Imperialism demands more concessions from Labor

Vanguard May 2011 p. 3

Sensing the weakness of the Gillard Labor government and its desire to pander to US imperialism, foreign and local big business monopolies have launched a fresh round of demands.

Even though the original mining super-profits tax was watered down in both size and scope of application by Prime Minister Gillard in almost her first act of government, this was never going to satisfy the big miners. Their media campaign of intimidation and threats to slash production and jobs and pull out investment has now moved on to demanding the removal of any resources rent tax at all.

Similarly, Labor’s ‘price on carbon’ tax to reduce carbon emissions was watered down from Rudd’s already minimalist Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme. The totally inadequate 5% reduction target is still there. Despite their massive profits, the big polluters in coal and electricity generation are demanding even more concessions.

In the past couple of months, a succession of top corporate monopoly bosses have lobbed in Canberra and around Australia, whinging about government taxes and regulations and basically demanding exemption from anything that limits or restricts their ability to amass record profits in record time.

At the time of the horrible events in Japan around the Fukushima nuclear plant, the big boss of General Electric, the company which manufactured the reactors at Fukushima, came to Australia to whitewash the nuclear industry and argue for continued exports of Australian uranium deposits.

The latest one to arrive was Cynthia Carroll, chief executive of Anglo American, the world’s fourth biggest mining company and the biggest miner of coking coal in Australia. She came specifically to tell Julia Gillard that Labor’s proposed carbon tax would put at risk $4 billion worth of Anglo American planned mining investments, but then went to reveal that “The demand for coal, simply, will be very, very strong in the medium to long term.” She also mentioned the prospect of new Anglo American investment in iron ore in Western Australia. The threatened implication was that the carbon tax would put all this in jeopardy and give Australia a bad name in investment and export markets.

Closer to home, the Business Council of Australia, the mouthpiece of foreign imperialism and local monopolies, has revived its campaign to steamroll the Fair Work Act and introduce even harsher industrial laws. Labor’s Fair Work Act which replaced WorkChoices, was itself another concession to monopoly capitalism that hobbles union activity and limits workers’ ability to take action around legitimate industrial and social demands. Again, not good enough for big business. Even Australian Industry Group’s CEO Heather Ridout, a former close mate of Julia Gillard and Labor, is now singing a similar tune.

It is obvious, the more Labor concedes, the more often the corporate monopolies will come banging on the door for more. Appeasement never works. Imperialism is stepping up its assault on the rights of Australian workers and the sovereignty of this country.

The fact is, Australia is rich in natural resources, and the national wealth is created by the working people who have the capacity, skills and expertise to run the country for the majority. We don’t need monopoly corporations and greedy imperialist investors to dictate our future.