
Issue No 57		09 June 2000

LaborNET	Ask Neale	Tool of the Week

Environment

MUA Snail Men Honoured

By Zoe Reynolds

Brisbane wharfies Lehi Munday and Mal Monro look an unlikely Watson and Sherlock double, but their keen detective work has helped win the Southern Queensland MUA Branch two national environment awards.

Mal and Lehi are among a dozen members employed at Cargolink, Fishermen's Island protecting the community from such villains as the exotic giant snail (above), lizards, bees and bugs which smuggle themselves into the country on containers from Asia and the Pacific.

"We call it the snail pit," said Mal.

Cargo link is the only purpose built vermin trap in the nation. And MUA members work alongside quarantine keenly inspecting every container inside and out before they are cleared for pick up. So good is their detective work they have apprehended as many as 40 snails in one investigation,

creatures as potentially damaging to the Australian environment as the now infamous cane toad.

"We all take turns," said Mal. "When the boxes come in they are placed on the stand, one by one, so we can walk under them. Then we put up a ladder so quarantine can get on top. Any empty ones we help them check inside. Anything with an insect or reptile on it we fumigate. Our record is 114

boxes in one day."

This May the Maritime Union of Australia was judged winner of both the 'Community and Individual Contribution to Quarantine' award and 'Contribution to the Environment' award. Deputy Secretary Trevor Munday was flown to Canberra on May 23 for the presentation. "Quarantine work is part

of the union's commitment to social justice and the environment," he said.

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  Issue 57 contents

Interview: Cocky Labor
On the eve of State Conference, Country Labor convenor Tony Kelly outlines how Labor is stealing the ground from under the National Party's feet.

Economics: Millenium Work Ethics - A New Social Partnership?
The future of work in the twenty-first century will be both provocative and challenging, according to Professor Russell Lansbury.

Politics: Extracting the Digit
Labor's federal communications spokesman Stehpen Smith outlines the Party's position on the controversial datacasting legislation currently before Parliament.

History: Hot Off the Press
Check out what's in the latest issue of Labour History - A Journal of Labour and Social History,

International: The East Timor of Africa
Nobel laureate Jose Ramos Horta will this week tell a Sydney audience of the parallels between East Timor and the nation described as the last colony in Africa - the Western Sahara.

Environment: MUA Snail Men Honoured
Brisbane wharfies Lehi Munday and Mal Monro look an unlikely Watson and Sherlock double, but their keen detective work has helped win the Southern Queensland MUA Branch two national environment awards.

Satire: Howard Says 'Sorry'
In a startling apology to the Aboriginal community, Prime Minister John Howard said last night he was deeply sorry that he turned up to the Corroboree 2000 celebrations.

Review: Front Stage and Pulp Fiction
The Waterfront War has made the transition from industrial showdown to cultural icon. Now it's inspiring artists.

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» Needle Stick Injury Sparks Waste Strike

» Security Guard Wins $100,000 in Back Pay

» Paddy Troy Memorial Prize

» Robbo for Post-Conference Smoko