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John Passant

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February 2015
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Me quoted in Fairfax papers on tax haven use
Me quoted by Georgia Wilkins in The Age (and other Fairfax publications) today. John Passant, from the school of political science and international relations, at the Australian National University, said the trend noted by Computershare was further evidence multinationals did not take global regulators seriously. ”US companies are doing this on the hard-nosed basis that any [regulatory] changes that will be made won’t have an impact on their ability to avoid tax,” he said. ”They think it is going to take a long time for the G20 to take action, or that they are just all talk.” (1)

Sprouting sh*t for almost nothing
You can prove my 2 ex-comrades wrong by donating to my blog En Passant at BSB: 062914 Account: 1067 5257, the Commonwealth Bank in Tuggeranong, ACT. More... (12)

My interview Razor Sharp 18 February
Me interviewed by Sharon Firebrace on Razor Sharp on Tuesday 18 February. http://sharonfirebrace.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/18-2-14-john-passant-aust-national-university-g20-meeting-age-of-enttilement-engineers-attack-of-austerity-hardship-on-civilians.mp3 (0)

My interview Razor Sharp 11 February 2014
Me interviewed by Sharon Firebrace on Razor Sharp this morning. The Royal Commission, car industry and age of entitlement get a lot of the coverage. http://sharonfirebrace.com/2014/02/11/john-passant-aust-national-university-canberra-2/ (0)

Razor Sharp 4 February 2014
Me on 4 February 2014 on Razor Sharp with Sharon Firebrace. http://sharonfirebrace.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/4-2-14-john-passant-aust-national-university-canberra-end-of-the-age-of-entitlement-for-the-needy-but-pandering-to-the-lusts-of-the-greedy.mp3 (0)

Time for a House Un-Australian Activities Committee?
Tony Abbott thinks the Australian Broadcasting Corporation is Un-Australian. I am looking forward to his government setting up the House Un-Australian Activities Committee. (1)

Make Gina Rinehart work for her dole
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Sick kids and paying upfront

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Save Medicare

Demonstrate in defence of Medicare at Sydney Town Hall 1 pm Saturday 4 January (0)

Me on Razor Sharp this morning
Me interviewed by Sharon Firebrace this morning for Razor Sharp. It happens every Tuesday. http://sharonfirebrace.com/2013/12/03/john-passant-australian-national-university-8/ (0)

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Archive for February, 2015

The nature of the Labor Party

I have written about the Australian Labor Party and its changing nature viewed through the Minerals Resource Rent Tax disaster. I argue basically that it is moving from a capitalist workers’ party to a capitalist party. Passant, J. (2014). The minerals resource rent tax: the Australian Labor Party and the continuity of change. Accounting Research […]

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The attack on penalty rates

Alex McAuley in Red Flag discuses the attempts of the government and the bosses to further cut, or even abolish, penalty rates. This drive won’t go away despite the ongoing crises in the Abbott government seeing the Employment Minister, Senator Abetz, divorce the government from the Productivity Committee inquiry and from implementing any recommendations about either penalty rates or the minimum wage before or after the 2016 election. They know as well as anyone that embracing cuts to the minimum wage and penalty rates would destroy completely their very slim chances of re-election. If, god forbid, they were re-elected they could then change their minds and implement the recommendations to cut the minimum wage and get rid of penalty rates. A government saying one thing before an election and doing something different after. Hard to believe eh?

Has Tony Abbott attempted to pervert the course of a police investigation?

Given that the AFP is investigating whether Gillian Triggs was asked to resign and if an inducement was offered to get her to do so, isn’t Tony Abbott’s categorical and unequivocal statement that ‘she was not asked to resign and no inducement has been offered’ itself possibly an attempt to influence and perhaps pervert the course of the investigation? Will he too be investigated?

Yes, it is all about the children, so bring them here

Gillian Triggs was quite right to point out the abuse of asylum seeker children that went on under Labor and is going on under the Liberals. That should be our focus instead of the circus about so-called political partisanship that the Abbott government is using to hide its abuse of children. There is an alternative to brutalising kids. Bring them and all the other asylum seekers to Australia for release into the community.

Unionists for refugees launch

The Australian government’s attacks on refugees have operated as a distraction while union rights, jobs and hard-won conditions and wages are under attack. Unions have always been at the forefront of campaigns for social justice, and they play a vital role in the fight for refugee rights. Please join us for the launch of Unionists for Refugees at a public meeting with ACTU President Ged Kearney from 6.30pm, Tuesday 3 March at the Belconnen Labor Club (Fred Daly Room), Chandler St, Belconnen.

With all this loss of confidence, why doesn’t the Abbott government just dissolve the people and elect another?

Would it not be easier
In that case for the government
To dissolve the people
And elect another?

Was an inducement offered to get Gillian Triggs, the Human Rights Commissioner, to resign?

If or when the Australian Federal Police refuses to investigate, or finds no breach, can we mount a private prosecution against Attorney General George Brandis? And if the meeting took place in Canberra, can the ACT Attorney General, and Labor Party Deputy Chief Minister, Simon Corbell, launch a prosecution?

Just who is the real threat to Australian workers?

‘This government, and the opposition that so often backs it, preaches freedom, democracy and fairness. This pledge is hollow, cover for a future of fear, poverty, desperation and insecurity, all in aid of giving a worthless government a mirage of strength and the rich a more pliant workforce.’

Je suis Hizb ut-Tahrir anyone?

Remember David Hicks, Mamdouh Habib and Muhamed Haneef. Remember David Eastman. Remember the tens of thousands of asylum seekers and their children we lock up for no crime. Remember all the Aborigines our rulers imprison and our police silence.

I have no truck with Hizb ut-Tahrir. However if we seriously believe in freedom of speech and association, and understand the sorry history in Australia and elsewhere of silencing people, including the left, then we have to defend the group against attempts to ban it. Je suis Hizb ut-Tahrir.

Removing all doubt, Mr Abbott?

Detention without trial, torture and other crimes are what happens, Prime Minister, when you remove ‘the benefit of the doubt’. Remember David Hicks, Mamdouh Habib and Muhamed Haneef?