8 February 2012 - click here for index of articles
Defence posture review – Refining plans for war
Last week, Australian Defence Minister Stephen Smith released a progress report on a Defence Posture Review kicked off last year. Former defence secretaries Allan Hawke and Ric Smith were asked to consider: more ...
Editorial – Clash of visions
Two leaders, two speeches, described by the Australian newspaper as “clash of the visions”. Labor PM Julia Gillard was addressing the Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce on February 1. Opposition Liberal Party leader Tony Abbott’s audience the day before was the National Press Club. Anyone listening to their long-winded, highly repetitive speeches could be forgiven for thinking they were written by the same spin-doctor. There was little difference in the language and the main thrust of each vision was more of the same neo-liberal, pro-business “free market” policies. more ...
Should trade unions struggle? – For unity in struggle
I would like to expose some ways finance sector workers struggle on a day-to-day basis. From my experience I could assert that the main issues affecting these workers are: job insecurity, unfair wages, pressure to perform, micro-management and bullying and harassment. more ...
Equal Pay – Vigilance required
Fair Work Australia’s (FWA) long-awaited Equal Remuneration decision for social and community services workers (SACS) was greeted with mixed feelings of jubilation and disappointment. The unions and their members were jubilant, having won an important victory, a new milestone in the ongoing struggle for equal pay. The disappointment is that the decision will not be fully implemented until December 2020, and that there are no guarantees that some of the increase will not be funded by cuts in employment, resources and services to the community. more ...
What does Libya tell us about intervention in Syria and Iran?
As regional war threatens drastic and unforeseen consequences in the Middle East some commentators claim that humanitarian benefits justify Western intervention in repressive states. This claim is worth considering in the context of the events that have befallen Libya. more ...
Lorenzo Torrez, copper miner, Communist leader, dies at 84
Lorenzo Torrez, leader of the Communist Party, a staunch yet quiet spoken fighter for union rights and Mexican American equality, died New Years Day in Tucson. He was 84. more ...
A lasting symbol of Indigenous unity
On a cold and rainy morning 40 years ago, four young Koori men erected a beach umbrella on the manicured lawns outside Parliament House in Canberra and dubbed the modest structure “the Aboriginal Embassy”. more ...
Culture & Life – US on the outer, Hungary in turmoil
So far, 2012 has not turned out to be a resounding success for the USA, despite the way it likes to define itself as “the world’s only superpower”. Sure, it knocked off defenceless oil-rich Libya, but had to do so through NATO, with the unwelcome result that now it has to share Libya’s riches with European rival and periodic critic France. more ...
Over 9 years worth of sharp humour from The Guardian's very own cartoonist Pete Andrew can be accessed from the main menu – or just click here.
Chaser – Qantas “Still Call Australia Home” Spoof
Australian Mining – “This is the real story”
Check out this satire of the mining advertisement that ran on Australian television.
My Water’s On Fire Tonight (The Fracking Song)
Corporation representatives have admitted that fracking fluids penetrate aquifers, but they claim that pressure injection occurs at great depths, so water extracted for drinking and agriculture from aquifers at higher levels is unaffected. However, many cases of ruined water supplies in Australia, Canada and the United States have disproved this. In some towns near CSG mining sites piped water can even be set alight because of the presence of methane and fracking chemicals.
The cost of the war for Australia:
This brings to 33 Australians killed (32 with the Australian Defence Force and one with the British Armed Forces), 212 wounded.
900 soldiers have been compensated as a result of their service in Afghanistan for injuries sustained in that country; the listed injuries were injuries relating to psychological and physical harm. A cost that is ongoing.
Australia has spent $10 bill on the war in Afghanistan, the cost goes up by $110 million per month. This money could have been spent on more socially useful needs.
In 2011, 1500 Afghan civilians have lost their life an increase of 15% on 2010.
In October and November 2011 3 Australian soldiers have been killed and 10 wounded by Afghan army personnel in 2 separate incidents.
Commenting on the recent death of 3 Australian soldiers in Afghanistan Mike Carlton expressed a sentiment we would all agree with: “How many more young Diggers must lose their lives, how many Australian homes must know aching sorrow, before we recognize that we have no place in this dirty, unwinnable Afghan War. (SMH 5-6/11/2011)
(Details updated 16/11/2011.)
Bring the troops home now.
This web page was last updated:
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
