Issue No 55 | 26 May 2000 | |
Tool ShedHoward's Wicked Ways
When tens of thousands of Sydney-siders march for reconciliation this weekend one man will not be among them. And he calls himself a leader ...
Armed with polls showing the political benefits in maintaining his strategy of wedge politics, Howard will stay at home while we cross the bridge. We shouldn't be surprised: this is a man who's first act in power was to commission a study into ATSIC 'rorts' and whose every move since has been to pander to prejudice. Today, the decade long dream of reconciliation lies in tatters, with no official apology and little short-term prospect This is a Prime Minister brought up to believe that Australian history started in 1770, that Aborigines were natives and that assimilation was a noble cause. You can't blame him for his upbringing; but what you can't excuse is his inability to see the shift in the society and lead, rather than trying to hold it back for political advantage. Make no mistake about it. Behind the all rhetoric, practical reconciliation is really about politics. It's about sniffing the wind and giving the swinging voters what they say they want in the polls. The big play of course is the One Nation voters - who could well decide the next election if they return to the Tories' en masse. Come election time, don't be surprised to see the footage of bridge being used in all sorts of ways - and not just to promote reconciliation. There is a darkness at the centre of this government and it has yet to do all its damage.
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Interview: The University of Rupert National Tertiary Education Union president Dr Carolyn Allport on News Corp's move into tertiary education and the Universitas 21 experiment. International: The Unionist Who Sparked a Coup Workers Online's Fiji expert Andrew Casey profiles one of the men at the centre of the crisis, detained PM Mahendra Chaudry Unions: The Call to Action The Australian Services Union is leading the push into the call centre industry. But winning these new workplaces is a major challenge. Politics: Workplace Gladiators Peter Reith as Russell Crowe? That's the image Labor IR spokesman Arch Bevis conjured up in a frecent address to the Industrial Relations Society. History: How to be a Good Unionist It's 1917, WWI rages and federal public servants are given these rules on how to dischare their responsibility as members. Legal: The Price of Solidarity Intimidation, threats and even murder still await many workers who attempt to organize in a number of countries around the world, says a new ILO report. Review: Inconvenient History In may be cold comfort to Republicans, but the vote for Federation was every bit as tempestuous as this collection of articles shows. Satire: World Bank Caves In In a victory for Seattle protestors, international monetarists have decreed that global utopia to begin immediately.
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