- The Guardian
- Issue #2039
How to fund endless war? That is the question. That ‘tis better to grab workers’ retirement funds to build Australia’s military industrial complex and pour trillions of dollars of superannuation into the manufacture of weapons of mass destruction in service to the global bully and in collaboration with Ukraine’s fascists. Australia’s capering PM and his dance of death with Ukraine’s Volod Zelenskyy for regime change in Russia is part of Australia’s role as the spearhead of the planned war of containment against China. Australia has the world’s fifth largest pension “market”, over $4 trillion, set to grow to $8 trillion over the next 20 years.
And while on the drive for war profits, imperialism’s lawless strike force NATO and its nuclear missile systems put Russia’s western border under continual threat. Over the past decade Lithuania, Poland, Latvia, Romania, and Estonia have provided a home to these weapons, maintaining a constant war footing. This is in complete violation of agreements made at the end of the cold war that NATO would not expand eastward. NATO’s expansion now includes not only Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic – in 2004 seven additional countries were added. NATO once numbered 12 members; now it comprises 28. NATO is looking to include Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, and Ukraine as members, completely encircling Russia with nuclear arsenals.
The Community and Public Sector Union has welcomed the news that one group of the ACT Government’s lowest-paid staff will receive wage increases of more than 10 per cent per annum over the next three years but says Chief Minister Andrew Barr’s job is far from done with thousands of workers including low paid workers being left behind. All workers in the ACT Government have wages that aren’t keeping up with their electricity bills, their rent and mortgage increases, or their weekly grocery bills. The CPSU is telling the Chief Minister to confirm that this pay rise also applies to all of the lowest-paid workers such as school assistants, wards people, administration clerks, security workers, healthcare, and community service workers. These low-paid public servants show up for our community every day and did the hard yards protecting Canberra during COVID. “The work the ACT Public Servants do is often difficult and dangerous work. This work must be recognised by Andrew Barr immediately.”
PARASITE OF THE WEEK: Let’s get to the crux of opposition to the Voice in parliament. Land is a major source of wealth – its use for sheep, cattle and farming; the natural resources in and on it (gold, oil, bauxite, copper, diamonds, timber); as real estate and for tourism. All this and more makes land one of the country’s most valuable assets. For Aboriginal communities to own and control even some small part of the land infuriates big business which is committed to owning or leasing all the valuable assets of this country in order to make the maximum private profit.
