Issue No 71 | 15 September 2000 | |
Letters to the EditorListen To The Young
I took last Thursday off work - so sick I began to read a Readers Digest from March 1986. It contained a jingoistic article, "What's behind the name", on Australian business successes. There was everything from Vegimite to the modern tennis ball. A little over a decade later, and only one of the inventions or innovative businesses praisd by Readers Digest remained in Australian hands. Every Australian should be conerned at the impact of globalisation and our overall economic direction, and not just because our dollar is now virtually worthless. Last year, I wrote to the Treasurer pointing out a conflict of interest in relation to an appointee to the New Tax System Advisory Board. In a civil legal action, it became clear that one appointee had participated in a tax avoidance scheme that deprived the Commonwealth of millions of dollars needed for hospitals, roads and schools. The scheme used was promoted by murdered lawyer, Max Green. The inquest into his death revealled that, in addition to promoting tax schemes to the rich, Green was involved in criminal money laundering, drug dealing and illegal arms sales. No business associate of Green's would be a fit and proper person to advise the Treasurer on taxation policy. Or has Australia become a Banana Republic for more reasons than just is underperforming currency? I did not get a considered reply from the Treasurer, not even an acknowledgement. The letter, it seems, was simply binned. Every Australian will need to decide for themselves whether the police acted responsibly in beating protestors who were determined to shut down the World Economic Forum. After all, everyone has the right to meet and organise, whether they are billionaires or Nike workers. But in making this judgement, please do so on the basis of the alternatives were really available to protestors. At least with the current arrogant Treasurer, one of these alternative was not to write and express a view on economic policy and expect that that view would be taken seriously. Violence cannot be justified just because a politician did not answer a letter. But when the basic democratic right of every citizen to write to a Member of Parliament can no longer be taken for granted, some people will take direct action. The broader labour movement, including the established political parties of the Left, need to communicate with young people and assure them that their concerns will always be heard. Noel Baxendale
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Interview: Surviving The Firestorm After several years as the focus of some brutal politics Carmen Lawrence is back on the ALP front bench. She talks to Workers Online about her new portfolio, unions and the ALP and mud slinging in politics. History: Unions, Sport and Community Remember when sport was a fun way to relax after arduous labour? The fight for the eight-hour work day was based around a slogan that said, in part, eight hours work, eight hours play. The play was unpaid and unsung, but enjoyable. Politics: Global Failures Sharan Burrow told the World Economic Forum this week that the union movement acknowledges the benefits of globalisation but it's time to address the failures. International: Mobile Workers A global IT labour shortage is throwing up challenges for both the developed and developing world. Gerd Rohde, from the Geneva-based Union Network International, is working to strike a balance. Unions: Stuffed or Stoned? In a recent dispute at the South Blackwater Coal Mine in Central Queensland CFMEU members resisted the introduction of random drug testing in the absence of a better strategy to test impairment and not just lifestyle. Review: A Perfect Circle- Mer de Noms Peter Zangari believes the music world has moved on from the simplistic chords of Nirvana and Soundgarden and the grunge scene has been obliterated. But like most other things, especially music, it re-invents itself. Satire: Silly 2000 Editors demand something happen: �We�ve got 300 Olympic pages to fill and everyone is training�.
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