Piers Watch

Piers - the Workers’ Friend?

It may have surprised some readers to see Piers defending trade union principles in his column this week.

Piers as the workers' friend? Well, not quite; more a case of Piers running the line of the Friends of Currawong who are opposed to the Corporate Renaissance proposal.

At first the opposition was environmental; then it was about access to the facilities; now its about the nature of the Corporate Renaissance philosophy.

Piers, a Pittwater resident, this week gave the critics unanswered access to his page, coming up with the quite bizarre suggestion that the state government compulsorily acquire the Labor Council property.

It seems there's no length a NIMBY will go to in order to stop change on their doorstop.

And like many NIMBYs, he has not even bothered to properly inform himself about the issues.

While Piers still has pretences to being a journalist, you would expect at least a call to Labor Council before he hit us with his bilious assault. But no; one side of a story is all our hero can digest.

We could go through his article and argue the points:

- the inaccurate linking of Corporate Renaissance with the Natural Law Party.

- the unsubstantiated claims against the Natural law Party's philosophies.

- Piers' dodgy accounting that overstates the charges to TUTA by nearly 50 per cent.

- the totally incorrect charges that the Labor Council is in "fiscal disarray:"

But those arguments are dealt with elsewhere in this issue. What Pierswatch finds more interesting is the bizarre alliance of high-profile media types lining up in opposition to the development.

Try this question in your next trivia quiz: What do Piers Akerman, Mick Carlton and Adele Horin have in common? They've all written one-sided raves against the proposal without taking the time to get the other side of the story.

Perhaps that's what happens when you scale the heights of the media; you have the power to promote your own interests anyway you can.

But the involvement of a media Mafia, reinforces the disquiet many in the union movement feel about the site not being utilised by a representative selection of workers.

Users are tilted as strongly towards journos and teachers as they are towards the northern suburbs and inner-city.

Make no mistake, it's fine for people to defend what they have. But to pretend you're fighting for some greater principle is disingenuous.

Like any important decision, the union movement must weigh the collective benefits of competing proposals. The Friends of Currawong may have friends in high, sometimes slimy, places. But at the end of the day, it will be a decision for the affiliates.

  View entire issue - print all of the articles!

  Issue 7 contents

»	Labor Council to Vote on Currawong Proposal
»	The Story So Far ...
»	Costa: What I’ll Do With The Dough
»	Friends of Currawong Plan: Borrow To Grow
»	Independent Evaluation Backs TM Plan
»	How the Voting Works

»	Guest Report
»	Sport
»	Trades Hall
»	Piers Watch

»	A Real Aussie Preamble
»	The Get Stuffed Tax
»	Laboring for Education
»	Tipping: No One Got Close

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