INDEX

 

1. Union rights – Build the movement
2. Editorial – Powerhouse to the people
3. Solidarity with Sandino’s children
4. Battle lines drawn – Wintawari Guruma people take on Fortescue Metals
5. Australia needs a pay rise
6. First Peoples have come last in the latest budget
7. What’s going on with our democracy? – Open letter
8. Dutton’s lies cost lives
9. Cuts to ABC “dangerous and irresponsible”
10. Coal mine would cause river to “dry up”
11. A place to call home – A letter to the editor
12. Culture & Life – The poison gas conspiracy

 

 

 

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1. Union rights

Build the movement

Anna Pha

The Department of Public Prosecutions (DPP) last week dropped charges of the serious criminal offence of “blackmail” against two Victorian construction union officials. The charges were yet another attempt to criminalise legitimate trade union activity which has served workers well for many decades.

Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) secretary Sally McManus said, “I welcome the withdrawal of these charges – they should never have been laid.”

Govt after more blood

The Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union has already paid around $10 million in penalties and damages in relation to alleged blockades and boycotts against the concrete company Boral during its dispute with construction giant Grocon.

But the Turnbull government was not satisfied with that. It wanted more blood, the blood of individuals, by seeking heavy personal fines or jail sentences with the charge of blackmail.

Union secretary John Setka and assistant secretary Shaun Reardon faced up to 10 years in jail if convicted. They had been living with this cloud over their heads since they were charged in 2015 under section 87 of Victoria’s Crimes Act. Their families had also experienced considerable pressure.

The allegations of blackmail arose out of a dispute with construction company Grocon and a blockade of concrete deliveries by Boral over the appointment of union occupational health and safety representatives at Grocon building sites.

Case collapses

It became clear to the court when the evidence in the committal hearing was presented that there was no case to meet the requirements of the legislation to be convicted of blackmail. The legislation requires that the unionists made “unwarranted demands with menaces”.

One Boral executive told the court that the mood of the meeting between CFMEU officials and Boral executives where the threats had allegedly been made was “calm, it was pleasant ... There was no overt aggression ... .” Another Boral executive admitted that he did not view the comments as threats at the time.

It is highly questionable whether the charges of blackmail, a serious criminal offence would stand up to a legal challenge as it was in relation to an industrial dispute. This is covered by the Fair Work Act and the Act setting up the Australian Building and Construction Commission.

The attack by the government and employers arises out of the discredited Heydon Royal Commission that was nothing short of a political witch-hunt against trade unions, the CFMEU in particular, and their officials.

The Royal Commission, in which the normal rules of evidence did not apply, was an $80 million splurge of taxpayers’ money used to vilify and smear the reputations of union officials and trade unions. The blackmail charges arise out of it.

The class conscious construction division of the CFMEU that has consistently fought for its members was the principal, but not the only, target of this expensive exercise conducted by Justice Heydon.

A number of trade unions have called for the repeal of these and other laws that are aimed at outlawing the right to fight. Their repeal is long over-due.

“It is not acceptable for any government to attack the elected representatives of working people in order to advance their political agenda,” McManus said.

“John Setka and Shaun Reardon have stood up for working people in the Victorian construction industry. They stood up for safety in an extremely dangerous industry.

“And for doing that they have faced unwarranted and discredited criminal charges. Working people deserve answers about how this happened.”

McManus also said she rejects the criminalisation of industrial disputes and that the charging of Setka and Reardon is out of step with industrial law in democratic countries.

In a media release last year, she commented that, “Right now, we are seeing widespread abuse of our industrial laws by employers who are stealing money from the pockets of working families or seriously exploiting temporary visa workers. Disregarding our laws that protect working people has become a business model for too many employers.

“On one hand we see the leaders of working people being pursued and dragged through the court for standing up for working people, on the other we see the Turnbull government ignoring daily abuse of working people by some employers.”

It was a great opportunity for Labor leader Bill Shorten to defend trade union rights and trade unions. Instead, Shorten responds by saying he will “not protect” lawbreakers within the trade union movement.

It is clear that Labor has no intention of abolishing the Fair Work Act and other repressive, anti-union laws, let alone legislating for the right to strike.

According to the draft policy document for the upcoming National Conference of the ALP, paid union officials face fines of up to $216,000 if they act in a way that “materially prejudice the interests of the union or its members.” In other words if their actions result in a fine or damages payment.

The draft policy may also be referring to Labor’s plans to give the Australian Securities and Investments Commission the power to investigate serious contraventions of the Fair Work (Registered Organisations) Act as if trade unions were corporations and union officials were paid executives on multi-million dollar salary packages.

The draft policy also states: “Labor will abolish the Australian Building and Construction Commission.” They said that last time, but all they delivered was slightly revamped legislation giving the Australian Building and Construction Commission a new name, bringing it under the Fair Work umbrella and restoring fines to the same level as in other industries.

Act now for real change

Relying on the battery of union-bashing laws to be repealed and replaced by democratic legislation recognising basic trade union rights and freedoms requires a lot more than a swing back to Labor in Parliament.

Only the strength of a mass campaign of democratic and left and progressive forces outside of parliament can achieve this. Such a movement cannot be built overnight.

If the union movement is to survive the current offensive then it will require maximum unity of all trade unions and strong relations with and support from the community. The independence of trade unions is an important part of this struggle – by those who are on the side of the working class.

The CPA supports this struggle for unity and the rights of workers to form unions. We campaign for:

Independent trade unions

Legalisation of the right to strike

Rights for workplace union representatives

Union representatives on company boards elected by the workers 

Union run labour hiring halls and an end to labour hire companies

Allow and protect rights to collective bargaining

Full inspection rights to workplaces for union officials.

If you would like to join us or become a supporter, then call your nearest CPA contact (details on website) or phone the CPA on 02 9699 8844 or send an email to the CPA, info@cpa.org.au. Or you can use the link on the CPA website, cpa.org.au. We look forward to hearing from you!

 

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2. Editorial – Powerhouse to the people

The NSW Coalition government’s appalling decision to relocate Sydney’s famous Powerhouse Museum sets an extremely dangerous precedent for Australia’s state governments.

The decision’s principal beneficiaries would be big property developers. Relocation would free up the 2.6-hectare harbour-side site just west of the city for massive redevelopment, as former Premier Mike Baird declared gleefully in 2016.

Current Premier Gladys Berejiklian recently made vague suggestions about retaining a “powerhouse presence” at Ultimo, or converting the building to a theatre for Broadway musicals or fashion displays. But the Coalition’s track record indicates clearly that the site would be redeveloped as high-rise apartments offering spectacular harbour views for billionaire owners.

Redevelopment would inevitably involve the loss of all or part of the historically significant parts of the original building, which is on the Register of the National Trust, and demolition of the Museum extension which won the 1988 Sulman award for architecture.

Building an additional museum at Parramatta is fully justified. But the Powerhouse is the only museum of its type in Australia. It’s a major attraction for tourists and Sydneysiders, adults and children. Its central location at Ultimo offers maximum accessibility for all visitors, and it should stay where it is.

Relocation would strip the Museum of an essential element of its cultural significance, not only because the building is historically important in its own right, but also because the building and the artefacts enhance interpretation of each other.

The Ultimo Power Station generated power for Sydney trams and represented state-of-the-art technology when it opened in 1899. The Musée d’Orsay in Paris, formerly a railway station, and London’s Tate Modern, formerly a power station, are magnificent examples of the reuse of industrial buildings, but both now exhibit fine art.

In contrast, the Powerhouse Museum buildings and the artefacts they display share a common interpretive theme of technological development.

The relocation proposal is adamantly opposed by the National Trust. Last week museum conservation specialist and former Power House Museum trustee Kylie Winkworth commented bitterly:

“The Powerhouse Museum ... has brought joy and wonder to millions of visitors ... No government anywhere in the world has closed a major state museum to move it out of the city to a less accessible location ... [or] ... forced a major museum to give up its historic site, with purpose-designed infrastructure and state-of-the-art facilities.

“... This is shameless asset stripping of cultural infrastructure, land and buildings that belong to the people of NSW, held in trust for current and future generations. ....

“... Everyone supports the claims for an iconic state museum in Parramatta. But the government can’t explain why a new museum in Parramatta must entail closing the Powerhouse at Ultimo.

“... Where is the cultural equity in spending $1.2 billion on a new museum in Parramatta, just 23 kilometres from the city, for no net cultural gain, without a plan for museums in the rest of western Sydney and NSW? Just 10 percent of the cost of moving the Powerhouse would build 12 new regional museums at a cost of $10 million each.”

The Ultimo Powerhouse was closed in 1961 when Sydney’s vast, highly efficient tram network was decommissioned, an act that benefited the auto industry but not public transport passengers.

Ironically, the NSW government has now been forced to build a new tram network to overcome chronic traffic congestion, but it’s still building the nation’s biggest new toll road system, which will feed even more vehicles into the city.

Hydrologist John Macintosh, adviser to the inquiry into Queensland’s fatal Grantham flood, said the relocated museum would be at risk from once-in-20-year floods, and that the building’s bulk and riverside location would heighten the risk of inundation and drownings.

The NSW Labor opposition is said to be reviewing its initial support for the proposal.

And so it should! Relocation would involve spending $1.2 billion of taxpayers’ money ripping one of the nation’s greatest museums out of its historic context, in order to allow some profit-hungry billionaire developer to acquire the site, probably for 20 percent of the cost of the Museum’s relocation. That’s an act of corruption on a monumental scale.

The people of NSW must force the government to reverse its decision to relocate the Powerhouse Museum, or the floodgates will open for similar actions in every city in Australia.

 

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3. Solidarity with Sandino’s children

For more than a decade, Nicaragua has been an example for Latin America and the Caribbean in the development of peace, equality, inclusion, security and significant social advances for its people. Commander Daniel Ortega, who has historically raised and defended the flag of the Sandinista Front with his own life, was re-elected in November 2016 by the overwhelming majority of 70 percent of the electoral vote, in an election of unquestionable democratic character exercise that was monitored by a number of different domestic and international organisations.

Since April 18, groups committed to vandalism and violence have been trying to undermine the internal order of the country through blood and fire. Masquerading as protesters against the social security reform package that the government was negotiating with employers in order to safeguard achieved gains, these groups have manipulated vulnerable sectors of the population contrary to the overall interests of the people.

The protests initiated by students of private universities, that has used weapons of aggression, has spread to 10 cities, setting fires to university centres, hospitals, city halls, destruction of monuments to Sandino and homes of Sandinistas. They have provoked the security forces, disrupted transportation, kidnapped people and have left a tragic death toll while planting panic in Nicaraguan families.

In conjunction, the big business media has started a narrative with the real objective being the overthrow of Daniel Ortega, Rosario Murillo and getting Sandinismo out of power.

The aggressors are being treated as victims and talk of reform has been replaced by regime change all in the name of democracy. The instructions are clear: keep the flames of the protests going and demand the resignation of the government.

The script of the soft coup applied in Honduras against Zelaya, in Paraguay against Lugo, in Brazil against Dilma Rousseff, is the same one they want to impose in Bolivarian Venezuela against Maduro and that they now intend to impose on Ortega; literally following Washington’s manual of unconventional war with the clear objective of bringing the countries of Latin America back into the neo-liberal orbit of imperialism and the re-establishment of the Monroe Doctrine.

Organisations of the continental right are asking the discredited OAS for the presence of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and are requesting the servile secretary Luis Almagro to apply the Inter-American Democratic Charter which is synonymous with intervention and implanting more puppet governments into the region.

Meanwhile the White House is playing its part by withdrawing diplomatic staff from its embassy in Managua and issuing a travel advisory to Nicaragua.

We repudiate the violent escalation, the brutal aggression against Nicaraguan families, their institutions and the symbols of Sandinismo.

We support Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo who from the first moment have called for dialogue and peace for which so much blood was shed by Sandino’s children.

We call on friends from all over the world to be alert and mobilized in solidarity with the government and the Nicaraguan people.

No Pasarán!!

International Committee for

Peace, Justice and Dignity

 

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4. Battle lines drawn

Wintawari Guruma people take on Fortescue Metals

Darren Coyne

The fight to save Ice Age relics from a present-day mining venture in the Pilbara region of Western Australia is heating up. Mining giant Fortescue Metals Group (FMG), supported by WA Aboriginal Affairs Minister Ben Wyatt, have squared off against the Wintawari Guruma Aboriginal Corporation (WGAC) and 23,000 years of history.

The opponents are locked in an ongoing battle over just three kilometres of a 130-kilometre railway that would extend the mining operations of billionaire mining magnate Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest’s FMG.

The dispute revolves around Spear Valley, a place considered sacred to Eastern Guruma people, who have pleaded with Fortescue not to proceed with state government approvals to destroy sites in the valley, but rather move the three kilometre stretch elsewhere.

WGAC argues that Spear Valley features rock shelters, wall niches and rock art that recent archaeological studies have dated back to at least 23,000 years.

During negotiations over the railway route, WGAC director Tony Bevan has accused FMG of “one-way” consultation, and the minister’s office of ignoring submissions for further assessments of sites earmarked for destruction.

Mr Bevan maintains that, while WGAC was working under a state government permit to assess the significance of Spear Valley, Mr Wyatt approved the destruction of the very sites being examined.

Commonwealth review

WGAC responded by lodging an application to the Commonwealth for a review, prompting the appointment last month of a Melbourne-based barrister to examine the process and report back to federal Environment Minister Josh Frydenberg.

The application requires Frydenberg to decide if the site destruction approvals contravene the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act 1984.

Wintawari Guruma Aboriginal Corporation chairman Glen Camille said the application was made after the WA government “outsourced its responsibility to protect unique Aboriginal heritage to FMG”.

Mr Wyatt described Mr Camille as being “petulant”.

Away from the media front, the Supreme Court of Western Australia has also been tasked with determining the legality of the minister’s decision after WGAC lodged an application for a judicial review into the approval.

A court decision is still forthcoming.

Despite the ongoing controversy over the railway route, FMG has moved ahead with plans for its $1.5-billion Eliwana iron ore project that the proposed railway would service.

Last week, applications were lodged with the WA Environmental Protection Authority to build accommodation, access roads, an airstrip and water pipelines at the Eliwana site, which is west of FMG’s existing Solomon Hub operation.

Fortescue has also sought approvals for two worker camps, access roads, water pipelines and two bridges crossing existing rail and road.

FMG chief executive Elizabeth Gaines last month said the mining company had worked closely with the Eastern Guruma people to secure heritage approvals for the railway.

“We remain optimistic that through ongoing engagement important cultural heritage can be managed appropriately, while also increasing economic opportunities for Eastern Guruma people,” she said.

Eastern Guruma people obviously disagree, and are now waiting for the verdict of not only the WA Supreme Court, but also the federal government.

Koori Mail

 

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5. Australia needs a pay rise

On the eve of the quarterly wages growth figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the peak trade union body has made its final arguments to the Fair Work Commission for a substantial pay rise for 2.3 million low-wage and award-dependent workers around the country.

The ACTU has asked for a $50 a week pay rise for people on the minimum wage – a rise of 7.2 percent. This would bring the minimum wage towards the peak body’s target of a living wage that is 60 percent of the median wage.

The wage price index announcement is expected to continue the trend of near-record low wages growth.

ACTU secretary Sally McManus said that Australia needs a pay rise, with corporations making record profits while working people continue to struggle. This is in addition to the penalty rates cut and people along with the lack of pay increases people need to keep up with basic living expenses like housing, power and childcare.

“When working people – especially people on low incomes – get a pay rise, they spend it. This is good for everyone. It means more customers for local businesses, which means more jobs for the people they hire to keep up with that demand, noted McManus.

“The behaviour of the big business lobby – who have called for either pay freezes or pay cuts for low-paid workers – shows that bosses won’t give pay rises unless they have to.

“It’s time for us to build the power that forces fair pay rises, and to demand that the Turnbull government uses its power to force a substantial rise to the minimum wage.

“We will continue to campaign for a living wage whatever the outcome of this current wage review.”

 

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6. First Peoples have come last in the latest budget

Federal Treasurer Scott Morrison’s 2018-19 budget has come under fire for neglecting lndigenous people, being racially discriminatory and allocating nearly $50 million towards a Captain Cook memorial.

However, federal Indigenous Affairs Minister Nigel Scullion said First Australians would benefit from a stronger economy, more jobs and guaranteed essential services.

“We are delivering tax relief to hard-working Australian families, guaranteeing the essential services in health, education and community safety that all Australians rely upon, returning the budget to a credible trajectory to surplus, while setting the stage for a return of business confidence and the jobs boom,” he said. “We are also ensuring that First Australians have their fair share of this economic success.”

Western Australian Labor Senator Pat Dodson told the ABC that, from a First Nations perspective, the budget was “unimaginative and disastrous”.

“The whole approach of this government is neglectful of First Nations people in the remote areas,” he said.

Discarded

“Overall, it’s a bit like being a kid who’s in a foster home watching all the other kids get a present off the Christmas tree and being left to pick up the glittering wrappers and hopefully play with the busted toys once they have discarded.”

The National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples said the budget had once again failed to significantly address many of the key concerns of Indigenous communities, organisations, and peoples.

“First Peoples have come last,” they said in a statement.

“The government’s priority for First Australians focuses primarily on economic prosperity. While many would welcome this outcome, the government’s roadmap to accomplishing this prosperity is fanciful, incoherent and sorely lacking in the detail necessary for success.”

The federal government’s decision not to renew the National Partnership Agreement on Remote Housing, which expires in June, was criticised by the WA and Queensland governments, Congress and Senator Dodson.

While Indigenous Australians living in remote areas of the Northern Territory are set to benefit from a $550 million funding boost from the federal government, other states and territories missed out.

WA Treasurer Ben Wyatt said there had been “a belligerent refusal” to engage with the state government about renewing the agreement for WA, which itself spends $100 million a year on remote housing.

“The Commonwealth government has provided $550 million to the Northern Territory – the other state that has the big demand is of course WA, so that is a huge failure,” he said.

He said it was the single biggest issue facing regional and remote WA, and transitional funding should at least be provided.

The budget included “wage subsidies” for 6,000 jobs in remote areas as part of reforms to the Community Development Program (CDP), a work-for-the-dole scheme.

Racial discrimination

The ACTU said the wage subsidies to the “racially discriminatory” CDP were “grossly inadequate”.

ACTU national campaign coordinator Kara Keys said vaguely-worded changes in the budget suggest that CDP will move to the same demerit system used by metropolitan work-for-the-dole schemes – but there was no explanation of how this will reduce the appalling rate of financial penalties which have been the hallmark of the CDP to date.

“The Turnbull government has monetised the exploitation of marginalised Indigenous communities because it thinks there will be no political consequences,” she said.

“We are determined that there will be severe consequences for this unconscionable conduct.

“Minister Scullion needs to scrap this discriminatory program and focus on the economic autonomy and the dignity of paid work in remote communities. Anything other than the abolition of this program is unacceptable.”

Congress pointed out that $50 million had been allocated for the memorialisation of the 250th anniversary of Captain Cook’s voyage to Australia.

“Whilst gaining pockets of local support, this appears a controversial investment in the Treasurer’s own electorate,” they said.

“Our preference would be to redirect these funds into community based Closing the Gap initiatives to address the negative impacts of the European invasion of Australia.”

Koori Mail

 

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7. What’s going on with our democracy?

Open letter

The Turnbull government is trying to make it harder for people and organisations to speak out for the things we all care about, like our oceans and the Great Barrier Reef, and is doing so by imposing strict laws about how not-for-profits operate.

So, what’s all this about laws attacking our democracy?

Not-for-profits (NFP) have spooked PM Malcolm Turnbull with the mighty power of our collective voices. He’s trying to make it harder for people to speak out for the things we all care about, like our oceans and the Great Barrier Reef, and is doing so by imposing strict laws about how not-for-profits operate.

Fifty-eight thousand organisations would be affected, including Greenpeace, environmental law firms, churches, aid groups, health delivery services, women’s shelters. The laws focus on increasing regulations, increasing tax for supporter donations and bringing in funding restrictions.

There are now three bills that will be taken through Parliament:

The Electoral Legislation Amendment (Electoral Funding and Disclosure Reform) Bill 2017

The National Security Legislation Amendment (Espionage and Foreign Interference) Bill 2017 (EFI)

The Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme Bill 2017 (FITS)

Whose laws are these?

Answer:

The Liberal-National Coalition, specifically the hard right of the party. Liberal Senator Matthias Corman’s office wrote the Electoral Amendment law, while Australia’s new Attorney General wrote the FITS and EFI bills.

If these laws are passed, most of the enforcement would lie with Peter Dutton’s Ministry of Home Affairs.

These laws would suppress public opposition to the government’s agenda to trash the environment, ignore climate change and put profits before human lives.

Turnbull’s government have been using the line that not-for-profits are just a front for foreign funds to be used to influence Australian election outcomes. Which is weird, because a review by the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Committee has found no evidence that charities receiving foreign funds are influencing Australian policy.

What would the laws mean for me and for organisations like Greenpeace?

In short:

The Electoral Amendment bill would change the rules so that organisations like Greenpeace are classified as “political campaigners”. This means a whole lot of new, tedious, off-putting regulations – like make you get a signed bit of paper from a Justice of the Peace or a police officer saying you’re an Australian citizen or resident if you want to donate more than $5 a week.

The Espionage and Foreign Interference bill would mean a person or organisation that receives or communicates “politically sensitive” information to the public could potentially be guilty of espionage under this Bill. This is a concern for everyone working to hold the government to account, because they can make “politically sensitive” mean whatever they want it to.

The Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme bill would crack down on not-for-profits that have a global presence – like Greenpeace. We would be required to spend more time on reporting and paperwork, which means less time campaigning for healthy oceans, a thriving Great Barrier Reef and action on climate change.

While the FITS and EFI bills are stuck in another committee process, The Joint Standing Committee into Electoral Matters released its report on the Electoral Amendment bill. The report was authored by the Coalition and the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and was bipartisan, with 15 recommended changes to the law, but – here’s the kicker – they didn’t reject the law outright. Even if the government agreed to all the Committee’s recommendations, the new law would still stifle the important work charities do to make Australia a caring and compassionate nation and hold powerful corporations to account.

The Greens were the only members of the Committee to publish a report that entirely rejected the bill.

Wait, aren’t Labor supposed to be on our side?

You’d think so, and they say they are. In fact, Shadow Minister for Charities and NFP Andrew Leigh told us at the Hands Off Our Charities democracy sausage sizzle that he “had our backs”. But the report says the contrary: that Labor seems willing to throw charities under the bus so it can pass the Electoral Amendment bill.

We’re challenging Labor to stay true to their word of being allies to not-for-profits. Labor must reject all of these laws, starting with the Electoral Amendment bill. It’s disappointing to watch a party that has for so long stood up for workers’ rights and for the least privileged in our society, now turning against unions, charities and not-for-profits.

Stop these laws

We’ve been fighting these bills every step of the way. Not just because they restrict us and our crew, but because removing people’s ability to speak out on issues they care about undermines our whole democracy. When our governments around the world are increasingly susceptible to dirty dealings with big corporations, putting people and our planet at risk, we need now more than ever to call out bad governing when we see it.

We need to hold our government to account and ensure they do their job of caring for our land, water, people and climate instead of climbing into the pockets of big business. Your voice is powerful – imagine not being able to use it.

Greenpeace Australia

Greenpeace is an independent campaigning organisation that uses non-violent direct action to expose global environmental problems and to force solutions which are essential to a green and peaceful future.

 

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8. Dutton’s lies cost lives

All Iranians and Somali refugees on Nauru who had appointments last week with US officials have been rejected for resettlement in the US. Around 150 refugees had been scheduled for appointments between the Monday and Wednesday. But all Iranians and Somalis including families with children and single women have been rejected.

Some of the refugees have been told that they have been rejected for security reasons.

“The US resettlement deal is finally revealed to be a farce. Iranian refugees account for around a third of all refugees on Nauru. It is just not possible for all Iranians to be rejected on any legitimate basis,” said Ian Rintoul, from the Refugee Action Coalition.

“While Trump says there is no official ban on Iranians and Somalis, it is now very clear that the US administration is imposing an unofficial ban. It is not a coincidence that all Iranians are being rejected.

“Turnbull’s phone call to Trump is coming back to haunt him. Turnbull told Trump that he didn’t have to accept anyone; now Trump is taking him at his word. Turnbull and Dutton have been left with egg on their faces.”

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton has admitted there are no other “third countries” for resettlement.

Rintoul stated that the ball in now in Dutton’s court, particularly in light of his rejection of New Zealand’s resettlement offer. All the refugees on Nauru have been found, by Australia’s own process, to be owed protection. “It’s time Dutton faced up to the fact that his offshore policy had failed. Refugees have no future and no security on Nauru or Manus.

“It’s time to bring all refugees and asylum seekers to Australia where they can get the protection they need.”

An Iranian refugee attempted suicide on Nauru, only hours after she was notified that she had been rejected for resettlement in the US. On May 7 the woman was pulled from the ocean near the Ijuw district by other refugees. There were distressing scenes as large numbers of Iranians gathered where the woman was pulled from the water, believing they will all be rejected.

Police attended the scene but did not arrest the refugee as is their usual practice in Nauru. She was allowed to return to her camp.

The attempted suicide comes after the first day of refugee appointments with US officials to indicate acceptance of rejection for resettlement to the US. Around 150 refugees were given appointments with US officials.

All Iranians who had appointments – two single women, and a single man – were rejected. One other Bangladeshi single man was also rejected.

The only nationalities accepted were Nepalese, Rohingyan and Pakistani.

The rejections were obviously anticipated by Border Force. A large contingent of emergency response and security personnel were brought onto the island and are now deployed in RPC 1 in preparation for the appointments.

The rejections and the attempted suicide have raised anxieties on the island. Many people are convinced that no Iranians or Somalis will be accepted.

“The government has maintained the fiction that there are third countries for years, to hide the fact that the government never had any resettlement possibilities for the refugees they had dumped on Manus and Nauru,” said Rintoul.

“In 2016, Dutton told journalists, ‘We are keen to get people off to third countries if they can’t return to their country of origin. We are working with a number of countries now.’ It was a lie.

“Dutton’s lies have cost lives – on Manus and Nauru. Children have been robbed of their futures, while Dutton plays political games, in a last-ditch attempt to hang onto his seat.”

 

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9. Cuts to ABC “dangerous and irresponsible”

The federal budget’s cut of $127 million from the ABC represents a dangerous and irresponsible assault on public broadcasting in Australia, the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) says.

There are grave implications for audiences seeking news and information, and these cuts only weaken public broadcasting at the very time when commercial broadcasting is struggling due to the challenges of digital disruption – particularly for audiences in rural, regional and remote Australia.

There are also serious implications for television production.

The loss of $43 million in funding to support news and current affairs is particularly short-sighted (this funding expires next year and the ABC must re-bid for further funding), as the ABC can and must play a crucial role in providing high quality public interest journalism in the era of “fake news” and social media platforms stripping revenue from commercial news media.

MEAA media director Katelin McInerney said: “The potential $43 million cut to dedicated news funding and the freezing of indexed funding at a cost of $84 million are crippling blows to the ABC and follow years of under-funding by the Abbott and Turnbull governments. Including last night’s announcement, almost $400 million has been cut from ABC funding since 2014. ABC base funding has been cut in real terms by almost 25 percent over the past 30 years.

“These funding cuts have placed enormous stress upon the ABC which, last night, was once again being asked to do more with less.

“The timing of these cuts could not be worse: in the lead-up to a federal election when strong journalism to independently scrutinise politicians’ claims and counter claims will be needed. It is becoming increasingly difficult for the ABC to deliver original investigative journalism and local and regional newsgathering with these deep cuts to its funding,” McInerney said.

The spate of highly-politicised assaults on public broadcasting by the government in recent years fly in the face of calls made to restore funding. In February the Senate Select Committee into the Future of Public Interest Journalism recommended that the government must ensure adequate funding for the ABC and SBS to ensure they meet their charter obligations – particularly in rural and regional services and fact-checking capacity.

“Right now, the ABC is already seeking to cut 20 journalist positions in a proposed restructure, cuts that will hurt its local newsrooms and in turn, starve local communities of quality reporting of news stories that matter to them,” warned McInerney. “Every time the government announces these politically-motivated assaults on the ABC it is local communities that suffer.”

MEAA equity director Zoe Angus warned: “These federal government cuts also represent a dangerous threat to the creation of original Australian television production, particularly drama. It is this type of short-sighted and devastating cuts to funding that has spurred the Make it Australian campaign. The constant slashing of funding by governments endangers the ABC’s ability to produce quality Australian screen content and fulfil its important cultural role in Australian storytelling.

“Even before the Budget, more than $250 million had been cut from the ABC since 2014. Over this same period, the ABC’s commissioning budgets for adult drama and children’s content each dropped by 20 percent. Given their important cultural role, the ABC must be properly funded and future funding must be guaranteed so that productions can be developed with certainty,” Angus said.

 

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10. Coal mine would cause river to “dry up”

Documents released under freedom of information laws reveal that the NSW Department of Primary Industries warned last year that the proposed Bylong coal mine could lead to the Bylong River “drying up”.

The proposed mine would be the first ever in the secluded Bylong Valley, between Denman and Mudgee, 200 kilometres north-west of Sydney.

Lock the Gate Alliance spokesperson Georgina Woods said, “It is completely unacceptable for the NSW government to approve a coal mine that will cause a river to dry up.

“This is an extraordinary and unacceptable impact that should now trigger urgent action from the NSW government to reject this mine and step in to protect our river systems.

Despite the advice from Department of Primary Industries (DPI) about the impacts on the river system, the NSW Department of Planning has since recommended the Bylong coal mine for approval.

As reported by the ABC, the DPI states in the released documents that the Bylong mine “would potentially result in significant sections of the Bylong River to cease flowing”.

They have previously warned that the “worst case scenario” is likely from the project and that water supply will be diminished to other authorised water users but this is the first public admission that the Bylong River may dry up.

However, this stark advice is not included in the Preliminary Assessment Report that was prepared by the Department of Planning. Instead, the report says “the project is unlikely to significantly affect groundwater and surface water resources, water users or the environment.”

“The public and the Independent Planning Commission have not been given frank advice about the dramatic impact this mine is expected to have on the Bylong River” Woods said.

“It’s very disturbing to see that advice from the DPI about impacts on the river has not been included in the preliminary assessment report.

“We’re calling for an urgent investigation into how such a devastating impact on an important river system has effectively been ignored and hidden” she said.

 

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11. A place to call home

A letter to the editor

Dear Editor,

Carly and I have been fighting for social or community housing now for over eight months after we found out our current private rental lease was not going to be renewed. We lodged an application with SAHT (SA Housing Trust) around June 2017 and we were placed on the most urgent category due to circumstances of the time which were;

Carly suffers a severe physical disability of myotonic dystrophy type 1 (MD1) which is progressive and worsens with age resulting in increasing physical disability and premature death. She has already hurt herself due to the stairs in our townhouse and our son will be crawling very soon which is a risk to him.

We have a 10-year-old in our care from Carly’s previous relationship. We were a family at risk of homelessness and were only a couple of weeks away from living in my car.

The search

We are a low-income family with Carly only receiving DSP [disability support pension] payment and I was working fulltime as a twilight taxi driver. I was fully aware getting social housing was going to be an uphill battle so when I applied I also reached out for support from the Minister and Members of SA Parliament. I wrote letters to our local Member for Davenport, Sam Duluk (LNP), Member for Goyder, Steven Griffiths (LNP), Member for Fisher, Nat Cook (ALP) and Zoe Bettsion, the Minister for Social Housing explaining our circumstances and urgent need.

All Members of Parliament wrote a letter of support to the Minister Bettsion and there was a Minister Review of Application.

I was happy to hear we had been granted Category 1 as I knew people on Category 2 and 3 just didn’t ever get housing but we were told by SAHT staff we would be waiting up to five years and then put me in touch with the private rental officer to help us in finding a private rental. I told SAHT I did not want another private rental but SAHT pressured us into looking for one as it was unlikely we’d receive public housing before our current tenancy ended. The reason I was hesitant about private rental, is due to Carly’s previous landlord, who had done nothing to accommodate her physical disability.

Mounting difficulties

Our previous landlord had attempted to commit bond fraud by claiming fraudulent damages to steal my bond. There is also the unlikelihood of finding a rental that would accept our family dog who is very much loved and part of our family unit.

Financial hardship caused in covering commercial rent with other bills when our only income at the time was my unreliable taxi takings and Carly’s DSP payments from Centrelink.

The insecurity of private rentals and how difficult it is for us to move house due to being on a low income, having young children and Carly’s disability which affects her mobility. Difficulties we face accessing private rentals as many landlords do not wish to rent to low income families as we pose a greater risk to the return on their investment.

I reached out a second time to Minister Bettsion and Members of Parliament with emails, phone calls and in office visits requesting support that we could be housed sooner based on our needs and special circumstances of Carly having a high-risk pregnancy while suffering a major physical disability.

It did appear to work as the team leader of SAHT at Marion had promised we had been fast tracked and if a suitable property came up it would be offered to us but it was unlikely to happen before our current lease ended so we should still search for a private rental. SAHT really had us believing any private rental would be for the short term as by the time the lease was going to end a suitable public or community house would be found.

Living in the car

Based on the information given by SAHT staff that any private rental would only be for the short term we signed a lease for a town house in Darlington. It was not suitable and we could only barely afford the rent but it was the only property we had been offered and we could make do with it for the short term so we accepted. We were also only a week away from living in my car parked on the street so our choices were very limited.

After three months in the townhouse I again contacted SAHT staff at Marion to be updated on the progress of our public housing but the staff denied any promise of our application being fast tracked and that the waiting time for housing was up to five years. It was now clear to me staff at SAHT had deliberately misled us and just told me what I wanted to hear so I accepted the private rental and I stop initiating Minister Reviews and making requests for public housing.

I later found out the Private Rental Officer felt the townhouse was unsuitable and expressed this to the team leader, but SAHT still allowed me to sign the lease with the knowledge that we would be in an unsuitable property for many years. I was never told by SAHT we could spend many years in the townhouse before public housing became available even when SAHT was fully aware that could be the case. If I had been aware, we would never have accepted this lease.

Misled

I again contacted Minister Bettsion and explained SAHT had deliberately misled us and ask for the Minster to intervene and investigate why we were misled. I also asked the staff if Minister Zoe Bettsion was personally aware of our situation and I was promised she was. Minister Bettsion even recognised my face when I bump into her in the hallway to her office as I been active on her Facebook page so I do believe she is aware of our matter.

Shortly after contacting the Minister I again contacted the team leader of the Marion office to clarify what was happening with our public housing application. I was promised that she was keeping an eye out for a suitable property and if one was found she would contact me, but added it would not happen overnight. Over the following weeks I kept in regular contact with the team leader asking for updates until she stopped answering or returning my calls. I also kept in regular contact with the minster’s office, and I complained to them that my calls were not been returned by SAHT.

I was finally contacted by the replacement team leader at Marion who asked for time for him to discuss our case with other staff Members as he was unaware of anyone looking out for a property for us. He contacted me at a later time to inform me our case was being treated as normal Category 1 and nothing was being fast tracked due to our special needs and circumstances. He again reminded me the waiting time for housing was up to five years.

After another complaint to the Minister SAHT changed their position that they were keeping an eye out for a property but that our case was being treated like every other Category 1. The comment did not make sense to me and it was clear they were just covering themselves and had deliberately misled me. I fully believe they were again telling me what would make me happy so I would stop making noise and halt my campaign. The team leader had no intention of making any effort to look for a suitable property. She just wanted me to stop calling the minster.

I once again sent an email to the Minister informing the office of our situation but this time I requested a meeting with Bettsion to discuss our case who declined but did give SAHT direction to arrange a meeting with the director of the Southern Area of SAHT. The minster’s office also said they enquired if SAHT had acted properly with our case and were satisfied they had. In reality, there had been no review but the Minister’s office has sent correspondence asking SAHT if the case had been handled properly and SAHT had stated they had.

The outcome of that meeting with the director of the Southern SAHT was as following:

There would be an investigation in to why staff misled us;

The Director admitted our need was sufficient and my requests were reasonable;

Due to high demand and low public housing stock they were unable to offer me any property any quicker regardless of the urgency of our need;

Wait time for housing is up to five years;

They would look into back-dating our application to when we first applied for public housing which was both in our teens, so possibly 1999.

We were encouraged to look for a more suitable private rental and SAHT offered to assist with financial aid. This mean moving again once public housing is offered.

Decades wait

Both Carly and I applied for public housing in our teens. I know I personally applied for public housing in 1999 and Carly states she first applied when she was 16. We are both in our mid 30s now and have never received any public housing. SAHT has a policy of once in a while sending out a letter for contact to people’s last known address and if the applicant fails to respond they are removed from the list.

Both Carly and I failed to receive this letter and therefore were unable to reply, resulting in us both being removed from the list. Many years ago I contacted SAHT about this and they said I would need to make a new application and start from the bottom of the line again. I did make a new application but was again removed for the same reason years later.

What the SAHT does not know when the first letter was sent in 2000 is that I was suffering an anxiety disorder and had a number mental health in-patient admissions. I failed to respond to the second one as was battling anorexia nervosa and I was severely underweight for long period of time. Each time SAHT sent a letter for contact it was not sent to my current address and I was not in frame of mind to understand the importance of the letter.

Thankfully, I am recovered today from anorexia nervosa and to a lesser degree from the anxiety disorder. I have also found better employment as a fulltime bus driver on Adelaide’s public transport network. This is a huge improvement as I was once claiming a DSP pension for my mental health problems. I voluntarily surrendered my DSP in 2011 as I wish to work and contribute to my ability. Carly’s Myotonic Dystrophy is progressive and will worsen in future years as there is no cure or effective treatment for MD1. In future years her mobility and muscle strength will continue to decrease and she will be at risk of cardiovascular disease. Most patients from MD1 will have a premature death.

Family

I cannot express how important public housing is for our family. I am working six days a week most weeks driving a bus simply so we can keep up with bills. I have barely anytime to play with my baby boy as my work day often means I leave home at 5:30 am and am not home until after 8 pm. The time I do spend at home I am forced to spend sleeping as I am so tired from the days driving which on average in 8 to 10 hours behind the wheel (between commercial and personal driving).

It’s common that I am a victim of verbal abuse by passengers and the risk of assault is very real. Public housing would offer our family that long term security and be life changing for us. It means I could work less hours and be home more (which I do not spend sleeping). It would also mean my family would enjoy the benefits of my hard work because at the moment nearly half the money I earn is spent on rent and what is left goes towards the other bills.

I can promise I will continue the fight with the SAHT and the SA government for public housing. What I believe is most scary is if a special need family like us cannot receive public housing what hope does a normal working class family have? The truth is none.

I want to offer our story to demonstrate the need for more investment in public housing and place more pressure on the SA government to recognise our special needs and provide housing in a reasonable time frame.

I also want to debunk the common public belief that people needing public housing are only the unemployed and homeless. I have a full-time job and the lack of public housing is hurting working families like ours. I am not lazy and I cannot just work harder to solve our problems as some people keep telling me.

I also like more time to be more active in the Party as I feel the CPA is the only hope for working class people. My family has certainly been abandoned by the ALP.

Kind regards

Matt & Carly

 

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12. Culture & Life – The poison gas conspiracy

Rob Gowland

Farah Notash, of the Vienna-based World Anti-Imperialist Front, commenting on the alleged use of chemical weapons by the Syrian government, points out that “the creation of the UN Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons was an advanced humanist step taken to protect nations against a weapon of mass murder, but ... for some time the world has been witnessing the misuse of this ban by the imperialists. They misuse this ban when they want to expand their domination by cheating and lying.”

Farah notes that aggression by imperialism against countries in the Middle East on the pretext that the target countries have used or possess chemical weapons started in 2003 with Tony Blair’s strident accusations against Saddam Hussein in Iraq. Those “weapons of mass destruction” turned out to be bogus, but Iraq was destroyed anyway.

Since then imperialism has refined and enhanced its propaganda campaign on this theme, cleverly achieving added verisimilitude by introducing poison gas into the arsenals of US-sponsored terrorist outfits the “Free Syrian Army” and Daesh/ISIS. Farah notes that these Islamist proxy armies used their chemical weapons “many times”, but whenever they did the imperialist media delivered a co-ordinated campaign widely condemning the Syrian government for it, baldly announcing that the Syrian government had misused chemical weapons against its own people.

And then they used the notoriously compromised “humanitarian” organisation the White Helmets to fabricate “evidence” to back up their assertions. Despite the White Helmets being thoroughly discredited, the USA used their testimony to justify attacking the main Syrian airport with 59 rockets.

During the first week of April, the imperialist powers were desperately seeking to extricate the remnants of their Islamist proxies who were facing complete destruction at the hands of the Syrian Army. Russia endeavoured to bring hostilities to an end, by allowing Islamists to leave the area under an agreement brokered by President Putin himself. On April 9, East Goutha was totally freed from the Islamists. However, Russia’s efforts to de-escalate the conflict did not suit the long-term plans of imperialism. British, US and French plans in the Middle East depend on not just continuing conflict in the region but significantly ramping up that conflict.

All three imperialist powers have provided military and financial help to the Islamists to keep them in the fight, while US surrogate Israel weighed in by attacking Syria’s T4 airport. Then, right on cue, just two days before by the Syrian government’s army completely freed Douma near Damascus from Islamists, a “chemical attack” was reported on the city. Defying all logic, imperialism’s spokespersons rushed to accuse the Syrian government, despite the fact that the Syrian government’s chemical weapons were destroyed under international supervision. The Syrian Army perhaps is the one organisation with the least reason to resort to anything that might provide the imperialist powers with an excuse to open further hostilities.

Nevertheless, entirely as anticipated, US President Trump promptly began ranting that he would “make a hell” out of Syria. The French President Macron insisted that he had evidence that sarin gas had been used, but he could not give out details! However, that did not stop him from asserting that Syria’s President Bashar Al-Assad should be punished for it! And British PM Theresa May naturally rushed to agree. Her intelligence services probably initiated the chemical weapons scenario in Syria in the first place, and she is desperate to improve her poll prospects by emulating Margaret Thatcher over the Falklands war.

In fact, General Igor Konoshenkov, the spokesperson of the Russian Ministry of Defence, announced on April 12, that Russia had considerable evidence of chemical cooperation between the Islamists and the UK. This co-operation was the source of the “attack” in Douma – its aim was to provoke (or at least provide an excuse for) the USA to attack Syria.

The imperialist powers are not a homogenous grouping; they are rivals as well as allies. Britain still clings to its past glories as a “Great Power” and tries unashamedly to manipulate the others. On April 12, for instance, US Defence Secretary James Mathis, apparently declining to be led by the nose by Britain, announced that there was not enough evidence to prove the use of chemical weapons in Douma. And even if there was evidence it could not be proven who had used them.

There were no more findings after Mathis’ announcement of a lack of evidence, and the April 13 consultation of France, the UK and the USA on attacking Syria brought no further evidence. Nevertheless, they clearly agreed that an attack was in their class interests, for in the early hours of April 14 Syria was attacked by the USA, France and the UK. The modern version of old-fashioned gun-boat diplomacy; the kind of diplomacy Donald Trump just laps up.

Although Trump boasted that not a single missile was shot down during the attack on Damascus, other more reliable sources report 75 out of 130 missiles were destroyed before reaching their targets. And many of the US missiles targeted places that had earlier been evacuated. Nevertheless, there was inevitably considerable destruction.

The USA and Britain, with the eager support of France, have effectively crippled Iraq, which prior to the Western invasion had been exploring the potential for establishing an independent oil market free of US dollar domination. They also destroyed oil-rich Libya, formerly a leading non-aligned state. Russia is determined that this destructive pattern cannot be allowed to continue. It is dedicated to supporting Syria.

As has been increasingly evident over recent years, imperialists are no longer able to do whatever they want. They know it now. Their cosy image of a unipolar world with the USA on top of it has gone for good.

Despite their domination of the bourgeois mass media, propaganda stunts like the poison-gas conspiracy are less and less likely to succeed. And the people will eventually be the victorious ones.

 

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The following articles were published by The Guardian, newspaper of the Communist Party of Australia, in its issue of May 23, 2018. 

Reproduction of articles, together with acknowledgement if appropriate, is welcome. 

The Guardian, Editorial, 74 Buckingham Street, Surry Hills, Sydney NSW 2010, Australia

Communist Party of Australia, 74 Buckingham Street, Surry Hills, Sydney NSW 2010, Australia 

The Guardian guardian@cpa.org.au 

CPA General Secretary: Bob Briton gensec@cpa.org.au 

Phone (02) 9699 8844    Fax: (02) 9699 9833    Email CPA cpa@cpa.org.au 

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