Construction workers accused Malcolm Turnbull of turning his back on thousands of construction workers who face job losses and uncertainty over the coming months.
CFMEU Construction Division National Secretary Dave Noonan said the Opposition leader's attack on the commercial property fund was reprehensible.
"The Federal Opposition would be prepared to stand by with their hands off the economy and let the market decide while construction workers lost their jobs. Continuing to allow the market to decide the fate of thousands of jobs is irresponsible.
"The market based approach, like the markets themselves, has failed. It is time for Government to step in and ensure viable, essential projects are maintained and jobs are protected," said Dave Noonan.
Nearly a million workers are employed in the construction sector in Australia and thousands of jobs are at risk over the coming year.
Supporting the Government's proposal, the CFMEU cautioned that without the appropriate safeguards, the effort to guarantee the loans of foreign banks could be used as a slush fund for developers.
"The current financial crisis is not the fault of construction workers, or any working people. It is the fault of 'extreme capitalism' - banks who have engaged in loans to people who cannot afford to pay them back.
"Our response to the crisis should include rejecting the advice of those who led us down this perilous path. The Government has every right to step in pre-emptively, and a responsible Opposition would be working with them, not slinging mud from the edges of the political debate.
"The Opposition claimed the sky would fall in if the Government secured all bank deposits, and they haven't, and now they claim that securing construction jobs is designed to avert the course of the markets. Without this protection, thousands of construction jobs may be lost, with Australian families the real victims," said Mr Noonan.
CFMEU
Sunday, February 08, 2009
Thursday, February 05, 2009
Return of Depression Economics
Quotes from Paul Krugman
Winner of 2008 Nobel prize for Economics
From The Return of Depression Economics, and the Crisis of 2008, Penguin, 2008
The truth is that good old-fashioned demand-side macroeconomics has a lot to offer in our current predicament.
...We need to deal with the clear and present danger. To do this, policy makers around the world need to do two things: get credit flowing again and prop up spending.
[We] face a global slump that's gathering momentum. What should be done about that? The answer… is good old Keynesian fiscal stimulus.
The point of all of this is to approach the current crisis in the spirit that we'll do whatever it takes to turn things around; if what has been done so far is not enough, do more and do something different, until credit starts to flow and the real economy starts to recover.
And once the recovery effort is well underway, it will be time to turn to … reforming the system so that the crisis doesn't happen again.
…there is a free lunch, if we can only figure out how to get our hands on it, because there are unemployed resources that can be put to work. The true scarcity of Keynes's world – and ours- was therefore not of resources, or even of virtue, but of understanding.
and Speaking of the US response
The next [stimulus], should be much bigger, say, as much as 4 percent of GDP.
The… plan should focus on sustaining and expanding government spending – sustaining it by providing aid to state and local governments, expanding it with spending on roads, bridges, and other forms of infrastructure.
… the usual objection to public spending as a form of economic stimulus is that it takes too long to get going – that by the time the boost to demand arrives, the slump is over. That doesn't seem to be a major worry now, however: it's very hard to see any quick economic recovery…
Winner of 2008 Nobel prize for Economics
From The Return of Depression Economics, and the Crisis of 2008, Penguin, 2008
The truth is that good old-fashioned demand-side macroeconomics has a lot to offer in our current predicament.
...We need to deal with the clear and present danger. To do this, policy makers around the world need to do two things: get credit flowing again and prop up spending.
[We] face a global slump that's gathering momentum. What should be done about that? The answer… is good old Keynesian fiscal stimulus.
The point of all of this is to approach the current crisis in the spirit that we'll do whatever it takes to turn things around; if what has been done so far is not enough, do more and do something different, until credit starts to flow and the real economy starts to recover.
And once the recovery effort is well underway, it will be time to turn to … reforming the system so that the crisis doesn't happen again.
…there is a free lunch, if we can only figure out how to get our hands on it, because there are unemployed resources that can be put to work. The true scarcity of Keynes's world – and ours- was therefore not of resources, or even of virtue, but of understanding.
and Speaking of the US response
The next [stimulus], should be much bigger, say, as much as 4 percent of GDP.
The… plan should focus on sustaining and expanding government spending – sustaining it by providing aid to state and local governments, expanding it with spending on roads, bridges, and other forms of infrastructure.
… the usual objection to public spending as a form of economic stimulus is that it takes too long to get going – that by the time the boost to demand arrives, the slump is over. That doesn't seem to be a major worry now, however: it's very hard to see any quick economic recovery…
Wednesday, February 04, 2009
When The World Said No To War
When The World Said No To War is a photographic exhibition and peace education forum inspired by the 35 million people who took to the streets in Febuary 2003 to protest the impending war in Iraq.The aim of the project is to highlight the significance of the largest peace demonstrations in history and to contribute to the ongoing call for peace.
The photographs were first exhibited in Sydney in 2005 and are being shown again now, 5 years after the start of the Iraq war, as part of a suite of programming related to the exhibition The 1970s: a decade of protest - photography by Roger Scott at the Museum of Sydney.
"Although it may be difficult to envisage an end to war as a form of political behaviour, there was a time when people could not foresee an end to slavery, the emancipation of women, the vote for blacks or the end of apatheid, but these things came to pass. Not because some magnamious government or world body decreed them to be so, but because ordniary citizens said it should be so. We need not be Nelson Mandela, Aung San Suu Kyi, Martin Luther King Jnr, or Gandhi, for none of those people effected change alone; behind each stood millions of likeminded individuals with their own acts of moral courage. Our strength lies in the recognition of this - our shared humanity - rather than in the seperation imposed by the constructs of the state, religion and ethnicity."
Dr. Denise Leith, Bearing Witness : The Lives of War Correspondents and Photojournalists
"One little person giving all her time to peace, can make news. Many people, giving some of their time, can make history."
Peace Pilgrim
See the Photographs
ACTU: stimulus package welcome
February 03, 2009
The Government has looked at all sections of the community in this comprehensive package, said ACTU Secretary Jeff Lawrence
“This will provide further short-term relief for working Australians feeling pressure to meet their living costs and help sustain demand in the economy,” Mr Lawrence said.
“And the Government rightly has its eye on the longer-term, with billions of dollars of much-needed investment planned in schools, housing, and infrastructure.
“This investment will help redress the infrastructure deficit left by the former Liberal and National Party Government.
“Crucially, the package also tackles climate change and is a clear recognition that Green Jobs will play a key part in leading Australia into the economic recovery.
“Australia has a huge opportunity to become a world leader in clean and green industries in areas such as renewable energy, waste recycling, and sustainable water industries,” Mr Lawrence said.
“Unions now call on employers to respond to this package by focussing all their efforts on retaining jobs. The slowing economy had increased the urgency for new workplace laws to protect Australian workers from employers who will use the crisis to cut pay or reduce their rights at work.
“The Government also needs to put in place policies to assist employers to keep existing staff, including apprentices and to provide incentives to employers to retrain and upskill their staff so they are ready for the inevitable upturn in the economy.
“The Government should look to providing a guarantee of jobs training and case management for workers affected by the downturn, 100% protection of employee entitlements as well as increased support for the unemployed, including long-term unemployed young people.”
Mr Lawrence said as the downturn continued, further stimulus for the economy may be needed. More: ACTU
The Government has looked at all sections of the community in this comprehensive package, said ACTU Secretary Jeff Lawrence
“This will provide further short-term relief for working Australians feeling pressure to meet their living costs and help sustain demand in the economy,” Mr Lawrence said.
“And the Government rightly has its eye on the longer-term, with billions of dollars of much-needed investment planned in schools, housing, and infrastructure.
“This investment will help redress the infrastructure deficit left by the former Liberal and National Party Government.
“Crucially, the package also tackles climate change and is a clear recognition that Green Jobs will play a key part in leading Australia into the economic recovery.
“Australia has a huge opportunity to become a world leader in clean and green industries in areas such as renewable energy, waste recycling, and sustainable water industries,” Mr Lawrence said.
“Unions now call on employers to respond to this package by focussing all their efforts on retaining jobs. The slowing economy had increased the urgency for new workplace laws to protect Australian workers from employers who will use the crisis to cut pay or reduce their rights at work.
“The Government also needs to put in place policies to assist employers to keep existing staff, including apprentices and to provide incentives to employers to retrain and upskill their staff so they are ready for the inevitable upturn in the economy.
“The Government should look to providing a guarantee of jobs training and case management for workers affected by the downturn, 100% protection of employee entitlements as well as increased support for the unemployed, including long-term unemployed young people.”
Mr Lawrence said as the downturn continued, further stimulus for the economy may be needed. More: ACTU
Sunday, February 01, 2009
World Economic Forum: Union proposal
The global financial crisis threatens to become a social time bomb if the world's governments don't act together with unions to save and create sustainable jobs, according to global trade union leaders attending the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland.
A statement released by a delegation of union leaders, including ITUC and ACTU President Sharan Burrow is pushing for a comprehensive recovery and reform package, with top priority placed on sustainable employment.
“We are in a perilous situation now, and internationally co-ordinated action is needed to save and create decent jobs,” said Ms Burrow who is one of the key union leaders at the Davos meeting.
“Working people and their families have a right to be angry when the financial institutions that created the mess are being bailed out with taxpayers dollars but those taxpayers are now losing their jobs and their homes with no support or compensation,” she said.
“With the International Labour Organisation forecasting that 50 million more jobs will be lost, and that 200 million more people will live in absolute poverty, it’s now time for aggressive coordinated global stimulus action targeted at jobs and safety nets for vulnerable people.”
“The voodoo economics that peddled endless profits leveraged from debt was always set to fail and it now haunts the homes and communities of working families around the world. Unions are now demanding that their needs come first.
“Sustainable employment must be at the core of recovery efforts and at the same time business needs to develop a greater sense of corporate responsibility. Unions should have a seat at the table so that solutions have maximum benefit,” said Ms Burrow.
In their statement to the Davos meeting, the unions call for a series of measures including:
The global union movement is putting forward a detailed framework for new regulations to put an end to the rampant speculation and financial profiteering which has caused the global crisis.
A statement released by a delegation of union leaders, including ITUC and ACTU President Sharan Burrow is pushing for a comprehensive recovery and reform package, with top priority placed on sustainable employment.
“We are in a perilous situation now, and internationally co-ordinated action is needed to save and create decent jobs,” said Ms Burrow who is one of the key union leaders at the Davos meeting.
“Working people and their families have a right to be angry when the financial institutions that created the mess are being bailed out with taxpayers dollars but those taxpayers are now losing their jobs and their homes with no support or compensation,” she said.
“With the International Labour Organisation forecasting that 50 million more jobs will be lost, and that 200 million more people will live in absolute poverty, it’s now time for aggressive coordinated global stimulus action targeted at jobs and safety nets for vulnerable people.”
“The voodoo economics that peddled endless profits leveraged from debt was always set to fail and it now haunts the homes and communities of working families around the world. Unions are now demanding that their needs come first.
“Sustainable employment must be at the core of recovery efforts and at the same time business needs to develop a greater sense of corporate responsibility. Unions should have a seat at the table so that solutions have maximum benefit,” said Ms Burrow.
In their statement to the Davos meeting, the unions call for a series of measures including:
- Further coordination of monetary policy and fiscal stimulus to maintain and create jobs
- Investment in infrastructure to stimulate demand and prepare for recovery, including spending on schools, hospitals and care for the aged and young children
- A "Green New Deal" for climate-friendly investment and jobs
- Actions to keep workforces employed and retrained during the crisis
- Strengthening of unemployment benefits and other social security schemes
- Tax and spending measures targeted at those on low-incomes
- A boost to development aid to help meet the Millennium Development Goals and action on the global food crisis.
The global union movement is putting forward a detailed framework for new regulations to put an end to the rampant speculation and financial profiteering which has caused the global crisis.
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