs up his chestnuts.

L E T T E R S
 Hit For Six
 Kind Words
 Sorely Missed
 All the Best
WHAT YOU CAN DO
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News

New Thinking to Transport Sydney


Wealthy Sydneysiders are riding a Rolls Royce public transport system while battlers are still in the horse and buggy era, according to a new report on transport options.

Frustration with political buck-passing and short-term fixes led the RTBU to commission �Moving On� from the University of Technology Sydney's Institute for Sustainable Futures.

The document challenges "old thinking" about public transport and puts up radical proposals for a user-friendly system that would define the region for the next 100 years.

Key propositions include ...

- dealing the federal government into investment, planning and delivery

- establishing a single transport authority, responsible to parliament, for implementing a cohesive, long-term infrastructure and public transport plan

- wider public consultation and participation in the planning process

- adopting full-cost accounting procedures that measure the social and environmental costs of competing transport projects

RTBU state secretary, Nick Lewocki, says commuters are tired of "visionless spin" that tells them they are better off with slower and fewer services.

"We've had 10 years of this government, a Transport Minister and an additional six ministers with transport responsibilities, but people in Sydney's outer suburbs and new developments still have few viable alternatives to their cars," Lewocki said.

"Moving On clearly identifies that Sydney's public transport system is marked by geographical and social inequalities.

"Commuters in western Sydney and developing areas have few options while those in wealthier suburbs have access to significant subsidised government services."

Lewocki says the report highlights the fact that an integrated system has become too big for state government, alone.

"We need to look at long-term solutions that involve federal funding and intervention."

The full Moving On blueprint is available at: http://rtbu-nsw.asn.au/campaigns/general/162_policy.html

Report Summary: http://rtbu-nsw.asn.au/campaigns/general/161_policy.html


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