The Guardian 6 April, 2005
Dingo bytes
The much ballyhooed cheap domestic air fares that were promoted as coming out of competition
are set to go down the gurgler as transport magnate Chris Corrigan takes over the Virgin Blue
no-frills airline. Corrigan has said that his main aim will be to "stop the rapid deterioration of
fares". In a broader sense it's worth asking why the Australian Competition and Consumer
Commission, set up by the government supposedly to champion the rights of consumers and to
prevent monopoly, has done nothing to hinder Corrigan's excursions into the road, air, shipping
and rail transport businesses. The answer is a big "thank you" from PM Howard for Corrigan's
attack on the Maritime Union in 1998. It should be recalled that Corrigan colluded with the
government to have scab workers, trained in Dubai, take the place of union members on the
waterfront.
It was reported in the press last week that some pharmacists in the US are refusing to fill
prescriptions for birth control and morning after pills because the use of such medications violate
their religious beliefs. Of course, that could only happen in the USA, couldn't it? Not a bit of it.
Our Christian fundamentalist government is encouraging all sorts of reactionary behaviour. Such
as the chemist in the Hunter Valley in NSW who refuses to stock condoms or the morning after
pill based on moral beliefs. Greens MP Lee Rhiannon advised the chemist to sell the business to
someone who will sell contraceptives. "Chemist play an important part in our community, giving
basic health assistance, with sexual health being part of this service", Lee Rhiannon
noted.
CAPITALIST HOG OF THE WEEK: is the foreign editor for The Australian
newspaper, Greg Sheridan. Sheridan is a representative of American foreign policy in Australia.
As such he defends everything the Bush administration does. So he used his column last week
to try and discredit a poll carried out by the Lowy Institute that found 57 percent of Australians
were "very worried" about the external threat posed by US foreign policy. Sixty-eight percent
thought Australia — read the Howard government — allowed itself to be dictated to by the US.
Sheridan tipped the bucket on the poll, concluding that it was "nearly meaningless" even though
it asked some very important questions, such as whether Australia should adhere to international
laws. The fact is Sheridan and his ilk are fighting an ever-increasing uphill battle in defending the
actions of the US, and the Howard government's obsequiousness to it. The day after his column
appeared former Australian defence intelligence expert Rod Barton, who blew the whistle on the
cover up of the torture by Australians of prisoners in Iraq, revealed that another Australian
intelligence expert had resigned in disgust at interference by the US in falsifying reports on Iraq's
weapons of mass destruction, a lie that was used to justify the war.