Dingo
Alan Ramsey informs us in The Sydney Morning Herald of the Howard Government's new-found generosity in handing out pay increases. Not to workers — it opposes every wage rise even for the lowest paid workers — but to those at the very top of the public service hierarchy. The country's 22 most senior public servants, including the Commissioner of Taxation, the CEO of Customs and the heads of the departments of Prime Minister and Cabinet and Defence and Treasury, are to get increases of up to $300 per week. Bribes in an election year?* * * Apple and pear growers are up in arms over plans to allow the importation of New Zealand apples. Growers took to the streets in Australia's capitals last week to protest against Federal Government plans to scale down quarantine protection. The main fear is the introduction of fire blight disease, which Australia is free of at the moment. "Fire blight would be a social and economic disaster", warns Jon Durham of growers' organisation Apple and Pear Australia. He said the disease has the potential to effectively destroy the Australian apple and pear industries, at a cost of $1 billion over six years and threatening 250,000 jobs. That's free trade for you!* * * Former Victorian premier John Cain threw the cat among the pigeons last week when he suggested that the state's organised crime network was connected to Melbourne's Crown Casino, owned by none other than Kerry Packer. This led to a suggestion that the Bracks' Government is stalling on an inquiry into police corruption in order to protect the casino and its filthy rich and powerful owner. Crown Casino has rejected any suggestion that money laundering is taking place. Of course! How could we have imagined that organised crime could have anything to do with gambling?* * * CAPITALIST HOG OF THE WEEK: is former Telstra board member William Owens. Last month Admiral Owens resigned from the board of Telstra — yes, Admiral. He was the commander of the US Sixth Fleet in the 1991 Gulf War and vice-chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff. He had been on the board of Telstra for six years. Q: How was it that an American Admiral ended up on the board of a majority publicly-owned telecommunications company, I hear you ask. A: He's on the privatisation gravy train. When he retired from the navy he became chairman of the US telco Teledesic as well as a director of a number of US transnationals such as Daimler-Chrysler and British-American Tobacco. Two years ago he became chairman — then president and chief executive — of Nortel Networks, the biggest telecommunications manufacturer in North America. Nortel is currently under investigation for "accounting irregularities".