Editorial:
Nationalise oil

The attempted takeover of Woodside Petroleum by Royal/Dutch Shell is 
part of the drive by global capital toward monopoly, a drive which has 
increased in speed and urgency. You wouldn't know this from the reason 
given by Treasurer Peter Costello, that Shell's bid would not be allowed to 
go to ahead "in the national interest", as though Woodside was in some way 
owned by Australia, i.e. by the people.

Of course, Woodside Petroleum is a privately owned corporation with huge 
resource investments. The perception that it is exploiting the liquefied 
natural gas on the North-West Shelf, for example, for the benefit of the 
Australian people, is driven by and promoted for short-term political gain 
by the Howard Government, which is facing defeat in the coming federal 
elections.

The Shell-Woodside issue was prominent in both the recent Queensland and 
Western Australian elections, created in part by the One Nation party, 
which played a tune about the takeover on its nationalist fiddle to try and 
influence voters.

As it turned out that ploy did not work as the more progressive parties, 
the Greens in particular, made the bigger gains in both States. This did 
not deter the Howard Government from playing the same song; such is the 
depth of their desperation and opportunism.

Royal/Dutch Shell owns 34 percent of Woodside already and wants to increase 
that to 56 percent. Costello's "national interests", if it amounts to 
anything at all, means defending the interests of the major shareholders in 
Woodside over those of the major shareholders in Shell — until after the 
elections.

To put it more into perspective, again using the North-West Shelf project 
as an example, Woodside, Shell, BP, BHP, Chevron and Mitsubishi-Mitsui, all 
transnational corporations, are sharing in the plunder in that project off 
the coast of Western Australia, with the unwavering support of the 
Treasurer and his Government.

The transnational corporations are merging and carrying out takeovers 
world-wide at a phenomenal rate in pursuit of monopoly control and new 
heights of exploitation in all spheres of production. Thanks to the pro-
corporate policies of successive governments, Australia is a part of this 
global caravan of greed, which is coordinated by the World Trade 
Organisation. The alternative is for government to take control of our 
resources, including oil, with the goal of nationalising them for the true 
benefit of the people.

* * *

Guns And political commitment

April 28 was the fifth anniversary of the Port Arthur massacre in 
Tasmania. It is a tragic and chilling reminder of that terrible day that 
there is still easy access to all manner of weapons in Australia. Each 
fortnight an Australian is murdered with a hand gun and there are now an 
estimated 300,000 hand guns in circulation throughout the country.

Between 1995 and 1999, the percentage of handguns used in firearm related 
homicides grew from 13 percent to 42 percent. Despite this the restrictions 
on semi-automatic hand guns are weaker than those for semi-automatic 
rifles.

All someone has to do to obtain a Category H licence for a hand gun is to 
be a member of a shooting club, have no prior convictions and no history of 
mental illness. This licence allows the owner to obtain a high powered, 
semi-automatic hand gun which can carry 15 or more rounds.

In 1999, over 350 people were killed with guns in Australia, with the rate 
of handgun fatalities rising sharply. Gun manufacturers importers and 
retailers are dealing in death. The Howard Government used the Port Arthur 
massacre to promote itself as being in favour of gun control, putting in 
place some positive measures. But five years on, the situation has 
worsened.

The tiny minority gun lobby has strong political clout, in particular in 
the Government's Coalition partner, the National Party and in the ranks of 
the Liberal Party itself. On the anniversary of Port Arthur, Greens Senator 
Bob Brown called on the Government and the ALP to commit to uniform 
national action for the banning of semi-automatic hand guns.

Guns kill... aided and abetted by the lack of political commitment to do 
something about them.