Australia is facing an ongoing drain on tax revenue as a result of the failure of the Howard Government’s attempts to prevent “bogus contracting” from undermining the tax base.
CFMEU
ACTU bites its tongue, retreats to attic
What trade-off has the ACTU received for biting its tongue about the building industry? So far, just some half hearted words of encouragement about ‘buying Australian’.
Why the building industry needs a history lesson
It’s hard to think of a major figure from Australian trade union history who wouldn’t fall foul of the current building industry code, writes Jeff Sparrow.
Gillard’s ACTU spray a centrist triumph
Julia Gillard’s speech at the ACTU Congress yesterday a display of raw executive power, writes Bernard Keane.
Cut out and keep map to 26,000 clean energy jobs nationwide
The coal mining sector will grow strongly with or without an emissions trading scheme in place, writes John Connor.
Tips and rumours: Rudd Government buying laptops from Aldi?
The screws must be really tightening in Canberra, if one tipster is to be believed, while another overhears whispers of redundancies at the Courier Mail.
From internet to lunch: CFMEU bikie rumour takes wing
A minor kerfuffle has erupted over bikie gang comments apparently made by Victoria Police Chief Comissioner Simon Overland.
Unions trade member interests for seats and influence
The revelations over the ABCC do little to explain the broader labour movement’s continuing counter-productive closeness to its lackeys in the ALP.
Rio’s looming union nightmare
Rio Tinto is refusing to enter into wage negotiations with the union that represents some of the train drivers at its rich iron ore operations in the Pilbara, writes Nicholas Way.
Richard Flanagan: why we must stop this dark, satanic, mill
If you care about the heart of this great country on election day do not vote for any candidate of any party that supports the pulp mill, says Richard Flanagan.
Kilgour: Garrett a vote winner for the ALP
The Howard Government is desperate. Fancy running yet another attack ad off the back of Peter Garrett’s throwaway line to Steve Price last week. It will not change a vote, writes Adam Kilgour.
Is Rudd’s plan really a slap in the coal face?
Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull yesterday claimed that Labor’s MRET target of 20% by 2020 was like “slapping the coal industry in the face.” Undeterred by the uncomfortable conflict between juggling the Environment portfolio and also leaping to the defence of the coal industry, Turnbull said Mr Rudd had “slammed the door in the face of the coal industry”, by not including clean coal technology in the ALP’s policy.
Kilgour: Howard and Costello don’t really like workers
The Crosby Textor obsession with union leaders in the front row of a future Rudd Cabinet is a joke. It’s desperate. It will barely pull a vote back. I hope Textor is not charging for that advice, writes Adam Kilgour.
Comrie-Thomson: racing this time
Six weeks of the Reptiles waiting for a gaffe, a slip, a contradiction, a dummy-spit. No more “feeding the chooks” with selected leaks. Now is the chance to make a feather duster out of a rooster and leak from a great height, writes Paul Comrie-Thomson.
WA business doesn’t fear all unions, just one in particluar
To the west for business and pleasure – and confirmation that business’ fear of Kevin Rudd’s industrial relations changes is real and focussed, a factor in the Ruddster’s act not playing quite so powerfully in WA.
The Rudd cabinet: an unnatural union
Where do people get the idea that a Rudd Government might be well-disposed to the views of the trade union movement? This list is from a document now doing the rounds of teh interwebs:
A Green preference vote to the Liberal Party?
Since becoming an Australian citizen in 1996 I have exercised my right to vote ticking either the Green or Labor boxes and preferencing accordingly. Never did I give the Liberal candidates a second thought, nor imagine that I ever would. Now, though, with Rudd’s extremely regressive forest policy, this looks to be the year that the Liberal team gets preferenced ahead of Labor.
Rudd’s forest policy gives Coalition its first big break
It would be hard to dream up a more ham-fisted strategy than Rudd’s decision to spit in the eye of Australians who want to protect the biodiverse carbon sinks of Tasmania’s old growth forests, writes Green Senator Christine Milne.
Australia’s funniest workplace videos … now on u-nion tube
Last week it was WA CFMEU assistant secretary Joe McDonald. Who will be the next union heavy to get caught on candid camera?
Rudd: zero tolerance – except in the press office
Kevin Rudd has drawn “a line in the sand” over offensive behaviour by union officials. If he’s consistent, he should be sacking the standover merchants in his media office.
Rudd attacks navy over Iran language disgrace
News today that Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd has demanded disciplinary action be taken against several Australian sailors who apparently used language worthy of an old-school union delegate to ward off attack by the Iranian military.
Tips and rumours
This report came (to me from a reliable source) allegedly from within the SMH. It suggests that on the day Howard announces the election, an SMH reporter will publish a story about Rudd which, it is claimed, would blow him out of the water. Apparently, the Rudd team is using every means to block it, […]
