The Ten Commandments Stakes
The Howard Government's outlook is that of a religious fundamentalist regime, with all the contradictions that the term implies. It is committed to the ruthless pursuit of corporate profit, greed, inequality, vested interests, warmongering — all alongside the espousal of Christian values, which adds hypocrisy to the list. Here's a brief look at how Howard and his gang of apostles fare in the Ten Commandments Stakes. 1 "I am the Lord your God you shall have no other Gods before me" Howard, his Treasurer Peter Costello and other Ministers are regulars at the fundamentalist "hot gospel" Hillsong Church in Sydney. However, their obvious and unswerving determination to serve corporate interests indicates that they really worship the Great Gods, Money and the Finance Corporations. 2 "You shall make no graven image or any likeness of anything in heaven or earth, nor bow down to any such thing" "We won't just automatically click our heels and follow the Americans", avowed John Howard, in Sept 2002. But one year earlier, while bowing deeply, he had said: "I've indicated Australia will provide all support that might be requested of us by the United States in relations to any action that might be taken". Since then his actions, particularly those concerning foreign policy, defence and trade, have demonstrated that his later statement was correct, not his original one. 3 "You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain" In the narrowest sense of the term it's true that government members don't seem to frequently take God's name in vain. But surely breaking all the other commandments while proclaiming your piety has to be the worst sort of blasphemy! 4 "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labour and do all your work, but the seventh day is a day of rest" Since first being elected the Howard Government's deregulation of the labour market has given employers the means to greatly increase hours of work while reducing pay. More than half Australia's workforce now works seven days a week and the day of rest replaced by "flexible work practices" to satisfy the Financial gods. (And what about Christ's declaration that "The labourer is worthy of his hire"? They seem to have overlooked that one.) 5 "Honour your father and mother, that your days may be long in the land" "4600 more [aged care] places will come on line in the next three months", said Aged Care Minister Bronwyn Bishop, during the 2001 election campaign. However, officials from her department said they didn't provide the bed numbers to Bishop and didn't know where she got them from, and that only 1263 aged care beds "came on line" in the three months period. The number of places remains way below the level needed to care for those aged mothers and fathers. 6 "You shall not murder" A) In October 2001, 353 asylum seekers people died when their boat, the SIEV X, sank on route to Australia. Afterwards, Howard stated: "The boat did not sink in Australian waters". However, despite several government agencies trying to conceal the facts, subsequent evidence proved the vessel went down within waters under Australian responsibility. B) Tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis have been killed during the war waged on Iraq by the "coalition of the willing", of which Australia, to its eternal shame, remains a member. In February 2003 Howard declared: "Iraq's possession of chemical and biological weapons and [its] pursuit of nuclear capability poses a real and unacceptable threat to the stability and security of our world". However, a later Parliamentary Joint Committee stated: "Assessment by Australian agencies cast doubt on the suggestion that the Iraqi 'arsenal' represented a 'grave and immediate' and 'real and unacceptable' threat". Mr Howard might like to check the text of the ninth commandment in reference to these transgressions, too. 7 "You shall not commit adultery" Lots of parliamentarians, and others, have skeletons in this particular cupboard, and there's no reason to suppose that the members of the Howard Government are any holier than the rest of them in this respect! And just in case any of them claim they are, then "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone" as the Bible says. 8 "You shall not steal" A) "There never was a generation of stolen children", said Howard. True. It was more like several generations B) The Government is currently trying to steal East Timor's oil and gas. It conveniently overlooks the fact that the oil extraction platforms are within East Timorese territorial waters, being much closer to East Timor than to Australia. C) "The coalition will maintain expenditure on labour market programs", said Howard in February 1996. Labour market programs were cut by more than $1.8 billion over the following four years. D) The whole system of capitalist property relations, which Howard is sworn to uphold, is based on theft of the surplus value created by working people. 9 "You shall not bear false witness" A) In October 2001 Ministers Peter Reith and Philip Ruddock claimed asylum seekers had thrown children off their boat into the sea: Ruddock said: "Well, it did happen. The fact is children were thrown into the water". "All we know is that children were thrown in", added Reith, parrot fashion. However, on November 7, three days before the 2001 federal election, the Defence Force told Reith: "There was nothing to suggest that women and children had been thrown into the water". The Howard Government kept this information well and truly under its hat, and won the election. B) "There never was a generation of stolen children", said Howard. (See also No. 8) C) The Government accuses East Timor of wrongfully making a claim to its oil and gas. (See also No. 8) D) "Medicare will be retained in its entirety", said Howard, in February 1996. Tell that to patients now paying a doctor's fee for service! 10 "You shall not covet anything which is your neighbour's" A) The Howard Government covets the ABC on behalf of the commercial broadcasting industry, which in turn covets the market represented by ABC viewers and listeners. And, as demonstrated with several other government authorities in Australia, the first step in handing the ABC over to them would be to cut back its funding until it ceases to function adequately, and then dispose of it as an unsuccessful area of government activity. And lo and behold, in March 2001 Howard declared: "We made a cut in 1996 [$60 million to ABC funding] I acknowledge that". (Mind you, he assumed that people's memories are short, declaring in May 2003 that: "We said we would maintain ABC's funding in real terms and we have done that".) B) As indicated above, the Government certainly covets our neighbour East Timor's oil and gas in the Timor Straits. But just whose oil is it? (See no. 8) So how did the government go in the "Ten Commandment Stakes?" The government can only claim a technical "pass" with regard to number 3, but even this fails in the real sense in which the commandment was intended. So with all things considered, the government should really be marked down to 0/10. A quick glance and at what the Hillsong Church values — beliefs to which Howard and some of his extreme right colleagues adhere - - reveals that they bear no resemblance to the either the underlying principles of the 10 Commandments, or to what are commonly referred to as "Chrisitan values".