Dingo bytes
When Labor came to office in Victoria they were hailed as the saviours of the working people. Of course almost anything would have looked good after years of the slash-and-burn Kennett Government. Promises to fix the mess — in health, education, emergency services etc — brought public acclamations, but it didn't take long for Steve Bracks and his crew to show their true allegiance was to big business. So it was that in the state budget last week Treasurer John Brumby announced changes to emergency service laws to give employers more power to attack striking workers. And "emergency services" will now include "vital state construction projects". Brumby also outlined $400 million of annual tax cuts for business. At the same time the Government is attacking nurses for daring to take action for a wage rise. Now, transfer this state scenario to the federal sphere and the new Labor saviour, Mark Latham.* * * Conflict of interest department. A director of the biotechnology company Biotron is on two federally-funded committees which have awarded Biotron $2 million in federal science funding grants. Though Biotron has yet to release a product of any kind, it claims to have developed the means to block HIV, hep C, SARS and dengue fever. Give me a break!* * * The Australia East Timor Friendship Association last week organised protests against Australia's oil and gas grab in the Timor Sea. The Howard Government refuses to recognise the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea which provides that sea boundaries, such as that in the Timor Gap, run along the midline between two countries. If the Convention was applied most of the revenues being generated from the oil currently being drilled in the Timor Sea would go to East Timor. The Howard Government has so far stolen $1.7 billion of revenue from what is the poorest country in south-east Asia.* * * In the face of rising unemployment and increasing poverty the Government and business keep lauding the economy. "Float boom a $2.2 billion bonanza" and "Strong growth fuels budget's big spend" cry the headlines. Meanwhile, major corporations come crashing down one after the other. And last week accounting group Certified Practicing Accountants reported that in the first three months of this year there were 5222 personal bankruptcies in Australia, and increase of 7.1 percent.* * * CAPITALIST HOG OF THE WEEK: is supermarket giant Woolworths. The two supermarket chains that monopolise food retail in Australia, Woolworths and Coles, are pushing to take over the trade in pharmacy medicines that are currently covered by chemists. As usual they say it's all about delivering lower prices to consumers, but consumers know that's a load of rubbish. (Remember how deregulation of the dairy industry was going to reduce the price of supermarket milk?) It turns out that the pharmacy items Woolworths does sell are already priced at 56 percent more than at discount chemists!