Dingo bytes
An email released to Greenpeace under freedom of information shows that the Howard Government offered Queensland energy company, Southern Pacific Petroleum, a $36.4 million dollar grant on the proviso that it took legal action against the conservation group. The Government does not deny that it offered the bribe. Instead it claims that as the money was not taken up, the issue was redundant. Just goes to show, under this system you can justify anything.* * * International performers such as Michael Franti and Spearhead, along with locals such as The Warumpi Band and Spiderbait, have come together to produce a CD to raise awareness the campaign to save Tasmania's forests. The production of the CD has been coordinated by the Huon Valley Environment Centre. Also available is an information booklet containing local artwork and Tasmanian forest facts. Funds from the sale of the CD will be donated to Huon Environment Centre and Native Forest Network, which work to protect Tasmania's Forests. "Tasmania's southern forests are being clearfelled, burned and poisoned by woodchip-driven industrial forest practices", said spokesperson Jenny Weber. "Forests like those of the Weld Valley have been recognised for their World Heritage values and deserve immediate protection." For more info phone Jenny on 0429 966 171 or www.talloonne.com.* * * A former head of the NSW Premier's Department has made a stinging attack on Federal and State Governments, saying that public servants are in danger of being cowed into silence. Gerry Gleeson has warned that the public servant is no longer able to offer frank and fearless political advice to their bosses because of employment contracts that allow them to be sacked without reason. Mr Gleeson has also called for a halt on residential development in the Sydney CBD foreshores, and warned against the rise of public private partnerships.* * * Three of the major banks, the CBA, NAB, and ANZ, and a bunch of mortgage brokers, have been caught napping by a group of wily swindlers. It involves a real estate scam in which one of the gang buys a property, sells it to another at a hugely inflated price who takes out a large mortgage well above the value of the poperty, providing false a ID to the bank. The two then share the profit, the original purchaser appearing clean, the accomplice having vanished beyond trace and the bank foreclosing to find it has a huge debt. As Berthold Brecht put it, as a crime, robbing a bank is nothing compared to setting up a bank.* * * CAPITALIST HOG OF THE WEEK: has to go to the Commonwealth Bank Chief Executive Officer David Murray. Murray, who is also head of the Business Council of Australia's Education Taskforce, has announced that he believes the governance of Australia's universities should be left up to business. Naturally, he is a loyal supporter of Education Minister Brendan Nelson and his anti-union offensive in the universities announced earlier this year.