Graham Matthews

The Howard Years
Series producer Deborah Masters
Interviewer/Narrator Fran Kelly
ABC, Monday 8.30pm

SYDNEY — Workers at Kmart’s Huntingwood distribution centre in Sydney’s west were locked out by the company for two days from November 10. The workers — members of the National Union of Workers (NUW) — had just completed a four-day strike in pursuit of a new enterprise bargain.

The global financial crisis is, again, showing up the savagery of the unfettered rule of the market. Governments are responding by increasing financial regulation, nationalising parts of the economy, and spending big on public infrastructure programs to pump-prime a stagnating capitalist economy. Not in NSW.

The Rudd government is proposing to make funding for vocational training “contestable”, the Sydney Morning Herald revealed on October 29. The proposal, effectively a privatisation of TAFE colleges, was drafted by state and federal bureaucrats and will be discussed at the November 17 Council of Australian Governments meeting.

Workers across Australia are working longer hours, for less pay and with more job insecurity. These are the findings of a report released on October 29 and prepared by the Workplace Research Centre at the University of Sydney.

Financial journalists are earning their bread and butter speculating on the depth of the recession that awaits the world economy.

NSW Labor was dealt a heavy blow in three by-elections held on October 18. Labor suffered a swing against it of more than 23% in Ryde, 22% in Cabramatta and 13% in Lakemba.

The Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) — the secretive body formed by the Howard government in 2005 to police the construction industry — has ratcheted up the use of its compliance powers in the last six months, workplaceexpress.com.au reported on October 20.

Former federal court chief justice Murray Wilcox has been commissioned by deputy PM Julia Gillard to prepare a review of the powers of the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) and its integration as a specialist division into Labor’s proposed industrial relations umbrella, Fair Work Australia (FWA), in 2010.

The Parramatta Climate Action Network (ParraCAN) will stage a Walk Against Warming (WAW) in Parramatta CBD on November 15, as a lead-in to the city-wide event being organised at 11am.

Mayors of three south-west Sydney councils — Liverpool, Camden and Campbelltown — have demanded that the NSW Labor government fulfil its promise to extend the Southern rail line from Glenfield to Leppington.

There has been intense media speculation on the fate of New South Wales infrastructure plans following the “discovery” of a supposed $20 billion dollar “black hole” in the NSW budget, announced by departing treasurer Michael Costa on September 5.