Workers BushTelegraph discusses current and past events, books and film with the aim of sharing worker political education and consciousness.
WBT poses 3 questions: who owns the land, workers control of production and democratic rights.
He came prancing across the water With his galleons and guns Looking for the old world In that palace in the sun … Trump, what a killer
Paradigm Shift 4ZZZ fm 102.1 Friday at Noon 28th of June 2019
Iran Crisis in the Gulf of Hormuz
In 2018 Paradigm Shift hosted a local spokesperson for the resistance in Iran. During that interview he showed the sympathy for the United States foreign policy in the region. I wonder how he feels now with the Pres Trump threatening to authorise military attacks on Iran. Two weeks ago trumpet did give the okay for missile strikes as he had done in Syria but at the last moment had a cold feet. Perhaps there was not enough real estate in the deal if he were to start a war with Iran. The interviewee Michael was detained on Manus by the Australian government after he had fled Iran. [Interview with Michael].
If the US fulfils its promise of military intervention the people of Iran Will pay a terrible price. A Price seminar to that paid by the people of Iraq who went from having one of the highest standards of living in the region to that of a failed state. We go now to an analysis of the current crisis in the Gulf of Hormuz. These comments were first broadcast on a sister station 3CR by Bevan and Andrew who are members of the campaign for international cooperation and disarmament. [Interview]
Update on the Public Trustee Public Trustee suspended – why? Audit on Public trustee’s office by the Dept of Justice.
Hospital Work Guests Corey and Liz discuss hospital work and how globalised it has become. Different jobs of Nurses, Administrators and Doctors are discussed.
This is a story of how a retired electrical trades worker a retired meat worker and a homeless person helped bring down one of the most powerful people in the Queensland Government. That person is Peter Carne, the Public Trustee of Queensland, who controlled billions of dollars in assets of ordinary workers and some private trusts. Carne was the boss of 600 public servants across the state and was characterized in the public press as representing the old guard of the Labour Party. However, he is actually a reformer embracing government engagement with big capital (Adani) and privatisation (Queensland Rail).
In the wake of his suspension his long term deputy Mark Crofton will resign effective from next month. Another long term PTO officer Rob Moran has also resigned.
During the show a person from the Department of Justice doing an audit on the fees charged by the Public Trustee requested that people who have been ripped off by the Public Trustee come forward. Please let us know if you have been a victim of mismanagement by the Qld Public trustee by adding comments below
Word from Andy who is sailing from Queensland to Manus Island with Sail 4 Justice.
Paradigm Shift wishes the crew a safe journey.
Free the Refugees!
“This is us pulling in to Yeppoon a couple of days ago after five days at sea. A lack of wind meant we had a break there, which i took advantage of by popping up to the adani protest camp and singing a few songs at a rad gig there. Getting back on the ocean now to keep heading north towards Manus Island, where we keep getting more horrible reports about the situation for people stuck there. Follow Sail 4 Justice for more updates.”
To see where all the Australian government refugee detention centres are inside and outside Australia go to map below. A
You cannot trust the Public Trustee After six years of people exposing the office of the public trustee in Queensland for failure to look after its clients’ finances, the Attorney General Yvette D’Arth has finally suspended the Public Trustee, Peter Carne. However such extensive failure does not lie with one man, Peter Carne, it lies within the institution of the Public Trustee’s office itself; in the way it was set up; and how it operates to squander worker’s hard earned wages and their family homes.
This week we talk with Diego Sequera from Mision Verdad in Venezuela about the attempt by the United States government to orchestrate a coup in his country. Firstly some background, Hugo Chavez nationalised Venezuelan oil in the late 1990s and drove big oil companies like Exxon out of Venezuela. Since that time the US has attempted intervention, so far unsuccessfully.
This time a US economic blockade has brought on a shortage of some goods and medicines. At the same time there has been high inflation so poorer wage earners are unable to buy essential goods and services. Some people have died as a result of lack of medicine.
We heard an account on this show in February 2019 where Eulalia (Australia Venezuela Solidarity Network) said that her sister had died as a result of lack of medicine. At the same time the United Nations Agency for Refugees says that there is a humanitarian crisis on the border with Columbia. UNHCR representative Angelina Jolie announced this week that over 4 million people have fled Venezuela since 2015 and that on Wednesday over 30,000 left the country through the Colombian border.
Discussion with Diego Sequera, Mision Verdad, and Eulalia Reyes de Whitney, Australia Venezuela Solidarity Network Eulalia from the Australia Venezuela Solidarity Network tells her own personal loss as a result of the economic blockade of Venezuela since 2015.
Diego Sequera a writer and journalist in Caracas from Mision Verdad analyses the refugee situation. He talks about the dynamic nature of the border. Diego looks at the origins of the emergency from 2013 onwards. There was a planned uprising in 2013 and 2017.
The UNHCR claims that 4 million Venezuelans have fled through the border with Colombia since 2015. Firstly is this true? And secondly, if it is true, what is the reason?
Are the sanctions being imposed on the government of Venezuela or on the people? Diego discusses the US justification for blockades and looks at the geopolitical situation that led to this.
He discusses the parallel with Libya saying that there are some similarities but real differences.
What countries are providing real economic support for the Maduro government? Russia, China, Bolivia, Cuba and other Bolivarian states. Will the Russians give up on Maduro? Diego points to political and economic issues. The problems have to be solved. There is a problem with distance from Russia which does not exist with Syria. Will international solidarity shore up the Bolivarian revolution?
Individuals, theatre groups, community organisations, trade unions, everyone can have a say. Please make a submission to the Heritage Council heritage@des.qld.gov.au and quote Heritage Register Number 650238. See image on how to make a submission.
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Statement by Paradigm Shift on Operation SLIPPER
Jamie Larcombe was just nineteen When he signed up for the Operation The Generals called ‘SLIPPER’ Code for global war In Afghanistan, Middle East and the Gulf of Aden No medals will bring Jamie home, That boy from Kangaroo Island – Last Train to Mirabad by Ian Curr
Operation SLIPPER
Recently the Australian Federal Police (AFP)
have been raiding both the ABC and News Corp looking for information
about an Afghan vet who has revealed war crimes by Australian Generals.
There have been many stories in the press about the AFP’s wide-ranging “new” powers of search but we are more concerned about the victims of these war crimes.
The whistleblower/source now faces life imprisonment after these
raids by the AFP of the ABC and News Corp … just look how readily both
organisations complied with search warrants giving up private files to
police.
And read how pissed off the whistleblower was with the ABC:
“I gave Dan Oakes (ABC) the
information in 2016 … He ran a different story. My story was about bad
leadership and bad generals. He ran a story about bad soldiers [not
generals as I wanted]. ”
And, he said “the ABC was “reckless” in publishing documents online that … led to his arrest:
“At the time I was pretty angry
because (the ABC) published the document on the internet and it was
pretty obvious where it had all come from. People in Defence could work
out that the common link with the documents was me”
What happened to the maxim: ‘Never reveal your source’ when it is not safe to do so.
Notes by Ian Curr
Image – Gough Whitlam opens UQU complex extensions circa 1989.
Plate sin with gold, and the strong lance of justice hurtless brakes. Arm it with rags, a pygmy’s straw doth pierce it. – Shakespeare.
Paradigm Shift (4ZZZ fm 102.1 Fridays at Noon) broadcast on 31 May 2019. The radio show ‘Saving Wee Waa’ could have been about any country town in NSW or Vic or Qld. It is really about regional Australia … places like Condoblin, Trundle, Moree, Echuca, Ballarat, Tailem Bend, Kalgoorlie, Clermont, Esk, Lowood, Katherine … it is about country, about water, about land. ‘Saving Wee Waa‘ was several years in the making.
Author approaches tunnel on the Brisbane Valley Rail Trail. The tunnel was built by railway workers in 1910. Photo: John Curr.
On a recent cycling trip with my brother through the Brisbane Valley we visited a number of regional towns .
On our journey I noted that a number of these towns were in serious economic decline. There was an attempt to bolster these towns using tourism. However this boost was only patchy. Tourism could not replace the dying industries of dairy, railway and agriculture.
Since colonisation there has been a question mark over the sustainability of clearing scrub for cattle, of coal mining and of logging – all industries favoured by government in S-E Queensland over the past 150 years.
Erosion, bushfires and flooding have been the result in the Brisbane valley, often with deadly effect. I saw Queen Elizabeth present medals to townspeople whose family and friends died during the 2011 flood through the Lockyer Valley nearby.
The Brisbane Valley, while beautiful, is scarred with what has happened in the last 230 years. Nowhere on the journey did I see any real record or acknowledgement of what happened prior to those 230 years, how the people lived and what was their relation to the land. The towns we passed through were Yarraman, Blackbutt, Benarkin, Linville, Moore, Harlin, Toogoolawah, Esk, Coominya, Lowood, and Fernvale.
Over the past ten years 4zzz’s Paradigm Shift has concerned itself with questions such as sustainability, colonisation and solidarity. On today’s show ‘Saving Wee Waa‘ we visit a town on the Namoi River in New South Wales and look at the conflict that came with colonisation. We wish to place that conflict in the context of the socio-economic conditions faced by both settler and Aboriginal people in rural NSW.
We acknowledge the traditional owners of the land around the Namoi Valley, the Kamilaroi people. We have sought their testimonies as to the effect of the birth of a large cotton industry in Wee Waa in the 1960s. Particularly we wish to acknowledge the Murray and Flick families who have fought long and hard against prejudice and injustice by the townspeople of Wee Waa. We do not presume to tell their story nor do we claim any great insight into their pain. However, thanks to the efforts and organisation of Aboriginal filmmakers, storytellers and agricultural workers, we have been able to bring this story to air.
Thanks In the preparation of this program we have found many sources. We would like to acknowledge some of them here. Firstly Simon Luckhurst’s Eddie’s Country (second edition published in 2006). Too Much Wrong by Cavanagh and Pitty (second edition 1999). Welcome to Wee Waa, a film by Madeline McGrady and Stephen Robinson. ‘The responsibility of people : a study in race and racism, Wee Waa, NSW‘ by Christine Clare McIlvanie. Finally, we thank The Radical Times Archive by Peter Gray.
In regional Australia there has been a steady decline in the National Party vote. The National/Country party has been the traditional representative of country and regional Australia for a 100 years. The economic decline in 2019 was no different to the many years before it.
In recent New South Wales state elections country New South Wales voted the National Party out with swings of up to 20% to the right-wing Shooters Fishers and Farmers Party. This was partly because of water supply problems and mass fish kills in the Murray-Darling river system. Roy Butler from the Shooters Party (now there’s an unfortunate name) took the seat of Barwon which takes in much of Kamilaroi country including small towns like Wee Waa and Collarenebri. The seat extends further south as far away as Condobolin.
The cotton industry was established in Wee Waa in New South Wales in the early 1960s. Several families from California bought up land from graziers, sheep and wheat farmers around the Namoi River. These American families said they left California because cotton was too regulated there; they preferred the deregulated system of New South Wales.
Water Californian cotton farmers, Paul Kahl, Frank Hadley, Jean Kahl and Norma Hadley came to town in the early 1960s claiming there was too much regulation in the cotton industry in the US. Big Cotton took over and the Namoi River suffered as a result. Frank Hadley, reflecting on its origins in the early 1960s, had this to say about the use of water:
“At that time you got a water licence per property, and if you had a man and a wife own a property in a joint name you could get a 400-acre [161-hectare] licence, but if you had it in two names you could get two 400-acre licences.
“So knowing that when we bought our land, we bought it in as many different names as you could, so we expanded that way.”
Murder Clouds
Eddie’s dad, Arthur, had death threats from townspeople prior to his son’s murder. Arthur and a mate, Keith Morris, had campaigned hard to get justice for their people, but to no avail.
The Wee Waa Echo called aboriginal activists “radicals and professional troublemakers”, adding that “it is not fanciful to see the Aboriginal problem as the powder keg for Communist aggression in Australia”. Abused as “boongs” and “niggers”, the Murrays’ riverside camp was attacked and the cotton workers’ tents smashed or burned down.
Wee Waa is the town where Eddie Murray was murdered in 1981 by local police because his family were struggling for decent conditions for aboriginal cotton chippers from the cotton farmers.
Local newspaper’s take on Keith Morris being awarded an Order of Australia Medal (OAM). Clipping: Radical Times Archive
The town is well known for its racism. Townspeople placed a boomerang with the sarcastic inscription ‘OAM King Koon‘ on the bar of a local pub. The OAM is the abbreviation of Order of Australia Medal.
Keith Morris said that ‘he had mixed emotions about receiving the medal‘ because of the racist attitudes of many of the townspeople.
The Echo article reads: “Mr. Keith Raymond Morris of Delta Pine Place, Wee Waa, had been awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in the Queen’s Birthday Honours for ‘welfare work’. “
Keith Morris and Arthur Murray had been organising itinerant cotton chippers in the the town to fight for better wages and conditions.
Racist slogan directed at Keith Morris (OAM) on a crown above the bar of a hotel in Wee Waa. That is a boomerang in the background placed above the bar. Photo: Radical Times Archive.
Cotton farmers’ custodianship of the land is a crime against the original owners of the land near the Namoi river, the Kamillaroi people. It is a crime against nature. Over the past 60 years crop dusters have sprayed cotton with toxic chemicals. When Aboriginal people worked in the industry as cotton chippers they were sprayed as well. Conditions were bad and the white townspeople of Wee Waa demonstrated their prejudice against aboriginal workers.
Will regional Australia learn its lesson, give up on racism and embrace a more sustainable custodianship of the land?
We hope so.
Playlist Ripple Effect Band – Wárrwarra – Ngúddja Ripple Effect Band – Wárrwarra – Madjandemed Ripple Effect Band – Wárrwarra – Diyama Aretha Franklin – Respect Janey Conway-Heron – Eddie’s Song Jumping Fences – Distancia y Latido (‘Distance and heartbeat/ yearning’), by Cuban composer, Frank Gonzalez.
Paradigm Shift 4ZZZ FM 102.1 24 May 2019 Friday at noon
This week we talk about SLAPP suits – “strategic
lawsuits against public participation”; when corporations sue political
activists. We hear what are SLAPP suits and why are they a problem from Greg
Ogle, and then the different experiences from Adam Burling who was sued by
woodchipping company Gunns, Shae Anderson who was sued by McDonalds, and Sadie
Jones who is currently being sued by coal freight company Aurizon.
Andy interviews activists who had all been the subject of companies
using strategic litigation against the public participation (SLaPP) suits. Greg
Ogle (South Australian Hindmarsh Bridge), Adam Burling (Gunns paper mill in Tasmania), Shae
Andersen (McDonald’s in Tecoma Victoria), and Sadie Jones (Aurizon in
Brisbane, Queensland).
Greg Ogle (Conservation Council sued over Hindmarsh
Island Bridge)(https://soundcloud.com/ian-curr/environment-activists-slapped#t=3:52
) talks about strategic litigation against public participation (SLAPP). It has
a long history both in the United States and now here in Australia. Litigation
has a chilling effect on public debate. Businesses going to the courts seeking
penalties out of proportion with what has been done. It is akin to a defamation
action but different in that it has a serious impact on public debate, normal
political debate and action. When the company attacks public participation, activists
find themselves randomly sued and so has to second-guess what she or he is
allowed to do. This limits freedom of speech and has a detrimental impact I’m
democratic processes. A commercial entity asserts a property right over public
debate. The law recognises property rights over democratic rights. However the SLAPP
suit, while following the letter of the law may not always be in the spirit of
the law, it can be an abuse of process. For this reason the Australian Capital Territory
has a law against SLAPP suits and Tasmania change the libel laws.
In 2006 there was a change where the Australian parliament
moved to make its defamation laws uniform, one aspect was that the law made it
impossible for a company to sue for defamation. An oil company couldn’t sue an
individual. However both not-for-profit and small businesses can still sue for
deformation. The ACT has a flawed anti-SLAPP law because the onus is on the activist
to prove the company is trying to silence them. The ACT law has a good
definition of Public Participation.
Adam Burling was trying to stop logging near his home
in Tasmania. He was one of the Gunns 20, and tells the fascinating story
of how, in 2004, Gunns, a Tasmanian pulp mill owner tried to bankrupt
environmental activists. This was to stop activists from protesting against it’s
proposed Bell Bay paper mill. The writ was issued 2 days prior to the Federal
government assessment of the Pulp Mill proposal. Gunns sued Adam Burling, Bob
Brown (Greens), Peg Putt (MP in Tas Parliament), a prominent doctor, Ben Morrow
(suffering from stomach cancer) Lee Geraghty (Adam’s neighbour) and 15 others
for doing public campaigning and direct action against the mill. The damages amount
was over $6M. They were briefed by
lawyers who helped the McDonald activists in the Tecoma dispute in the Dandenongs.
Some were eventually dropped from the
case or settled. Adam was one of the
last left standing when the final decision was made. Adam stood to lose over
$200,000 in the legal arena but tried to win the public debate. The day before
the trial, Gunns dropped the legal action (in 2009). Gunns were forced to pay
costs. So the reverse happened. Gunns goes bankrupt because of the cost of the
case and the margins for pulp manufacture are so thin and not really
economically viable without public subsidy.
From the outset the activists organised very quickly, got a
solicitor to handle the case i.e. the activists conducted a two pronged response:
legal and political. The direct action continued. Some of the NGOs like the
Wilderness Society pulled back from direct action but activists continued to
protest and block the mill.
Shae Anderson was sued by McDonalds along with 7
others. The Tecoma local council refused to allow McDonalds to build a
restaurant in the Dandenongs in Victoria. McDonalds went to VCAT and got approval
for the building. Those activists who had assets the SLAPP suit could come back
on others and they would lose a house. McDonalds was sued for libel in the UK
and the activists owm the case 18 years later. The Tecoma activists came to an
agreement with McDonald’s. Weren’t allowed to go near the site. They were all
uncertain about what could happen and as a result many chose not to act.
Eventually built on the site and the restaurant still operates today. Activists
were banned from walking down the footpath near the site in their own locality.
Shae offered solidarity with the current coal activists.
Sadie Jones is being sued by Aurizon Australia’s largest freight rail
operator. Sadie is one of the Aurizon Five. Sadie chose direct action
after attending numerous protest and rallies. Received a summons asking for
$75K in damages. Sadie is frustrated because they had done a peaceful protest. Sense
of solidarity with other activists from diverse backgrounds. Has not changed
her mind about direct action. SLAPP suits are rare in Australia. Gave the
example of the Gunns legal suit. Big call for anti-SLAPP legislation. Case is
ongoing. Support needed from people to talk about the SLAPP suit and a large corporation
is taking activists for damages of over $500K.
Aurizon (formerly Queensland Rail), has been under public scrutiny for the
role their rail lines will play in the controversial Adani Carmichael coal
project and subsequent development of the Galilee Basin. Between October 2018
and January 2019, four activists blocked coal freight from entering Adani’s
Abbot Point coal terminal near Bowen and the fifth halted a train headed to the
Port of Brisbane, demanding that Aurizon rule out a partnership with Adani and
refuse haulage contracts with any new coal mines.
Sadie Jones, a Zoology student at the University of Queensland, sees the
Aurizon case as a shameful tactic representative of the stranglehold that large
corporations have on democracy.
“A company that grossed over 3 billion last year trying to bankrupt a
handful of students and schoolteachers over environmental protests is almost
laughable. But then I remember what’s happening to us and wonder just how our
system became so broken.” Jones.
“People raising concerns held by the majority of Australians have been flagrantly ignored by the government and corporate sector,” says co-defendant, Hannah Doole, “now those standing up are being targeted. Aurizon’s attack relies on their position of power, because in reason they fall way short. This abuse of power only highlights the need to stand up against the corrupt coal industry”.
Playlist The Lurkers – Ain’t done nothing Spindles – Dream human Chumbawamba – Never do what you are told Combat Wombat – Miraculous activist
Notes by Ian Curr. These notes include material from previous Paradigm Shift shows.
Banner image – Aurizon train derailment near Julia Creek spilling toxic liquid into ground water on Sunday 27 December 2015 [See Aurizon – a train wreck ]
Paradigm Shift 17 May
2019 (4ZZZ fm 102.1 Friday at Noon)
This week we get a bit of an update on what’s happening to the environment in Western Australia. Hear about forests, fracking and uranium mining. Plus some of the best political music in the west.
Andy interviews Jess
Beckerling (WA Forest Alliance convenor ), Paddy Colin, K A Garlick (WA Forest Alliance),
Notes on West Australia – Forests, Fracking and Uranium.
Jess Beckerling who has spent 20 years of activism advocating for WA Forests which had a great bioversity which is being destroyed. Unique flora and fauna like Numbats (an insectivorous marsupial native to Western Australia) and Quokkas (wallaby unique to S-W Western Australia). 90% loss of original vegetation in places like the wheat belt. WA forests are unusual in that they have grown in isolation from the rest of the world through many millenia. There are ancient soils. Unique Eucalypt trees like Jarrah, Red Gum, Karri, Wandoo and Tuart.
Deforestation near Kunnanurra in NW WA photo: alana v hunt
The Great Western woodland is 90% cleared despite blockade campaigns in the 1990s. The Jarra forest region of WA is recognised globally as a significant hotspot of plant biodiversity and endemism. Logging of Karri forests is a financial loss with the timeber sold for firewood, paper and wood chip. Restrictions placed by regional forest agreement on native forest logging was overruled by Richard Court and John Howard through federal legislation.
No Environmental Impact Statement required (Green tape has been removed). There is a specific exemption from environmental legislation so that they can log areas without an EIS. The McGowan Labor government has not had proper consultation and formal agreements for logging have been approved. Jess advocates for Forests for Life and Farm forestry which is the incorporation of commercial tree growing into existing farming systems.
Paddy Colin is campaigning against fracking in WA. Fracking is
proposed as an alternative to offshore gas rigs. WA government proposes to
frack an area the size of Tasmanian which will produce six times the amount of
carbon in the atmosphere. Activism includes participation in the May Day march,
Lock the Gate, and exposing Twiggy Forest. WA is one of the largest producers
of LNG in the world.
KA Garlick is from the Australian
Nuclear Free Alliance which is an Aboriginal/environmental alliance. No uranium
mines in WA because of strong campaigns in the past by People for Nuclear
Disarmament. A Canadian Uranium mining company (Cameco) wants to mine uranium
at Yeelirrie 1,079km north east of Perth. The WA Conservation Council says that
it has the support of members of the Tjiwarl people, the native title holders
over the Yeelirrie area, in pursuing the action against Uranium. Environment
Minister Melissa Price signed off on a uranium mine in WA just prior to the
federal election. Proposes a 9km mine pit over 2400 heactares which will
destroy native vegetation.
Playlist Stella Donnelly – Beware of the dogs Formidable Vegetable – Plant some trees Last Quokka – Australia fair Carla Geneve – Red rocks The Victims – Television addict
Paradigm Shift (4ZZZ fm 102.1 Fridays at Noon) 10 May 2019 Andy & Ian
Podcast
Introduction 4ZZZ statement boycotting EuroVision 2019 in Israel read out by Blair from Queer Radio (4ZZZ).
First half Coverage of May Day 2019 Interview with Services Union member about Change the Rules Interview with Mark from the Services Union about Climate Changes policy of the union.
Union Banners
Song by Don Henderson from the bayside Communist Arts Group Interview with Frank retired member of the Seamen’s Union talks about union and democratic organisation.
Cabotage dispute about Australian crews travelling on both Australian and foreign ships.Longest period of mass defiance in Australian history. Threat by ALP to disendorse Senator George Georges if he participated in the street marches.
Qld working class, 1948 railway strike, 1912 General Strike. Song – Freedom on the Wallaby – Henry Lawson’s lyrics about the 1891 Shearers Strike.
Second half Andy interviews Will Steffen (Climate Council) – a member of the Australian Climate Commission until its dissolution in September 2013. They discuss climate change, Paris targets, emissions going up, government Accounting tricks about emission levels using ‘Kyoto credits’.
Song by the Lurkers
about climate change – Couldn’t be better.
Greens have strong
climate policy. ALP not ruled out Adani coal mine.
Need to get carbon out of electricity by 2030 and go renewables.
4PR - Voice of the People 