Dingo bytes
An information package that whitewashes the Federal Government's treatment of refugees has been soundly and roundly rejected by schools, parents and teachers. The kit, which has been sent to 11,000 schools at a cost to taxpayers of $100,000, doesn't deal with children in detention and describes refugees being "settled in" by Australians. The NSW Federation of Parents' and Citizens Associations pointed out that there is always a great deal of consultation on material that goes into curriculum at schools. "For the minister [Amanda Vanstone] to just send this off her own bat is unbelievable." The Independent Education Union has rejected it as propaganda and recommended that its members "treat the kit with the contempt it deserves". The Australian Education Union noted that it says nothing about the treatment of child asylum seekers.* * * The trust fund James Hardie set up for the victims of its decades of asbestos production has been found to be $1.3 billion short for the payment of the necessary amount of compensation. The company criminally set up the fund then skipped out of the country and set up headquarters in the Netherlands.* * * The newest piece of anti-democratic legislation proposed by the NSW Carr Government is to change the Bail Act so that people charged with terrorist-related activities are automatically refused bail. If passed, the law will breach the UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.* * * According to the latest figures from the Australian Institute of Criminology, homicides from handguns are on the increase — up 42% in 1998/99; 47.5% in 1999/2000; 55% in 2002/03. But overall homicides with a firearm have declined. "These latest figures show that there is a dangerous anomaly in our existing gun laws in Australia i.e. the legal availability of handguns", says the chair of the National Coalition for Gun Control, Samantha Lee. Though the tightening of gun laws in 1996 has seen the reduction overall in such crimes, handgun crime continues to increase. This is because the 1996 agreement between state and federal governments did not include the outlawing of handguns.* * * CAPITALIST HOG(S) OF THE WEEK: are the two major parties. Suddenly, everyone's green! There must be an election coming. PM Howard has announced the extension of a renewable energy scheme to green his image up. It's all about preferences — on which the election most likely will be decided — and who the Greens will give them to. The ALP's recruitment of Peter Garrett, lawyer and collaborator with big business over environment questions, is the most obvious pitch for green votes, though it's blown up somewhat in their faces. When it was revealed that Garret was not even registered to vote, all in one day last week he not only registered, but joined the Labor Party and a union, the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance. In politics such apparently small issues can sometimes have surprisingly far-reaching implications. People are not blind to such cynical opportunism.