For a real opposition to the GST

For a real opposition to the GST

The first report of the Senate committee hearings on the GST will be released this week. Predictably, the establishment press is attempting to water down criticism of the Howard government's so-called tax "reform package".

One of the crudest tirades in support of the GST was emblazoned on the front page of a recent edition of the Daily Telegraph in Sydney. "Hands Off" the headline ran, with the subheading: "The two people who stand between you and your tax cut" below a photo of Democrat Senator Meg Lees and independent Brian Harradine.

It is hardly surprising that media owned by the likes of Murdoch and Packer are doing the bidding of the government. After all, the tax changes which the Howard government wants to implement will result in a huge reduction in tax for big business. For workers, the unemployed and those on other forms of welfare, it will mean further erosion of their standard of living.

Articles like the one in the Telegraph also perpetuate the myth that working people can rely only on politicians in parliament to defend their interests. But history shows that progressive change is the result of the actions of people united in mass struggle, sometimes over many years, not of any grand vision by a politician in parliament.

Green Left Weekly is a paper with a proud history of solidarity with struggles against injustice. From the first issue to the present, the paper has been an important voice for those whom the Packer-Murdoch media circus has opted to ignore or belittle.

So it's not surprising that Green Left Weekly is committed to waging a real opposition to the proposed GST and the lies peddled by the big business media seeking to justify its introduction. By subscribing to Green Left Weekly, you'll be kept up to date with the real issues behind the twists and turns of the GST debate.

Green Left Weekly — it's your paper.

From GLW issue 349