More than 80 people attended a community forum and organising meeting at the Ingleburn Community Centre in Sydney鈥檚 south west on June 29 in opposition to coal seam gas (CSG) mining.
Stop CSG Illawarra spokesperson Jess Moore, Doctors for the Environment鈥檚 Helen Redmond and Australia Institute researcher Mark Ogge addressed the meeting.
Moore presented a brief introduction to the nature of the CSG industry and detailed the environmental catastrophes that have followed the industry from the US to Australia.
Graham Matthews
Quarterly Essay
Issue 49 2013
'Not Dead Yet: Labor鈥檚 post-left future'
By Mark Latham
Black Inc 2013
Margaret Thatcher may be dead, but Thatcherism is alive and well and living in the bowels of social democracy if Mark Latham鈥檚 contribution to the latest Quarterly Essay, 鈥淣ot Dead Yet: Labor鈥檚 post-left future鈥, is anything to go by.
Where to start with an analysis of the mining boom in Australia?
Perhaps ironically, with the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC). It is now holding an inquiry into the dealings of former NSW resource minister Ian Macdonald, his mate and Labor powerbroker Eddie Obeid, and another mate, John Maitland, former president of the Construction, Mining, Forestry and Energy Union (CFMEU), and part owner of the new coalmine in Doyle's Creek, to the tune of $9.8 million.
Renewing Sydney鈥檚 train fleet is far too important a matter to be left to the 鈥渇ree鈥 market. On February 6 the NSW government announced it was going to pay $175 million in 2018 to bail out the failed Reliance Rail syndicate that has been contracted to build and maintain the new Waratah commuter trains for Sydney鈥檚 CityRail network.
It's another failed Public Private Partnership (PPP), meaning more public money is poured into the coffers of financiers and speculators.
The Iron Lady
Directed by Phyllida Lloyd, written by Abi Morgan, starring Meryl Streep
In cinemas now
Film can be a powerful ideological tool. Truth can be manipulated, tyrannies expunged and sympathy conjured for the devil. The Iron Lady, depicting the life and times of former British Tory Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, is just such a film.
The Republic of Ireland鈥檚 financial crisis, which has caused unemployment to rise from 4.3% in 2006 to 14.1% in October, has deep roots.
The conditions of the European Central Bank (ECB)/International Monetary Fund (IMF) 鈥渂ailout鈥 package for the Irish government will total 鈧85 billion 鈥 at a higher interest rate than that tied to the Greek bailout in May. It is tied to the Irish government carrying out huge government spending cuts, tax rises for workers and wage cuts for public sector employees.
Irish workers are being told to pay for a crisis they did not cause.
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development鈥檚 (OECD) Economic Survey of Australia, released on November 15, called for an increase in the rate and scope of the goods and services tax (GST) and a cut in business taxes.
The rich countries鈥 economic club also called for higher road tolls, greater labour productivity and a price on carbon.
The OECD鈥檚 annual survey congratulated the Labor government for avoiding recession during the global financial crisis but also demanded it undertake further 鈥渟tructural reforms to strengthen productivity鈥.
The Mid Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO) released by treasurer Wayne Swann on November 9 shows that Labor is betting on the minerals boom continuing. While admitting that the global economy remains tenuous, and that the whole house of cards could collapse, it has no 鈥減lan B鈥.
鈥淭he update forecasts strong growth, falling unemployment and a big pipeline of investment that鈥檚 gathering momentum鈥, Swann said.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard knew just who she was talking to when she gave her address to the Australian Industry Group鈥檚 annual dinner on October 25.
The AIG and its affiliates represent more than 60,000 bosses, according to its website. This includes Veolia, the privatisation juggernaut.
But just so she didn鈥檛 rustle too many feathers, Gillard spoke to them in the kind of arcane riddles she hoped only they could understand.
Review by Graham Matthews
Capitalism and Workers鈥 Struggle in China
By Chris Slee
Resistance Books, Sydney, 2010, $5
www.resistancebooks.com
China enters the 21st century as something of an enigma.
The Australian dollar has become a favourite for international currency speculators. Fuelled by expectations of rising interest rates, the A$ has increased in value from US$0.82 in June, to almost $0.98 on October 12.
Some expect the $A could surpass the value of the US$ in coming weeks.
After a month of thundering that a rise in the official interest rate was close, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has kept interest rates on hold at its monthly board meeting on October 5.
Most financial commentators were betting on a rate rise of 0.25%, with banks expected to increase their mortgage rates by an even larger margin, despite their record profits, to account for higher costs of borrowing overseas. However, the dark financial clouds over Europe and the US appear to have put the kibosh on the financiers鈥 party.
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