The Shell Report Established in 1975 Number 30 Summer 1982-83 Publisher Friends of the Earth Australia LAND RIGHTS AFTER FIGHTING FOR WORK Editorial coordinators THE GAMES IN NEWCASTLE Jonathan Goodfield, Linnell by Harald Klein Secomb, Richard Shelton Chief sub-editor The Games are over; the Jill Taylor fight for land rights goes on. Letters How effective were Black Tim Darling protests? Earth News Rick Mitchell, Jenny Quealy Reviews 8 Trish Luker (Sydney), Keith Redgen (Melbourne) EXPLODING THE Editorial HYDRO JOB MYTH Herbert Beauchamp, Jamie Button, Mark Carter, Mark by Bob Beatty, Tina Cole, Odette Davie, Helen Perinotto and Ester, Jill Everett, Rudy Frank, Keith Tarlo By David Ross By Wieslaw Lichacz Awareness of the dangers of Peter Gravier, Michael Hamel Building dams destroys jobs Newcastle community groups Green, Leigh Holloway, are developing strategies to toxic industrial waste is Annette Horsier, Jackie Kent, in other sectors of Tasmania's counter Wran's energy export increasing. A look at resident Pat Lowther, Judy McDougall, economy. There are viable boom scenario for the region. opposition to disposal and Jason Reynolds,Julie alternatives to flooding the incinerator sites in Sydney's Shepherd, Nie Theiberger, Joe Franklin. Wacher, Neva Wendt, Stewart western suburbs. West 22 Art 9 WHY NUCLEAR WAR IS Sue Brady, Mark Davis 29 Margaret Hay, Margie Kaye, RUNNING WILD MORE LIKELY Peter Ormonde, Ian Skinner, by Karen Alexander By Joanne Pemberton Ann Stephen, Kim Windsor How to save the South West. 'It can be stated quite matter NUKES Accountants of-factly that we are on the by John Hallam Eileen Goodfield, brink of disaster, but how and The USA nuclear power Candy Strahan 14 why did we get here?' Subscriptions industry is in trouble as Anna Donne, Mark investors discover reactors \ Minchinton, Bess Secomb don't pay. ~------..,~ I REPORT 25 :(: ! Advertising by Jenny Hocking ), l[f: Linnell Secomb 3? ..., : (Tel: (03) 63 5995 for rates From Aurukun to South and bookings) West Tasmania, from seeds ' .' Consultative group to solar hot water. Shell is FOE GROUPS 2 . Tim Darling, Jules Davison, expanding its investments EARTH NEWS 3 . Jonathan Goodfield, Des Kirk, :' . .. and its control of BACKSTAGE 7 ! Jenny Quealy, Helen Australia's economy and Schwencke politics. LETTERS 7 'I Reprographics I REVIEWS 33 Melbourne Media Services Typesetting ACTION GUIDE 40 Courier Typesetters Printing Waterwheel Press, 159-165 High St, Shepparton, Vic 3630
Our exciting /format frame is constructed The Haston Couloir is a new rucsac built to from twin aluminium strips moulded into the same high standards as the Haston double thickness karrimat material with extra models. It offers the backpacker and cross protective padding. It fits into a special frame country skier all the benefits of a body hugging Cover: Rock Island Bend, Franklin River, Tasmania (Photo: P. Dombrovskis/TWS). ,pocket and is additional to the chevron climbing sac, whilst still providing the special Design: Richard Shelton. stitched padded back. features required for these activities. -=- Correspondence & enquiries *$2.00 recommended retail price, ISSN 0312 - 1372. All material in Chain Reaction is copyright Chain The /format can be shaped to fit you OUTDOOR• AGENCIES. PTY. LTD. * Twin bodypockets * Side profile straps. Chain Reaction, Room 14. Reaction, 1982. All rights reserved. For permission to reprint articles or graphics please write to the e~itors, personally. It enhances the superb comfort of 148 Queen Street. * Extra pocket facility * Extending flap Floor 4, 37 Swanston St, who will give all possible assistance. Views expressed by authors are not necessarily those of the publisher. the "bodyhuggers" and, coupled with the Alexandria. N.SW. 2015 (Couloir 6) * Bivi extension (Couloir 6) Melbourne, Vic 3000, precisely located harness attachment points, Contributions to Chain Reaction are invited. Please try to send items typed, on one side of the page, Phone. (02) 699-7698. 698-3860 * Camera pocket on flap * Wing hip belt. Tel: (03) 63 5995; and double spaced and with wide margins. Keep a copy. We do not have sufficient resources and people to ensures maximum stability in action. It's tough, For further details. contact Dept. K * Removable /format Frame * Made in malleable and doubles as a bivi seat 787 George St, Sydney, return manuscripts. These few guidelines help in bringing out the magazine better and faster. The autumn ... or visit your nearest KS-1 OOe ... the material develq>ed for NSW 2000, Tel: (02) 211 3953 karrimor specialist dealer rucsacs by karrimor. edition will appear in early March 1983. Deadline for features is 7 January 1983. Homecoming ends One thousand Pacific islanders Noel Koch, is on record as FOE GROUPS have ended their 'Operation saying: '. . . declaring inde Homecoming' occupation of pendence simply isn't an BLUE MOUNTAINS 94 Waratah St, eight islands in the K wajalein available option to them'. Katoomba, NSW 2780 (047) 82 2701 Missile Range, where the BRISBANE PO Box 667, South Brisbane, USA tests all of its new The Kwajalein Atoll Cor Old 4101 (07) 44 1616 AH weapons-delivery systems. poration board has agreed BURNIE PO Box 350, Ulverstone, Tas 7315 After four months of living to a compromise agreement CANBERRA 17 De Burgh St, Lyneham, which falls short of the ACT 2602 (062) 47 8868 on their home lands - the islanders demands, COLLINGWOOD 366 Smith St, Collingwood, first time in almost 20 years Vic 3066 (03)4198700 since the USA military evicted The agreement does call DARWIN PO Box 2120, Darwin, NT 5794 them in the 1960s the move for a series of capital improve (089) 81 6222 back to over-crowded Ebeye ments worth $USA 12 million EL THAM PO Box 295, Eltham, Vic 3095 Island did not come easy. but limits people's access to (03)4359160 their Mid-Corridor islands to GLEN WAVERLEY 1092 Whitehorse Rd, The occupation began on 19 June 1982 in protest three 6-week periods a year. Box Hill, Vic 3128 (03) 88 1610 Compensation will stay the HOBART 102 Bathurst St, Hobart, Tas 7000 against a proposed Compact (002) 34 5566 of Free Association between same and the agreement gives LA TROBE UNIVERSITY c/- The SRC, the Marshalls and the USA. the USA a 15-year lease La Trobe University, Bundoora, Vic 3083 The Compact would grant the with an option to renew it (03) 479 2977 USA 50 years' military use of for another 15 years. MITCHAM 17 Beleura Ave, Vermont, Vic K wajalein in return for annual The problem of being 3133 (03)8746049 treated as second class citizens MONASH UNIVERSITY Community Re payments of $USA! .9 million search Action Centre, Monas.h University, which is well below the cur in their own islands is not Clayton, Vic 3168 (03) 541 0811 ext3141 rent $USA9 million yearly dealt with. For example there NORTHERN YORKE PENINSULA c/ rent. A referendum was to are no provisions for greater Valinor, 734 Moonta Mines, Moonta, SA 5558 have been held on 17 August access to the hospital at (088)252813 at which the Marshallese could K wajalein. Many of the OAKLEIGH 1 /7 Monash St, South Oakleigh, have chosen between approval K wajalein landowners say Vic 3164 (03) 5794302 of the Compact or full they have no intention of PERTH: Office • 537 Wellington St, Perth, WA 6000 (09) 321 5942; Shop - 373 Oxford independence. Fearing a supporting the Compact and St, Mount Hawthorn, WA 6016 (09)4446017 majority vote for indepen will work for its rejection. PORT PIRIE PO Box 7, Port Pirie, SA 5540 dence, the USA vetoed the (086) 34 5269 holding of a referendum on Source: Pacific Islands Monthly RYDE 18 Kokoda St, North Ryde, NSW 2113 that date. The USA deputy September 1982 and Pacific (02)882429 assistant secretary of defence,, Bulletin October 1982. SOUTH AUSTRALIA 310 Angas St, Adelaide, SA 5000 (08) 223 6917, (08) 223 5155 .J .J SYDNEY Floor 1, 787 George St, Sydney, w R-ich homes,cheap loans , We've got lead out of petrol and whales will probably still be around NSW 2000 (02)2113953 I Low-level scien ~e UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA menced in August 1982 com '.._ for our kids to enjoy. We're working hard for a fairer distribution u The interest rates on home A USA study t_o look into the commented that the study Guild of Undergraduates, University of 1- loans have been a major pared to 12 506 in August / ,.. of the world's food and an end to nuclear madness, and we've Western Australia, Nedlands, WA 6009 possible effects of radiation designs were inadequate, and :;:~ reason for the decline of the 1981. \',started a recycling campaign. Friends of the Earth is a radical CHAIN REACTION Room 14, Floor 4, u housing industry. Only 8 23 5 on genetic material in blood that too little was known 37 Swanston St, Melbourne, Vic 3000 But not everybody has cells and on male reproductive about low-level radiation to ">'. '//,;,>. , activist group - and that means we don't avoid controversy. (03) 63 5995 and Floor 1, 787 George St, o:: new dwellings were com- trouble with the interest on cells has been, rejected in obtain 'meaningful' results ~ ,>._ We are raising issues today to make a better world Sydney, NSW 2000 (02) 211 3953 \?...00 loan repayments. Sir John Washington recently, on the from the study of workers at "'9. ~ -1/«'~0 tomorrow. We need your support now to continue our Westerman, who presides over grounds that it will provide the Portsmouth naval ship o>', MEMBERSHIP the Australian Industries ~~<9 <) o'iJ'I ~ , work. Join one of our 21 groups, give a donation or little useful information. The yards in New Hampshire, Development Corporation, study was proposed by the which services nuclear naval • . "· •. ~. ••. -1,,<:, , work with us. The earth needs friends. Join us. Membership fees: NSW $16 ($8 concession); has a $30 000 loan from the National Institute for Occu vessels. , Vic $20 ($15); WA $15 ($7.50) or whatever corporation at 3% interest. ·. ·. ·. ·. ·. ~~,... you can afford; Qld $15 ($10); SA, NT, ~000 pational Safety and Health As a result of this review ,0. • • • . 1,-. ... Tas, ACT $10 or what ever you can afford. The Sydney Morning Her (NIOSH), part of the Depart Ou>.. • • • • • • • • ,,,_<) ' NIOSH is undecided on Chain Reaction is sent free to all members ald, 11 October, reported ment of Health and Human whether to undertake the
6 Chain Reaction Chain Reaction 7 By Bob Beatty, Tina Perinotto and Keith Tarlo Employment has always been the bottom line of arguments in favour of flooding the Franklin and Gordon Rivers in South West Tasmania for hydroelec tricity. Supporters of the scheme argue that it will provide jobs in construction and operation, and indirectly through the electricity generated. Yet despite continual hydro development and a 57% increase in power consumption since 1970,1 Tasmania had an unemployment rate of 10.1% in September 19822 and workers were being laid off from the tunity to leaflet and build marches. very industries which benefit most from The 1982 Commonwealth Games However, the direct confrontations that cheap electricity. occurred did ensure media coverage. Prominent among arguments in provided an opportunity for Abor favour of the Gordon-below-Franklin igines to expose the Queensland Had the Land Rights movement been re scheme is the need to maintain the and federal governments' racist stricted to the proposed cultural festival, all Hydro Electric Commission's construc the anger and protest would have been policies. With the Games over, swamped with stories about 'cultural revival'. tion workforce as a source of jobs. Harald Klein analyses the effec (P. Griffiths, 'Press On For Land Rights, How important is it? Battler No 135) As of 30 June 1981 the Hydro tiveness of the Black land rights Electric Commission employed 4682 protests. Instead, reports a bout Aboriginal land rights appeared in the overseas and people, of whom 1617 were directly involved in construction. The HEC The campaign . Aboriginal land rights, Australian media, including the British Guardian and Newsweek, 4 Corners, suggests that 3574 jobs depend on its conducted dunng the Commonwealth construction activities if both directly Games, started badly with the official Nationwide, local commercial television, and even the conservative Queensland and indirectly employed workers are body, the Black Protest Committee included.3 This is 2.1% of Tasmania's organising only one rally, on 26 Septem: press. However, international media was workforce of 173 600.4 ber, leading up to the Games. The The Gordon-below-Franklin scheme committee had vigorously opposed any not the key to winning land rights - what was really important was the campaign will maintain an average of less than 600 action during the Games as a diversion jobs in the Commission's construction from its proposed cultural festival. in Australia. As Ross Watson, the editor of Black Nation remarked: workforce over the 1 2-year construction The committee also failed to organise period with a peak workforce of less any billeting for Blacks arriving from The fact that all the black agencies, institutions than 1000. When completed, the interstate and the reserves, forcing them and government funding could not provide a scheme will employ only 29 people for to camp at Musgrave Park. These prob meaningful program of activity reflects the government's racist attitude, and the stump its operation.5 lems resulted in a bitter meeting of tied to money allocated to the Black com Despite claims that the HEC's work Blacks where the Black Protest Com munity. We weren't going to !eta government force is a stabilising influence on em mittee resigned and a new Black leader funded Black body tell us how we're going to ~ ployment in Tasmania, it fluctuates ship group, the National Black Unity operate. We are going to learn about ourselves, w considerably in size and composition, Committee, emerged and established our own history, and take action ourselves.. . ~ and declined overall by 1000 between itself in the Park. The more effective and active we are the more positive the effect it will have on Blacks in ° 1969 and 1979. Labour turnover was ... the consensus approach to decision making Australia. When people leave here (Musgrave ~ much higher than the Australian average at the Park, the relaxed pace and a willingness Park) communication channels will be stronger O for both staff (four times the average) to respond to events as they developed, pro because we've met each other face-to-face. ~ and award employees ( eight times). duced a community that provided the necessi ties of life, a political program and a range of Aborigines who came to Brisbane from all Labour shortages on construction sites Protesfing for land rights before the have prompted advertising interstate. cultural and sporting events. People came and Commonwealth Games in Brisbane, over Australia left with greater confidence and pride in being Aborigines. They also ex The major reason for the,labour short went for a lot of different reasons and in a 29 September 1982. variety of frames of mind, but the Park went perienced the emergence of a united Black . ·s between ages appears to be the remote location on. (S Stockwell, 'The Games Campaign', march through the city streets middle movement based in grass roots communities. of the employment.6 Semper 11 October 1982) of the day. (A Stephen. 'Success Beyond Our Wildest ,cet Women will gain little direct em Dream'. Tribune No 2257) The Park community started organ From then on there was another ployment from the scheme. Employ ising numerous successful protests march to the QEII/stadium, a picket at Now there is the need to use the suc ment of women averages 8% in beginning on 29 September with a march the stadium and a picket of Malcolm cess of the campaign during the Games to Australia's electricity supply industry, to be held with or without a permit. Fraser's attendance at the Brisbane Greek build an on-going movement to win land h meet but this falls to 1.9% in those areas of Bjelke Petersen, realising arrests before Club. These actions resulted in a total of rights. However, no clear direction has activity which include the construction the Games would taint its 'friendly' 373 arrests. In the hearings arising from emerged and there exists a basic contra and operation of power-stations.? These image, was forced to back down and these, Bob Weatherall of the Foundation diction between the white supporters ment facts raise questions of how valuable allow the 2000 protesters to peacefully of Aboriginal and Islander Research who wish to help define strategies for jobs on the Gordon-below-Franklin march through the crowded lunchtime Action said: the struggle and the Blacks who see the scheme will be to Tasmanians and to streets of Brisbane. Black activist Gary white support groups as belonging to the the state's economy. Foley remarked on the success of this I'm only guilty under white law. I'm not culture of the oppressor. Although Black The maintenance of the HEC con guilty under Aboriginal law. I have the right march: to walk on my own land. groups may need white support to win struction workforce must be balanced their battle, they do not see white-based against employment opportunities lost We had a great victory today. This was the It was the militancy and the activism first time since Petersen introduced his initiatives as a way to gain their liber elsewhere. In 1981/82, the HEC spent draconian legislation that there has been a at grass roots levels of organisation that ation. The possibility of an alliance of 52% of all Tasmania's public capital were the key to the success of these the Black movement with concerned expenditure (see Figure 1). This money Harald Klein works for Friends of the Earth protests. The only deterrent from ,, white organisations seems to have (Brisbane) and was involved in protests during greater success was that the day-to-day vanished with the Musgrave Park com Bob Beatty, Tina Perinotto and Keith Tarlo the Games. decision making often left little oppor- are members of the South West Tasmania munity. Committee of NSW. · 8 Chain Reaction Chain Reaction 9 was raised both in the public sector and would create 5300 job years spread over Figure 1 jobs in return for increases in their will result in more jobs. During the Figure 2 on the op_en market.a In this way, 15 years, but would cost much less than electricity consumption, and they do 1970s, contract electricity sales in Construction and operation employment hydroelectnc development draws capital building a darn. Harwood and Hartley Tasmanian government expenditure not create many jobs indirectly. Hydro creased by 45% as significant proportions away both from public sector capital argue that the remaining capital should 1981/82. industrialisation cannot attract any new of the outputs of new power schemes for thermal and hydro schemes. works such as schools health services be used to provide infrastructure for in industries to Tasmania, yet it remains a (the Mersey-Forth and the Middle Jobs public housing and tra~sport, and frorr{ dustries needed to provide jobs for burden on Tasmania's smaller and more Gordon which flooded Lake Pedder) private sector activities such as home Tasmanians.IO labour-intensive industries and on all of were used to add to the existing building and local manufacturing. Long Neither of these energy alternatives its offices, shops and households. contracts.I Yet far from creating any HYDRO term employment per dollar invested in help the specific employment problems At the heart of the failure of hydro new jobs, this increased energy pro these activities is clearly far greater than of Tasmania's west coast. These industrialisation is the type of industry duction and use was associated with a the 29 jobs created by investing in a problems are partly due to the effects of which has benefited from the policy. decline in the number of jobs in the $440 million power scheme. the recession on the west coast mining It is important to recognise that cheap industry sectors using most electricity. Those who support the Gordon 1000 towns such as Queenstown, Zeehan and electricity is available only to those In the basic metals sector, which THERMAL below-Franklin scheme claim that 4000 Roseberry, and partly due to the run industries which are large and energy includes Comalco, Temco and EZ, jobs will be lost if the scheme does not down in the construction workforce for intensive enough to justify taking out between 1969 and 1978 the number of go ahead.3 This is not so. Such state a contract for continuous bulk elec jobs fell by 20%, while electricity use ments imply a simple choice: either a the Pieman River Power Development. tricity. In Tasmania, these industries are increased by 25%. In the paper and 1980 2000 2020 2040 In West coast workers have looked to the dam or no scheme at all. reality, it is Gordon-below-Franklin dam as providing of two types: paper products sector (which includes a choice between dams and a number of at least a temporary respite. For this .. 'footloose' electro-metallurgical several major power users) electricity alternative ways of meeting Tasmania's reason, the decision not to build the industries which import most of their use increased by 99% while employment energy needs, each of which has job dam must be accompanied by alternative raw materials, export all their products, fell by 5%.6 During the same period, creating effects. The most commonly schemes to generate jobs on the west and are located in Tasmania primarily manufacturing employment fell by discussed alternative is a thermal power coast. The most promising proposal is to for its cheap electricity (notably 16%13 and, between 1971 and 1979, station using local Tasmanian coal from further develop the west coast's tourist Comalco, Temco and to a lesser extent mining employment fell by 15%.14 the Fingal Valley. A single unit 200 MW potential. This is already a major industry Electrolytic Zinc); and The declines cannot be explained by thermal station would create permanent in the area with the historic mining .. industries engaged in initial and recession because overall employment in jobs for 70 operators and 150 coal towns, the Maquarie Harbour/Gordon intermediate processing of Tasmania's Tasmania grew by 11 5 00 or 9 .1 % during miners, compared . with 29 operators River scenic cruises, Strahan and wilder forest and mineral resources. the 1970s, the gains being mainly in on the Gordon-below-Franklin scheme. ness recreation being the major attrac Other These industries share a number of community services, public adminis Jn total, a I-unit thermal station would services Water tions. Tourism could be further devel Housing supply characteristics which help to explain tration, entertainment and recreation, provide 32 200 job years against 25 540 oped with: the failure of the hydroindustrialisation. finance and business services, and job years spread over the construction Health These characteristics are: wholesale and retail trade.14 and 60-year operating life of the hydro .., reconstruction of the ABT railway Forestry Construction and from Queenstown to Strahan, via the public buildings .. high energy intensiveness; Increased electricity consumption ~cheme9 (see Figure 2). Further, these eficit funding .. resource processing rather than the did nothing to arrest the decline of Jobs would be located in the settled Queen and King Rivers and Macquarie Harbour; Education manufacturing of finished goods; and manufacturing industry generally; it has north of the state rather than in the From June 1982 the HEC is no longer .. ownership and control from out clearly been used to increase the energy isolated and temporary hydro con ., provision of access to the Montezuma Falls near Williarnsford; subject to loans council limitations on side the state. intensity of these industries, that is, struction camps. to replace workers with electricity in ., development of the King River Gorge borrowings. In 1978/79, they consumed 67% of the More challenging is a proposal by electricity sold in Tasmania, yet provided stead of increasing work opportunities. two scientists at the University of Tas as an accessible example of South West Tasmania's magnificent river chasms· only 6% of Tasmania's jobs.6 In In fact, the increase of 50% in the mania, Chris Harwood and Michael contrast, the remaining 94% of jobs energy intensiveness of Tasmanian Hartley, to meet Tasmania's energy and ' .. adaptation of the Emu Bay railway used only a further 10% of Tasmania's manufacturing industry in the 1970s need until after the year 2000 through a electricity .1 The metal smelting and was far greater than the increase of 16% comprehensive program of insulation from Burnie to Roseberry for tourist use. refining industries are the most energy Australia-wide.15 A clear example of improving the energy efficiency of intensive. Comalco alone uses 26% of this process occurred in 1979 when homes, commerce and factories, and All these would provide short-term con Tasmania's electricity while providing Comalco sought an increase in its cogeneration of electricity as a by struction jobs but they would also only 0.7% of the jobs (see Table !). product of existing industrial processes electricity allowance for a production provide stable permanent employment If the huge investment in hydro boost that would not have created any such as steam raising. This program in the operation of the tourist industry. electricity generation benefits only a new jobs.11 small section of the total workforce, Apart from their increasing energy The second way in which Tasmania's Hydroindustrialisation had some it benefits an even smaller proportion intensity, several of the characteristics Hydro Electric Commission has sought early successes with contracts to supply Hydro i ry of women workers. In i978/79, the of the major industrial electricity users !o justify . building dams is by claim- . bulk electricity to the Risdon zinc contract industrial consumers employed mitigate against -their providing many rng that rncreased energy production works (now Electrolytic Zinc), the cal will lead to increased employment only 621 women, or just 1% of women more jobs. Because they are owned and cium carbide works at Snug (the now an economic in the Tasmanian workforce.6 Women controlled from outside the state in new and existing industries. The defunct Electrona Carbide works), the comprised only 5% of these industries' profits made in Tasmania do not necess: policy of trying to attract industries Mt Lyell copper mine, and the cement to Tasmania by offering abundant bu workforces compared with 17% in arily mean investment and jobs for works at Railton (now Goliath Portland mining and manufacturing generally and Tasmanians. For example, Comalco has Table 1 cheap electricity is called hydro Cement). Subsequently, Comalco estab industrialisation. 34% in the labour force as a whole.12 been investing its profits in alumini\j,m Electrical consumption and employment lished its Bell Bay aluminium smelter in The workforce employed by these smelters in New Zealand and Queensland Tnis policy dates from 1914 when 1955, and BHP its ferro-manganese industries is mainly unskilled. Because (Gladstone) rather than on expanding Company Demand Jobs Power per the Tasmanian government bought alloy plant (called Temco) in 1962, the companies are owned and controlled its Tasmanian smelter. (MW) job (kW) Tasmania's first significant hydro also at Bell Bay. There are now sixteen from outside the state, many of the Because all the major industrial Coma/co 237 1200 197 scheme at the Great Lake from the industries with contracts for bulk managerial, administrative and technical power users are engaged in resource Electrolytic 108 3500 30 Hydro Electric Power and Metallurgical electricity - these include woodchip, jobs are located elsewhere. This is processing for export, they and the jobs Zinc Company, and established the Hydro pulp and paper plants, as well as the reflected in the occupational structure they provide are very vulnerable to fluc Temco 73 425 170 Electric Department. The company had mining, metal refining and smelting and of the major industrial power users, tuations in the world metal and other ANM 58 1260 46 been constructing the scheme for a the chemical operations a!(eady in which there are low proportions commodity prices. This has been Savage River 35 688 50 calcium carbide works it was building in mentioned of professional, technical, administrative, particularly so recently with layoffs in APPM (Burnie} 32 1446 22 south-eastern Tasmania. From its first Despite these past successes, it is now 0 clerical and skilled workers.6 Electrolytic Zinc, Temco, Australian Electrona 14 83 162 year of operation, the Hydro Electric u clear that hydroindustrialisation is a ..J One of the aims of the Hydro Electric Pulp and Paper Mills and others,16 and APPM (Wesley 13 422 31 Department (later the Hydro Electric failure. The industries which benefit <( Commission in building the Gordon with the long-running problems of the Vale) Commissi_on) was trying to attract large ~ from it do not provide many jobs for 0 below-Franklin scheme is to provide Mt Lyell copper mine. Goliath 10 271 37 power-consuming industries to the amou11t of electricity that they u increments of power to existing Often the number of jobs created Furniture 0.002 14 0.14 Tasmania from interstate and overseas,11 consume, they do not provide any new Comalco, Bell Bay, Tasmania. industries. There is no evidence that this indirectly, in supplying raw materials and factory
10 Chain Reaction Chain Reaction 11 in further product processing, exceed higher than the cost of power from old the number of people directly employed schemes or than the average cost of Why has belief in the effectiveness of to design and construct a power scheme. in an industry. However, with Tasmania's power from the system as a whole.11,1 s hydroindustrialisation continued so long However, the construction authority major industrial electricity users these Instead of attracting new industries, in the face of the job-destroying effects would be used for a range of other ucturing multiplier effects are minimised. The Tasmania faces the possibility that one catalogued in this article? The answer public works as well. As the HEC itself most extreme cases are the two biggest of its 'footloose' metal smelters and lies in the role and power of the HEC. It admits, 'the wide range of skills required electricity consumers in Tasmania, refineries will leave the state. For is basically a hydroconstruction auth of the construction workforce employed H Comalco and Temco, which both example, as part of the interstate and ority, which also has responsibility for by the Commission . . . are typical of import virtually all their raw materials international restructuring of the the generation, marketing, pricing and those required by a building industry.'5 ( except electricity) and export all their aluminium industry, Comalco may close distribution of electricity and much of The former Labor government took a products without further processing or its Bell Bay smelter and concentrate Tasmania's economic planning. step towards the establishment of an fabrication. its activities at Gladstone where it has a The Commission is the most power energy authority with the creation in While the existing industries cannot large new smelter near its aluminium ful public authority in Tasmania. Until 1978 of the small Directorate of Energy provide the jobs, the prospects of at refinery and uses Queensland's abundant recently, it was not responsible to a to provide independent advice to the tracting major new energy-consuming coal-fired electricity. government minister and it had government on energy matters. However, industries to Tasmania looks bleak. uncritical support from parliament. Its the Directorate of Energy was abolished The last major new industry to establish Hydroindustrialisation's failure to generate jobs or attract new industry links with the media ensured support in December 1980 and replaced with an in Tasmania was Temco, in 1962. In from that quarter, while Tasmania's energy policy unit in the premier's its report on the Gordon-below-Franklin might be tolerable if it did not place a burden on the rest of the state economy. unions chose not to see the job department with a staff of one.11 scheme, the HEC made 'no allowance destroying effects of an energy-intensive The energy authority's policies need for any new major industry which may However it does place such a burden via the price structure. The average price industrial strategy. The companies to be placed in the context of the wish to become established in the future'. benefiting from subsidised bulk elec state's industrial development strategies: It only considered additions to the paid for bulk electricity in 1981 was 0.96 cents per kilowatt-hour, while the tricity naturally support the HEC to the ' . . . electricity production is not an contract demands of established hilt.11 industries and found that these were average price paid for 'retail' electricity end in itself but should be seen and 'much larger than can be supplied from was 3.64 cents per kilowatt-hour.I None of the alternatives discussed in managed within the context of some broader socio-economic strategy.'17 hydro sources'. The HEC itself admitted (Both these average prices cover a con this article will be seriously considered, In conclusion, the employment ben that, in this situation, 'there must be siderable variety of tariffs paid by dif let alone implemented, while so much some restriction of industrial expansion ferent categories of customer.) The power is concentrated in the hands efits of dam construction are small, in the state.'5 In other words, far from price difference in Tasmania is several of a single authority. The HEC short term and costly, especially when times greater than it is elsewhere in needs to be split into a construction they are compared with the alternative building hydro schemes with the expec > tation of attracting new industry and Australia and New Zealand.9 Cl'. authority and an energy authority. The ways of meeting Tasmania's energy ::J energy authority would be responsible needs. The concentration of economic jobs to Tasmania, the HEC is in fact The HEC claims that this price dif u limiting industrial development to that ferential is due to the lower cost of Cl'. for generating and purchasing electricity development policy on increasing energy Lt.I and for its marketing, pricing and dis production has increased industries' which can be accommodated into its distributing electricity to contract :;E tribution. Part of its charter would be energy intensity, rather than providing dam-construction program. It is this customers. However, several indepen Lt.I fact which prompted the Evers Com dent analysts, using data published by I to encourage energy efficiency and to more jobs. The alternatives proposed the HEC, have allocated the HEC's f- utilise a variety of energy sources, encouragement of labour-intensive indus mittee to comment on the 'role which Dam construction offers only temporary the HEC has tended to fill as a de facto costs to the different types of customer including decentralised sources such as try, progressive electricity pricing, energy and shown that the price structure still jobs in remote areas, such as road cogeneration and solar heating.18 If alternat~ves, and tourist development _of economic planning agency'.17 building. Even if the HEC could accommodate contains a subsidy of $25 million per necessary, the energy authority would Tasmama's west coast - also require major new industries, the current year for the contract electricity commission the construction authority the structural reform of the HEC. HEC head office, Hobart. electricity pricing arrangements dis customers.9 ,1 s criminate against new industries. The Further, because of the historical 1. Hydro Electric Commission of Tasmania, 11.Thompson, Peter, Power in Tasmania, HEC sells contracts for bulk electricity pricing of contract electricity, the retail Annual Review, (series) Hobart. Australian Conservation Foundation, Mel from specific power schemes as they are customers bear the cost of the more 2. Australian Bureau of Statistics, Unem bourne, 1981. ferences ployment, Australia, September 1982, completed. The price paid depends on expensive schemes. As a result, the 12.Australian Bureau of Statistics, Labour, the historical capital cost of the scheme Preliminary Estimates, Cat No 6201.0. Wages and Prices, Tasmania (1979-80), ratio between the prices of contract 3. Hydro Electric Commission of Tasmania, Cat No 6106.6. (which declines in real terms) and the and retail electricity has increased from submission to the senate select committee 13.Australian Bureau of Statistics, Census of current operating cost. New industries 3.43 in 1970 to 3.79 in 1981. This on South West Tasmania, senate Hansard, Manufacturing Establishments: Details of are forced to pay the price of power implies that the subsidy was also 21 May 1982. Operations, Tasmania, (series) Cat No from new schemes, which is generally increa·sing.1 4. Australian Bureau of Statistics, Monthly 8202.6. Summary of Statistics, Tasmania (Septem 14.Australian Bureau of Statistics, Civilian ber 1981), Cat No 1303.6. If the Tasmanian economy is to have generating industries include the pro Employees, Australia, June 1966 to June 5. Hydro Electric Commission of Tasmania, 1979, Cat No 6214.0. any chance of providing jobs for v1s10n of infrastructure and direct A Report on the Gordon River Power Tasmanians, the state government's in subsidies. The major proposals that 15. Hill AH 'The Energy Crisis and Manu Development, Stage Two, Hobart, 1979. facturing Output and Employment in dustrial development policies must could be encouraged include: 6. Davies R J, KA J ablonksa and MA the Con text of Australian Manufacturing', change from subsidising the existing • production of fuels such as alcohol McCuaig, 'Employment and Energy Use: unpublished masters thesis, University of energy-intensive industries to providing from beet and charcoal ;1 o The Effects of Hydro-industrialization in Tasmania, August 1982. . . "' . assistance to more labour-intensive • the regeneration of Tasmania's Tasmania 1969-1979', Project Report 3 16.Brooks, Geraldine, 'Theoest little place on 1980, Centre for Environmental Studies, industries. A first step in this direction derelict forests ;19 earth is going through a bit of a rough University of Tasmania, Hobart, 1981. patch', National Times, 1-7 August 1982. would be to remove the subsidy for • further processing of Tasmania's 7. Australian Bureau of Statistics, Electricity forest, fish, mineral and agricultural 17 .Co-ordinating Committee on Future Power contract electricity customers from the and Gas Establishments: Details of Oper Development (Evers Committee) ,A Report electricity pricing system. One alternative products before export; ations by States, Territories and Australia to the Premier, Hobart, May 1980. is a 'neutral' pricing system that charges • design-based industries using, for (1980-81), Cat No 8208.0. 18. Turnbull, Shann, Tasmania Power Options all customers the average cost per unit example, wood;20 8. Tasmanian Treasury, Budget Papers, 1981- for Industrial Development: A Review of of producing and distributing electricity. • high-value, high-technology, low 82, Hobart. Hydro, Thermal and Decentralised Alterna A progressive pricing policy which volume products such as precision a. 9. South West Tasmania Committee ofNSW, tives, Business Association for Economical Cl'. submission to senate select committee on charged small users less per unit than tools·21 0 Power, September 1981. u South West Tasmania, senate Hansard, 19. Young, David, Report to the State Strategy large users would encourage smaller and • m;nufacturing of energy equipment 1 March 1982. labour-intensive industries. An added :;E Plan, June 1976. such as slow combustion stoves, solar ...J IO.Harwood CE and M J Hartley, An Energy 20.Sinclair, Ronald, Tasmanian Wood Skills benefit of such a pricing policy would water heaters and cogeneration equip U: Efficient Future for Tasmania: A Realistic Resources Investigation, Hobart, 1979. be that it would encourage conservation ment ·l O (fJ < Programme for Energy and Employment 21.Inquiry into the Structure of Industry and of energy. • cr~ft industries; f- that does not require the damming of the the Employment Situation in Tasmania, Further steps to encourage job- • tourism.11 Tourism on the Gordon River. Franklin and Gordon Rivers, Tasmania report by Sir Bede Callaghan, AGPS, Conservation Trust Inc, Hobart, 1980. Canberra, 1977. 12 Chain Reaction Cl:J.ain Reaction 13 for its cultural significance. All the lime How can the South West be saved? stone caves containing Aboriginal arte Karen Alexander looks at the future facts found so far would be flooded. Among the discoveries was evidence of direction of the struggle. Aboriginal habitation 15 000 to 20000 The wild Franklin River, on a southern years ago, indicating the southernmost island far from the main centres of human presence at the time of the last Australia's population, has inspired ice age. The flooding of the sites would thousands of people to spend time be clearly a tragedy, which many of the and money in fighting for its survival. world's archaeologists are trying to avert. Hundreds of Tasmanians still fight to What is to be done if conventional have a fair say in the future direction of methods fail to resolve the situation and their state. Mainland Australians fight to destruction of the area is imminent? have any say whatsoever in what is Under these circumstances the Tasmanian obviously a national issue, the fate of Wilderness Society will urge civil dis one of Australia's few remaining obedience and peaceful direct action in wildernesses. the South West. Large amounts of time The river presents a fascinating and money have been spent in preparation dichotomy. It has a timelessness which for such action. Since there are intense is a product of the natural forces which feelings on both sides of the conflict, the have shaped the earth, yet it could be potential for violence is high. But the gone in a few years. It is enormously TWS strongly believes that violence is of strong, totally dominating people and no value in the long run in convincing capable of killing them, yet it is vulner the general public and the government able: our machines can destroy its of the need to pass effective legislation beauty and its power. protecting the South West wilderness, Such gut-feelings rarely win battles. not only from dams but also from Fortunately for the Franklin and the forestry and mining incursions. South West the stage is set for federal In the end the trade-off is between government intervention. All that is our last major temperate wilderness or needed is public pressure - strong, 180 MW of power for which there are constant and determined. And p'ublic alternatives if the power really is needed. pressure can work because eventually There is no compromise; a dam, no the politicians face the people at an matter how small, or a road, no matter election. The choice may be limited but how narrow, destroys the wilderness. it is there. ' As with so many issues, if all those There are a number of reasons for who care act together, the battle can be suggesting that the federal government won. The saving of the Franklin River will intervene: and the South West wilderness can be • The federal government now has the next big .~tep along the road to a clear advice from its Attorney-General's change in the attitude of governments Department that it not only has the towards the environment and in the power to intervene on the dam issue in ability of people to effect that change. Tasmania, but also has an obligation to intervene. The Commonwealth could Action: When the rational and emotional acquire the area as a national park under arguments are on our side, it should only Here's a $ ..... donation to support Chain take public pressure to force the government the Wildlife Conservation Act and the to act. Letters, telegrams, telexes, and phone Reaction's work. Land Acquisition Act. If necessary it calls to politicians are all needed. Unless this could make all future grants to Tasmania is done, the politicians have no idea how Give yourself a present. conditional on not building the dam. Any strongly the community feels about an issue. decision not to intervene in Tasmania A co1!1plaint to a friend does nothing. Please send me the next four O or eight O editions o1 will be purely for political reasons not • Rmg your member of federal parliament. Chain Reaction. for lack of legal power. The federal Ask to speak to the member personally. If government now needs the political will you don't get through, make an appointment Name ...... · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · to preserve this part of Australia's to see her or him. Address ...... heritage. • Send a hand-written letter to each federal lower house and senate member in your ...... Postcode ...... • In November 1981, with the agree state, especially Liberal Party members. It ment of the then Tasmanian premier, doesn't have to be a long letter. Doug Lowe, the federal government • Encourage other people to do the above. Give someone else a present. nominated the western Tasmanian • Send a telegram to Malcolm Fraser, c/ Please send the next four O or eight O editions of Chain national parks for inclusion on the World Parliament House, Canberra. Heritage List. The area nominated has Reaction to: already been accepted by the executive Contact: Tasmanian Wilderness Society Name ...... · ·. · · · · · · · Adelaide: 310 Angas St, Adelaide, SA 5000. body of the World Heritage Committee, Address ...... · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · but has yet to be formally ratified by the Tel: (08) 2121955. full committee which will meet on Brisbane: PO Box 238, North Quay, Qld 4000...... Postcode ...... Tel: (07) 221 0188 13-17 December 1982 in Paris. Unless Canberra: PO Box 188, Civic Square, ACT Individuals and non-profit groups: $8 for next four editions, the federal government can give some 2608. Tel: (062) 49 8011. guarilntee that it will protect the area, the $16 for next eight editions. Hobart: 130 Davey St, Hobart, Tas 7000. Commercial organisations: $20 for next four editions. final acceptance of the South West onto Tel: (002) 34 9366. the World Heritage List may not occur. Melbourne: Shoe_ _8, 399 Lonsdale St, Mel Send your cheque or money order, or pay by Bankcard: Such rejection would be a strong bourne, Vic 3000. Tel: (03) 67 5884. Bankcard no ...... Expires ... ./... . Perth: 537 Wellington St, Perth, WA 6007. embarassment to the government. Signature ...... · .. ···· • The area has also been nominated Tel: (09) 321 5942. Sydney: South West Tasmania Committee, Post to Chain Reaction, Room 14, Floor 4, Swanston St, . River. Karen Alexander works with the Tasmanian f the Frankl 111 399 Pitt St, Sydney, NSW 2000. Scenes o Wilderness Society in Melbourne. Tel: (02) 267 7722. Melbourne 3000. Spe_cialising in :6,ustralian natural history, environmental issues, alternative lifestyles and Australian history. Some of the books listed in the catalogue.
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No colour added Adding colour would make no contribution to usefulness and would only add to the cost. Shell~ ustralia: mined, refined and undermined Comes in an economical 1 kg pack The operations of Shell in Australia, through their_ ~iversity By Jenny Hocking and immense size, represent key sources ~f political and Shell the largest share of Australian refining ca pa city, Available from; economic power. The current effect of this c?mpany on Australia's political economy, and the potential effect of approximately 24%. Shell also is the largest seller of Melbourne health food stores, the RSPCA (Vic) OP Shops petroleum and related products in Australia, with 22% Tel. 288 5553, Animal Liberation (OLD) 38 3057, Vegan Society its planned investments, are ~learly sign~ica!1~· The ex~ent (NSW) 428 2080, Park Health Foods (NSW) 747 4410, and the WA of this influence raises the quest10n of how mdividual nat10ns of that market. Group Against Vivisection 272 6514. can successfully control, or at least reg~late, the power ~f Like the other major oil companies operating i~ Australia, Other quality natural cleaners will be available soon from, corporations such as Shell to undermme a g_overnmei:t s Shell is involved in both the refining and marketu~g sectors, For a free catalogue of over 300 books economic and fiscal policies, or to ensure the mtro?uc~10n owning a large number of retail sites and supply~ng many send a stamped self-addressed envelope to: HERBONICS of particular legislation. others. The involvement of refiners in the marketmg ACF Conservation Books Shell began its Australian operations in 1902, as a marketer operations of the industry secures outlets for the ~ale of 22 Vista Avenue AUSTRALIA and distributor of refined petroleum products. In 1927 their products, and further concentrates control m the 18 Keogh Street, Burwood, Vic. 3125 Shell bought the small Clyde refinery !n Ne:>7 So_uth ~ales, industry. Ringwood East 3135 P.O.Box 289, Armadale, Vic. 3143 which it rebuilt during the 1950s. A refinery m V~cto!ia "".as Shell has traditionally operated in all .countries as it has in Phone: (03) 870 4379 Telephone (03) 288 8327 established in 1954 at Geelong. Together these refmenes give Chain Reaction 17 16 Chain Reaction Australia, but recent investment decisions are expected to Cornering the energy reduce the traditional base of r!:\fining and marketing Forcing up oil profits petroleum to just 50% of the company's Australian assets market by 1990. By that time, Shell will have invested an estimated Shell's investment spending in Australia declined between The most obvious and extensive of Sh~ll'.s interefts indo~her $4000 million (at 1980 values) in Australian projects to 1972 and 197 5, then increased from 1976 onwards, a pattern ener forms is in natural gas, since ~his is ?ften oun m become a.major producer of coal, alumina and liquefied followed by the mining industry as a whole. The reluctance conj~~ction with crude oil. Shell's biggest 11;1vest~:nt tural natural gas. Through these investment plans the company of the industry to invest between 1972 and 1975 is generally commitment is in the North West Shelf proJectrt. 11 ~ iay a hopes that the 1980s will be 'Shell's most eventful decade linked to the oil-pricing policies of the then Labor government, e erves of the North West Shelf are con o e . in its eighty years in Australia.' which continued to pay at less than parity with Middle ~~~!o~tium in which Shell and BHP have a 19% equity. T~e, 'Shell' is the name by which the transnational corporation, Eastern crude oil for existing local crude oil finds. Rankin Trend fields of the North West Shel~ hold 1ustrft s Royal Dutch/Shell is commonly known in Australia. The oil companies in Australia had been arguing for an largest known natural gas re.serves. Product10nd an pro I s Transnational corporations (TNCs) are usually made up of increase in the price of local crude oil ever since the massive will not be immediate but will be well r~warde . . . a single parent firm which owns or partly owns a group October 1973 increases in the price of Middle Eastern crude, Shell's other investments in natural gas mterests mcl1de r~- of subsidiaries in several countries. Royal Dutch/Shell has set by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries 28 7% share in the WAPET consortium off Western us. r ia. two parent companies, Royal Dutch Petroleum Company, (OPEC). Since September 1970 the price of a barrel of This field currently supplies natural gas ~o Pert~, br ~1er registered in the Netherlands, and Shell Transport & Trading Australian crude oil had been set according to the average ex ected to run out by 1985. Shell has mv~ste a ur he Company Ltd, registered in London. These merged in 1907, price of imported crudes between 1967 and 1968. The $6t million in onshore and offshore exploration throuW: t with 60% and 40% equity respectively in the group's holding Gorton government set this price (with the agreement of the wAPET consortium. It has also inve~ted in ffaS ~xp!oraJ~~~~ companies, Shell Petroleum NV and Shell Petroleum Company major oil companies in Australia) for a five-year period. · the Gulf of Carpentaria the Officer Basm, 111 t~e d . Ltd, and it is these two companies which ultimately own the Until the OPEC increases, this local price was higher than the :asin in partnership with Western M~nin~ Corpo_r~tion, an. m Royal Dutch/Shell companies throughout the world. Royal price of a barrel of imported crude. To ensure that Australian the Great Barrier Reef in partnership with Pac1f1r ft~~t~ria Dutch/Shell's interests in Australia are througl1 the crude found a market despite its higher price, it was allocated also ex loring for natural gas off the eastern coa~ o Australian parent company, Shell Australia Ltd. to all oil companies importing crude oil into Australia, and in the bippsland Basin, in the Bonaparte Gulf 111 ~Vestern 'disincentives' were introduced to guarantee that all importers Shell's Gee/01,g oil refi11ery • di t the existing government policies. This involvement m . ca es Australia and off Barrow Island in Western Australia. took up their allotment of local crude. The workings of the extent of the political significance of resourc_e pohcy -. not Shell's in~reased interest in natural gas is given ~ new Transnationals at work market have not been particularly important to the pricing uch of the immediate domestic repercuss10n of possible perspective by the comments of Shell'~ gas proJect 'dd and distribution of oil and petroleum products in Australia ~~;oleum shortages or current pricing policy, but of t?e coordinator, that 'this natural gas busmess has a _hi en The global scale of the operations of TNCs gives them several despite the claims of Shell's latest annual report that 'Shell advantage ... Gas tends to be more secure tI:an oil because unique characteristics: believes in markets, not price controls.' broader resource policies of thde LWhidtl~ l~~!~~~s~~~li~ied articular the Seas & Submerge an s c · the production is inextricably linked to the fmal ?ustomer. • The TNC is generally one of very few firms operating Despite the fact that the 1970 price had also included a With oil, the host government can cut off supphes,to one within a particular sector of industry, and accounts for most ~ational sovereignty over the con&ti~!1tal slhe1ir11do~i~y Act margin for future investment, following the OPEC price resources and the Petroleum mera s h f customer and divert the oil to anot~er. _In gas Y?U r g~t of the activity in that sector. increases it became, overnight, an inadequate compensation through ~hich the Australian government c~uld searc or, tankers and pipelines, and you can t divert a pipe me .. • TNCs build up a system of vertical integration whereby for oilfields that had already proved their profitability. The refine and distribute petroleum and other mmerals. Shell's major investment shift has been into coal exploration they control all or many aspects of their major production 'appropriate cost to the consumer', industry representatives and production. The investment pa~te!n followed b)'. Shell processes. This means that a large proportion of the company's now claimed, was the higher import price. 'It is the objective This then was the background to the Fraser ~overnmenti decision in January 1977 to grant all Australian ?rude_(? has been to buy a share in several ex1stmg coal operat~ons, transactions takes place between its own affiliates or measure of the cost to the community of doing without rather than buying 100% of a la!ge ?oal produc~r. This has domestic crude.' Any pretence at a market supply-and arit pricing by 1985 at the latest. The effect of this dec1s10n subsidiaries, and through this internal trade the TNC can set p y · t nt wm· dfall for companies already successfully given Shell a cautious introduct10n mto its new mterest, but its own price for the various elements it uses. These prices are demand-determined price for local crude was effectively was an ms a . t h · h one which has been successful in that Shell now has tf\most dismissed by statements such as these. and profitably producing local crude oil. The e-..:en ~ w 1c called 'transfer prices', and by their arbitrary setting a TNC is wide-soread control within the coal sector of any 0 t ek able to shift profits between its subsidiaries. For subsidiaries Acceptance of the view that the price for Australian crude followed the announcement of t~is decis~on h1gh~ght \he 01 roblem of relying upon the advice and ~nformat1on ? major ·oil companies. In mid-1977 Shell bought a !610 sta e operating in l::ountries with high taxation rates, inflated prices should be determined by the opportunity cost of that crude in Theiss Holdings Ltd and 37.2% of ~usten & Butta Ltd; was strengthened by accompanying claims that Australia's bldustry spokespeople, particularly for an mdu~try d?1'.llll1ted charged for parts or materials provided by subsidiaries b a few companies. The decision to gi:ant ~ar1ty pnc~ng (?r late in 1979 Shell purchased Bellamb1 Coal. . . operating in low-tax countries will reduce the official profits supply of indigenous crude was rapidly being depleted, that The extent of Shell's recent investmen.ts has giv_en nse to on which high tax would otherwise have been J.?aid. Australia's consumption of petroleum products was growing, afr Australian oil finds in order to provide _oil comp~m~s tit~ adequate funds for financing future, drast1fc~y need.\.' oca u estions that Shell should now fu~f1l a pro1!11se made • Although TNCs are concentrated within specific industries, and that the likeliliood of successful exploratory drilling was roduction was based on an acceptance o t e p~e ,1c_ I?ns ~ 1965 that it would 'facilitate the 111troduct1on of local each TNC spreads its own operations across various industries. extremely low. Forecasts abounded in the media at that time :are capital at some future date'. Follo_wing Shell's puiciase that Australia's crude oil production by 1985 would meet b compar{y representatives or by the compames JOlllt This diversification of interests enables a TNC to subsidise ~ anisation the Australian Institute of Petroleu1:1. O~ ~he of a 30% stake in the Callide mine, and its 40% share o e only one-third of its consumption (in 1976 it met two-thirds), 0 i losses in one sector with the profits made in another, giving it pr!ctictions ~ade prior to the ann_ouncement of panty pncmg, Theodore steam coal project, the treasurer, Mr H?war , . a vital economic edge over other firms and enabling it to buy that Australia's import bill would increase by up to three ly that of the future import bill has prove_d correct. The invited Shell tQ issue shares to allow _a ~5~ A_ustralian equity out unprofitable local firms, since the initial losses can be times its 1976 value by 1985. Even the CIA released a report to be reached. )ust five days later this mv1tation ,~as . predicting a critical oil shortage in Australia by 1985 under ~:ccess ratio of exploratory drilling ~as qui~e remar~ably, carried by profits made elsewhere. changed with recent assessments seemg an exlira?rtz:r ithdrawn an action described by the Labor Party .s economic • The financial decisions ofTNCs can move massive amounts success ;atio of one in every four offshore we s m · ;okespers~n as 'a capitulation to a powerful foreign of money either into or out of countries within which their Similarly Australian consumption of pet!ol and. related corporation'. . ·ff 1 ti - subsidiaries operate, giving these companies the potential for products' in fact fell in I 980, ~nd ~ustral~a remams two The coal industry is currently gomg through di ;cu t df es over-riding, distorting or destabilising the economic policies thirds self-sufficient in crude oil, as 1t was m 1977 .. risin operating costs, high interest rates an<:1 t e nee or of national governments. It has been to the benefit of the large oil compames that im !oved infrastructure are reducing poten?al r~turns an1 Through each of these aspects Shell has a significant influence their predictions have proved to be in':ccura!e. They n1:" d ke~ping production levels down. But ~he maJ~r TI cofPtt~:s on Australia's political economy in a way typical of large en· 0 reater profits from the higher pnce paid fo~ new m s can afford to sit out this downturn "Y1th the ac ng i TNCs. As the size of Shell's investments grows there is even r!cis!1y because indigenous crude is being found m larger vast profits in other areas, and are y1 fact able to ta e tuantities than originally estimated. Furth~r' there have ~en advantage of these economic cond1t10ns to. further re~uce less of a distinction between the political and economic 1 character of an investment decision what may have once no guarantees that the increa~ed !eturns 1r(?m current o local ownership in the coal industry by buymg compai:5ir,s been seen as a strictly economic decision will have wider d fon will be reinvested moil explorat10n. In fact, as they sell out in the face of uncertain_ and low re~rn~h 1f s political and social repercussions. There are two aspects of ~1~ll1;1sc t~aditional oil-based operations do n?t p~esei:t m~ch managing director, Kevin Gospe~, said ~ecently _t a~ e wi:J this investment expansion which are of particular significance ros ect for growth at present, more attent10n is bemg given looking for long-term consolidation of its pos1tl?I_1 lll the c? in their effects on Australia's economy - the diversification 1o drveloping Shell's interests in resources and other energy industry. 'I've asked my management to very cntically review of Shell into other energy industries, and the timing and forms. Chain Reaction 19 extent of its investments generally. Shell 011 the North West Shelf 18 Chain Reaction c01npleted an investigation into the effects of oil pollution any opportunity that may occur that results from people on coral and marine life. The fragile ecosystem of the w~ole getting nervous.' Reef is threatened by the destruction of any _one area .. ~il The purchase by Shell in 1979 of a 50% share in SW Hart presents a massive danger to the Reef even without dnlling, the manufacturers of 'Solarhart' solar energy hot wate; for the passage of oil tankers, about 350 each yea!, throu~ systems, is a further extension of Shell's interests in the energy its narrow shipping lanes expose the Reef to the nsk of oil industry. Before being bought into by Shell Solarhart was a spills. Earlier ·this year, 1982, the prime minister, Mr Fraser, fully Australian-owned company, with a large share owned could not state unequivocably that there would be no by employees. drilling on the Reef. The movement of oil companies such as Shell into other energy forms further restricts the market for energy generally. Outside control out of The oligopolistic powers of the seven major oil companies have been threatened by the development of alternative energy sources which followed the OPEC price rises ten years control ago. However as the oil companies have bought into these Shell's operations should be considered in the context of ~he newer energy industries they are restructuring the oil oligopoly general foreign control within certain sectors of the Austral~an into an energy oligopoly. The energy market is being economy. In the sectors in which Shell _largely ope_rates m effectively reduced to the workings of these corporations. Australia - mining, oil refining and chem~c~ls -:-- foreign. control is particularly high. The latest official figures available on foreign control in the mining industry are for 1978 (the ining Aboriginal land Fraser government no longer collects this information) ~nd show that 54% of the industry was controlled by foreign Shell's. broad investment approach also takes in the mining corporations. Foreign control of the oil-refining sector is 91% and refining of bauxite. Through acquiring 100% of Billiton and of the chemical sector, 78%. Aluminium, Shell gained immediate access to production in Would national enterprises be preferable to TNCs? The the a!u~inium sect~r. Although plans for partnership in an ell in the wild ... activities of Shell in the Great Barrier Reef, Tasmanian alummmm smelter m Western Australia have been shelved wilderness areas and Aurukun emphasise the political and Shell holds a 33% stake in the Worsley aluminium refinery.' Shell's exploratory investments in South West Tasmania Planned investments in this sector include exploration for social consequences of investments by capitalist enterprises. similarly indicate the incompatibility of profit-based . The search for profits which guides the decisions of bauxite through the Worsley joint venture at Worsley in ,·-, Bauxite mining investment decisions with considerations of a non-economic transnational and national enterprises alike should make us Wes tern Australia and in the Darling Ranges; through Billiton L_: lease nature. In 1980 Shell successfully applied for a permit to wary of claims that local companies would be less indifferent Shell is exploring in the Mitchell Plateau in Western Australia Aurukun explore an area of 614 sq km north of Adam~field in Sout~ and at Aurukun in Queensland. Shell also owns 10% of the to the repercussions of their operations. To th~ extent that township West Tasmania. In February 1981 the Tasmaman Conservat10n local companies lack the netwo!ks through w~~c? they can_ Alumax Bauxite Corporation which holds leases on the Trust challenged this application in a mining warde1:1,'s _court channel capital between countnes, the destabilismg potential Mi!chell Plateau, where large bauxite reserves are thought to Shell stakes out Aboriginal resen'es, North Queensland hearing, on the grounds that most of t~e. area lay w1thm the exist. of these companies is not as great as that of TNCs. show an artificially low profit rate. A more secure arrangement South West Conservation Area. The mmmg warden ruled that It is not immediately apparent to whom, if to any particular Shell's investment in the exploration and mining of bauxite would be royalty-sharing, which would guarantee the Aurukun 'public interest groups do not have an economic interest in individuals, responsibility for a transnational's activities can at Aurukun highlights the incompatibility of interests which community a set percentage of the value of bauxite mined. the area to be affected and are therefore not granted the right be attributed. This heightens the sense of powerlessness cannot be quantified in a strictly economic sense with a to argue the actual objection'. which is often felt towards the activities of TNCs because of corporation's investment decisions. Shell's part in Aurukun the absence of clear delineation between ownership and came about through Billiton's shareholding in the joint Moving in on s s control. There is a deliberate emphasis by Shell in presenting venture Aurukun Associates, for which Shell handles .... and on t f its operations and management as international and management and public relations. This consortium holds Shell dominates the international seed industry, controlling participatory, as the actions of a tea!Il, which ~erves to mask leases in the Cape York Peninsula to the south of the existing 30 seed companies in Europe and North America. Over the Another of Shell's investments which is of particular the essentially despotic nature of therr transnat~onal structl!-re. Weipa mine, running through the centre of the Aurukun last ten years the seed industry has been dramatically environmental concern is their holding of an oil and gas Given the grounding of Western legal systems ma theoretical Aboriginal reserve. transformed from a number of small enterprises into a exploration lease in partnership with Pacific in the Great separation between the economic and the political spheres The provisions and conditions for mining at Aurukun are set chemical oligopoly. This restructuring has been the result of Barrier Reef. Exploration leases in the Reef region were the introduction of 'Plant Breeders' Rights' (PBR) or 'Plant (as the Tasmanian mining warden's decision in~i~ates), and out by the Aurukun Associates Agreement Act (AAAA) suspended from June 1979 until the federal government has the failure of these systems to confront the political which was,in Senator Neville Bonner's words, 'rushed thro~gh Varieties Protection Laws' in many countries. The concept of repercussions of global economic activities, there ap~ears the Queensland Parliament like a cyclone' in late 1975. The PBR is a form of patent control over plants, enabling seed little hope that Western nations can control transnational Aurukun community, the elders, the shire council and their companies to patent seeds and cuttings of newly developed plant strains and to charge fees for the use of their seeds. As economic power·,vithin the confines of their parliamentary legal representatives were all completely unprepared for the systems. legislation; they had been neither consulted nor informed. the seed industry has become dominated by the large chemical The AAAA provides for a mining lease of 1905 sq km and/or oil companies, high-yield strains have been developed Further reading: 1800 sq km of this on reserve land ( total reserve land is' and patented which are highly dependent on the use of • Richard J Barnet & Ronald E Muller, Global Reach, Jonathan fertilisers and insecticides manufactured by these companies. Cape, London, 1975. 7503 sq km), as well as a possible refinery in the Aurukun e Greg J Crough, Foreign Ownership & Control of the Australian area, a port at nearby Pera Head and a town of about 3000 Australia's Plant Variety Rights Act is currently under Mineral Industry, TNC Research Project Occasional Paper No 2, people. It also allows for a possible smelter on the east coast consideration by the federal parliament. Shell has been a Sydney University, 1978. of Cape York. Under the agreement the consortium has been major financial contributor to the Joint Industry Committee • Hugh Saddler, Energy in Australia, George Allen & Unwin, granted an effective 63-year lease. After the third year of for Plant Breeders' Rights, which has been strongly lobbying Sydney, 1981. mining operations they must 'pay to the director on behalf for the introduction of PBR in Australia. To some degree • Anthony Sampson, The Seven Sisters, Hodder & Stoughton, of Aborigines 3% of annual net mining profits'. London, 1975. Shell's interest in introducing PBR relates to the poor e Transnational Co-operative Energy Group, An Oil Strategy For The promise of profit-sharing is not at all adequate, for two performance of its chemical concerns here in recent years. Australia, Sydney, 1980. reasons. Firstly, these payments are to be made to a general In order to avoid future depressed markets, the seed industry :I e United Nations Economic & Social Council, TNCs in World 'Aboriginal Welfare Fund'. It is not a direct involvement of would become vertically integrated into Shell's established w Development: A Re-examination, New York, 1978. . the Aurukun people in profit from mining on their land. production, distribution and marketing chains for its iJi e EL Wheelwright, Capitalism, Socialism or Barbarism?, Australia and New Zealand Book Co, Sydney, 1978. Secondly, the ability of TNCs to move profits between insecticides and fertilisers, selling essential seeds as a package ·~fining and the environment: open cut coal mine, Cal!ide, Queensland countries raises the possibility that Aurukun Associates will in combinations with those products. Chain Reaction 21 20 Chain Reaction of manufacturing occurs mainly in can remain undetected only as long a.s. workers expressed their concern at the lower Hunter area (Newcastle). Until the subsidies and who pays them remain totally undemocratic manner in which late 1970s, the 500 000 people of the hidden from public gaze ... jobs can be the meeting was conducted. Amanda region enjoyed an economy created in any industry from aluminium Orr one of the first women labourers to be employed at BHP, said: 'many of anced between agriculture, smelters to making crystal chandeliers. ing and primary resource (mainly provided there is a large enough subsidy the workers had been put on the defens ive because they were not allowed any export. ... the catch is that someone else has to The main problem at that time was be taxed to finance the subsidy. The say in the meeting. There is no point the lack of jobs for white-collar workers resultant taxes may lead to reduced em holding a public meeting on retrench • ployment in other industries' (my ments in the steel industry unless you and in the traditionally accepted areas allow the participation of steelworkers'. of women's employment. emphasis). NSW state premier, Neville Wran, then This is precisely what is occurring in Not even questions to the speakers unleashed in I 978 J1is version of the the manufacturing area in general, and were allowed. Fraser-Anthony energy export boom the steel industry in particular. Broken In Wollongong, where the labour I movement is probably the best organ scenario. Wran's proposal was Hill Proprietary Ltd (BHP) and the di to create 40 000 new jobs in the dependent downsteam industries ised in Australia, and where the planned at a price of 'some' downgrading about 15% of Newcastle's total closures will be socially more critical environment, agricultural pursuits However, retail and other like than in Newcastle, the meeting was 'aspects' of the manufacturing industries would have perhaps another attended by only 400 people. 10% of Newcastle's workforce dependent Local community groups warned It goes something like this: long ago that one-sided energy I " Newcastle to be tlle world's on the spending power of BHP's workers. coal-exporting port, up from 11 Wollongong, the figures are somewhat intensive investment policies would tonnes in 1979 to 65 million tonnes inevitably lead to such a situation. 1995-2000. (Coal export is near than IO years ago BHP set in Back in 1979, the Newcastle Ecology Predictions of an Australian re Centre and the Newcastle Trades Hall source boom have been shattered million tonnes in 1982). train investment policies which have " Doubling of NSW's power the ground for the virtual Council observed that: by massive lay-offs, plant closures (85% of NSW's power is already cessation of major steel making in New . . . the proposed capital intensive develop and development cancellations castle by 1985. This company's growing ments are wasteful and inefficient in terms deced in the Hunter). of job creation and should be scaled down. around the country. David Ross " Rise of primary aluminium smelting investments in oil and coal, and its A far greater number of socially useful and reports on the effects of the re from 90 000 tonnes to 590 000 tonnes. attempts to break into the aluminium environmentally sound jobs could be created all for export. industry in the Hunter (and now in for the Hunter Region's people by alternative cession in Newcastle and the As with most of the 'resources booms' Western Australia) underline clearly its investments in manufacturing associated with community's response. in Australia, the main spin-off is not chase for profit maximisation at all solar technology and the Tourist Industry but the removal of public and costs. Such a policy will mean the direct and which ... create jobs in the areas of The shift of funds from the major service investment from the labour-intensive loss of 3000 steel jobs in Wollongong ,greatest social need. ar~as to huge capital-intensive projects that manufacturing area, accelerating 'struc and Newcastle and another 3000-5000 In 1980 the Hunter Region Com ~vii! requlfe few staff will have a long-term job losses in both cities by early munity Forum was established with impact on employment. (NSW GoJJernment tural' unemployment and increasing Capital Investment} stresses on the environment. if BHP is allowed to proceed with 28 groups of the most diverse political However, all is not lost! The its 'restructuring'. nature, including the Liberal-Country, The service sectors, notably education of over $3000 million of state taxes Responses have varied from seething Labor, Democrat and Communist par and health, employ large numbers of 1985 to build industrial infra~tructurc anger by many workers directly and in ties. However, the Forum's largest people. Until two years ago they were for 'the boom' has some definite ben directly affected to apathy by the ma membership was non-aligned individuals. among the major employment growth eficiaries: major multinational energy of those in work, fear that if they There are now 50 associated groups, areas, but now staff at hospitals is being companies, the NSW Electricity the boat their own jobs may in from most parts of the region. The sharply reduced and school projects mission (SEC), land speculators and some way be put in jeopardy. Forum's role in the present situation is ~ropped. Education, health and housing handful of workers directly involved The environment movement in NSW to raise awareness and stimulate com m New South Wales face a 30% slash in Given the very capital-intensive has had little to say about these munity action around the major environ capital expenditure for each of the next of the power industry ($1.5 million While this is understand mental and social issues. It is campaign few years if the state government con public investment to create each believe that the situation needs ing for balanced and practical investment tinues with its massive electricity and permanent job) and of the related some criticism if environmentalists are policies that will lead towards a more industrial support program. minium industry ( $1 million per to further develop their credibility with self-sufficient economy and environ . These warnings, with the implied permanent job), it would be virtually broad sections of the community. The mentally compatible future for our widespread loss of jobs in the traditional impossible to design a reasons for this silence lie partly in the region. construction and manufacturing areas scheme which generated less direct of an economic social critique within The Forum wants to make people were spelt out in a still-suppressed govern~ ployment for dollars invested. As environment movement and partly aware that premier Neville Wran, in ment report of 1981, which was pro omist Dr Howard Dick writes in his I 98 the social issues of recession and un concert with prime minister Malcolm duced by senior government economists publication Power Subsidies to Aluminium not being seen to be con Fraser, has virtually bankrupted NSW, and titled NSW Government Capital Smelters: Toe main effect of power with major clearly environmental making us more dependent on an Investment. subsidies is not to generate employment. such as the struggles to preserv~ export economy, and therefore more As the Hunter Region is the focus for It is to encourage an excessive use West Tasmania's wilderness areas. vulnerable to foreign economic and all this capital investment, one might electricity'. official NSW ALP's response was political manipulation. A good example expect some levelling of unemployment Aside from the 'bigger is always better' hold public meetings in Wollongong of this trend is the forced sale of the there and in the rest of NSW. However mentality, such a philosophy also assists on 2 7 September 1982 and in Newcastle Hunter's and Australia's biggest power the state and the region have the second significantly in widening the political on 5 October 1982 with a maximum of station, Eraring, which is not yet highest unemployment level in Australia. base of the ultra-conservatives who speakers such as Wran, Dolan complete, to private sources. A similar The Hunter Region is the main energy tively control the NSW Labor Party. and nil local input either in fate awaits the Bayswater station UJz base area in NSW, being the state's major dominating faction in the NSW ALP organisation or in participation at the which is also still under construction. ::> exporter and power producer and a long-standing integration within The meetings were essentially These two stations will supply half the co Australia's second largest steel pr~ducer a:: NSW Electricity Commission at both by the NSW Trades and state's power by 1986. I- (after Wollongong). Also, a wide range administrative and union Council, which is based in Syd- Other more noticeable public effects T~e Eraring power s~~ion which is not yet completed has already been sold off to· therefore a strong vested interest ancl the conservative Federated are the massive cutbacks in state services David Ross is the director of the Newcastle expansion of the SEC's bureaucracy. Ironworkers Association, the main union in the social area alongside unpre pnvate so_urces. A s1m~lar fate awaits the Bayswater station which is still under Ecology Centre, secretary of the Newcastle co!1struct1on. These will supply half NSW's power by 1986. This trend toward As Dr Dick explains ' ... the point the steel industry. · cedented rises in power charges and Trades Hall Council Environment Subcom other direct and indirect taxes which are pnv~te co~trol makes the state more vulnerable to economic and political mittee, and coordinator of the Hunter Region fllat mucll of the discussion of Newcastle meeting was attended mampulat10n. Community Foru,n. creation" is in effect a political trick by only 800 people. Several irate steel- just beginning to bite.
22 Chain Reaction Chain Reaction 23 The Community Forum, together Water Board's capital works of the last In 1950 a top-secret presidentially Studies in Washington has looked to with a number of other organisations, twelve years, that the state government approved National Security Council specific 'causes', the first of which is the supports the following proposals for the make a special grant to the Board so memo (NSC-68) written by Paul Nitze increasing sense of insecurity on the part steel industry as a serious attempt to that these works can proceed. This (today president Reagan's chief nego of decisive political and military lobbies com bat the slide of our region's econ- could create 200-400 new permanent tiator for nuclear arms control) outlined and interests in the USA from the early· omy: jobs within two years. the purpose of nuclear weapons use: 'Our seventies on. He argues that Nixonian • A moratorium on plant closures and overall policy at the present may be detente did not produce a world balance redundancies including: a planning and • That the new federal taxation office described as one designed to foster a overly favourable to the USA. From advisory council of government union to service Newcastle and northern NSW world environment in which the Vietnam, through Mozambique, Angola, and industry representatives to' advise with its 800 direct jobs plus at least Twenty-five back copies of Chain Reaction American system can survive and Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Iran and Nicaragua on investment, the introduction of new 1200 indirect jobs, be sited in the New - all those published from Autumn 1976 flourish.' not forgetting OPEC - Third World technology, job health and industrial castle area and not in a Sydney suburb (excep'. vol 2 no 3, of which we will supply as planned. The policy has changed little since revolution recorded serious upsets for the a reprint of the major stories) - are USA in the seismic graph that records the relations; and enactment of job security available as a set for $33. Add another then. Today, the director of USA Arms legislati~n to stabil~se employment by a • That the offices of the N~W Elec $2 to include this edition (no 30). All Control and Disarmament Agency, fundamental conflict between capitalist moratonum on Job losses pending tricity Commission be phased out of post free. Eugene Rostow, asserts:'We carry on and post-capitalist forces. alternative employment and retraining: the Sydney area and transferred to the the foreign policy of a nation with global Secondly, the USSR has now arrived ment and retraining. lower Hunter, as a further attempt to interests and defend them if necessary at a state of rough strategic nuclear parity • A modernisation program funded redress the serious lack of white collar by conventional means or theatre forces.' with the USA. And USSR intervention from BHP's oil and gas profits. jobs in the Region. This 'defence' of 'global interests' in Afghanistan, Poland or Czechoslovakia • Access to company books and • Tha1 because ot tne need for a major (read: the creation and expansion of have done little to cool the cold war fires. accounts through appropriate legislation. new solar water heating manufactur markets and multi-national corporate Thirdly, global recession/depression e Government equity in the company ing facility to meet projected NSW investments), which includes the first and accelerated inflation and unemploy commensurate with any assistance given demand _in the next five years, pressure use of nuclear weapons, was not engen ment in the USA have engendered a de to the industry. be applied by the NSW and federal dered with Carter's famous PD59, nor fensive aggressiveness which, though • Support for an inquiry into the steel governments to ensure that Rheem even Schlesinger's equally publicised perhaps understandable, is nevertheless industry crisis to investigate causes the (owned 67% by BHP) sites such a plant 'counterforce strategy' of the early extremely dangerous. present position and its future. ' . in the Newcastle area. seventies. The first use of nuclear The final reason, by far the most • Support for 'a broadly based and weapons has been official USA govern powerful in the sponsorship of the representative regional committee to • That the NSW government should ment policy for the past 3 7 years. Ac production and elaboration of nuclear convene public meetings, seminars, etc take serious steps to encourage with and conventional weaponry, is one that on the crisis in the industry. significant economic incentives solar cording to the Brookings Institution ~ study prepared in cooperation with the has been repeated endlessly since it was • Support for a future federal govern- marketing scheme similar t~ those Department of Defence, the USA govern first coined by President Eisenhower in ment that is committed to: acquiring operating in a number of other ment threatened the use of strategic 1968: the military-industrial complex, or a substantial equity in economically countries, and to examine the early nuclear weapons no less than eighteen the Iron Triangle. This term has been strategic industries, including the steel entry of the state into the field of times between 1946 and 1979. invoked to describe the nexus of defence industry, in return for assistance and manufacture and sale of the products. And to complement its plans to con contractors, Pentagon bureaucracy and short-term protection; and establishing a • Industry figures show that the tourist vert the USSR into a 'smoking, radiated congressional promoters as well as aca planning and advisory council on the industry has been the biggest job ruin', the USA also readied nuclear war demic collaboration from the military economy formed from government, growth industry in the Region for the plans against Europe and Third World intellectual research centres. unions, employers, and environmental last two years. Last year, 2.5 million countries. To justify the continuing research and consumer organisations. tourists visited Hunter vineyards, The USA has displayed a continued and expense, a range of threats symbols Further to these recommendations, beaches, etc. The Forum would like to will to power in the post-war period and discourses - have been deployed. the Hunter Region Community Forum see the state government directly in By Joanne Pemberton which has found expression in a globally Each year brings fresh disclosures of the and its affiliates have begun to campaign volved in the industry by providing the based nuclear weapons system and the new 'threat' posed by the enemy. The around the following job creation required infrastructure and investment export of terror and economic op examples are manifold. At a time when proposals: and particularly in schemes that would pression. The world nuclear arsenal has the USSR had just four ICBMs,Kennedy • Because of the admitted $150 return considerable revenue to the state grown to some 50 000 nuclear weapons declared the famous 'missile gap', sub million backlog of the Hunter District treasury. since the end of World War II, mostly sequently withdrawn in 1961. The instal owned by the USA (about 30 000) and lation of nuclear weapons in Europe was the USSR (15 000), as well as United justified by the supposedly overwhelming Kingdom, France, China, India and Israel, conventional forces possessed by the with Sou th Africa, Pakistan, and Argentina Warsaw Pact. MIRVs were developed well on the way to nuclear military by the USA in response to the supposed status. USSR anti-ballistic missile threat which It can be stated quite matter-of-factly did not in fact exist. Spring 1982, no 29 - Women and the The USA journalist, Alexander resources boom; Threats to Antarctica; that we are on the brink of disaster, but USA's Pacific military network; Trade how and why did we get here? E P Cockburn, has argued that it is in this union and ALP uranium policy. $2.00. Thompson has proposed that an 'exter sense wrong to talk about an 'arms race' minist' mentality pervades our thinking. for that implies a contest between two Winter 1982, no 28 - Wollongong: jobs A particularly abhorrent mindset that or more competitors. The USA arms and environment; latest Activists Contacts build-up has proceeded in a fashion directory, Consumer Interpol and Austral would resign itself to the assumption of generals and politicians that a loss of 10% generally divorced from what the USSR ian pastoral lands give-away. have been producing. He writes: Autumn 1982, no 27 - Anti-nuclear or 28% of a population in a nuclear war 1982, five articles, Worker health, Arid is tolerable. Other analyses have situated In the early 1980s the US military-industrial lands, Barrier Reef, Franklin river, $2.00. the 'current crisis' in the accumulation complex is once again seeking and mobilizing of money and power that is to be got 'threats' which are becoming patently more Summer 1981-82, No 26 - Rainforest : from pumping plutonium into every tin ludicrous: supposed missile vulnerability to Cape York close-up and worldwide over a Soviet first strike; the particularly outrageous view, East Gippsland supplement : forests pot dictatorship and market around the It allegation that 'verification' of SALT II was a or woodchips, endangered animals. $2.00 world. is to such corporate greed, stumbling block to ratification. The next coupled with multi-national paranoia due generation of nuclear technology being intro to the success of people's armies in the duced by the US will make verification Third World, that we owe our precarious significantly more difficult than it was four . BHP dorr.,11ates the Newcastle skyline: .imt its present economic restructuring will Send orders to: Chain Reaction Room 14 existence. years ago. mean the loss of 3000 steel jobs in Wollongong and Newcastle and another Floor 4, 37 Swanston St, Melbourne 3000'. In mapping out the crisis even further, 3000-5000 spin-off job losses. Eqbal Ahmad of the Institute for Policy Cockburn continues that further justifi-
24 Chain Reaction Chain Reaction 25 catioll: is given in the rubbery art of bean . The 'ground presence' troops, it was What is essential then, is to examine countmg. Bean-counting is brought into said, could not stop a USSR invasion as play by way of estimating forces on the instead their function was based on th; the relationship between the USA stra basis of partial numbers. tegic deployment system and the needs assumption, as president Ronald Reagan of the multinationals, because as they put it, that: Proponents of the overwhelmino USSR have become more dependent on the threatk will point to USSR superi~ity i·n The Soviet Union is not ready yet to take on export platforms of the Third World they i II tan. s, but omit NATO superiority in that confrontation which could become World have also become more dependent on anti-tank weapons. They will stress the War III. They would like to be able to con the coercive powers of the state. Multi t USSR advantage in missile submarines ti~ue making gains without conflict. And I nationals don't have armies, governments but omit the fact that they carry fewer thmk that our presence there indicates that do. warheads. They will point to the all right, this is of interest to our national The crisis for the multinationals is superior 'throw weight' of some USSR secu~ity · · · ~nd they're going to have to take riod nuclear missiles. but omit the fact that mto the1r computations. that the machinery for policing the world broke down in Vietnam. Terror, that most USSR ICBMs are still liquid- The trip-wire strategy meant that the the most successful USA export, is being fue~ed and hence some twenty years area to be protected by the USA 'nuclear challenged in the Third World. Moreover, behind USA technology. They will point umbrella' included not only pro-USA the achievement of nuclear parity by to the alleged boom in USSR defence countries in the region but also the the USSR and the growth of the anti . e:xpenditure without disclosing that such southern part of Iran. If the USSR should war movement have made the world of 1n a figures are often arrived at by applying move into Iran the USA would 'still fly today a fundamentally different place USA defence costs to the USSR. USSR 500 men (to) the oilfields and there they militarily from the world of the fifties defence spending has remained constant would stay. If any of our boys are shot and sixties. d in recent years and NATO currently out- then the Russians know we will retaliate But the response of the multinationals spends the Warsaw Pact. in any way we choose anywhere in the to the crisis they face has been reac The sum conclusion must be that world.' A_nd, 'If our troops get killed by tionary. It consists of trying to re there is no gap and if there is one then the Russians anywhere in the world it it favours the USA. y.rould be much easier to sell an escalation establish a domestic consensus for wars in the Third World ( ending the Vietnam More disturbing than any supposed mto nuclear war.' syndrome), of building up conventional USSR threat is the development of the Escalation is even easier to sell when next generation of nuclear systems, you also possess neutron bombs and nuclear forces and of attempting to Glossary Theatres of tactical nuclear war t regain nuclear superiority vis-a-vis the eve;1 m01:e geared to 'launch 011 warning', ( enhanced radiation weapons) or any The concept of theatre nuclear war has which will produce a greater likelihood other weapon of mass destruction. The USSR. Thus the war in Central America Counterforce: Nuclear first-strike attack which emerged as one of the ways in which the of accidental nu~lear conflict, unstop- smart new binary nerve gases, the cluster the establishment of the Rapid Deploy: eliminates effective retaliation. use of nuclear weapons might be ment Force, the production of the . pable after the first detonation. This is bombs and napalm, all have contributed ICBM: Intercontinental ballistic missile. contemplated. In most of the potential IC further compounded by the proliferation to eroding the firebreak between nuclear neutron bomb, the MX missiles, chemi theatres, escalation to strategic o~ nuclear technology by plutonium and and conventional weapons. The most cal weapons, the Pershing II and cruise MIRV: Multiple independently targetable (intercontinental) nuclear war would be high-technology hucksters from Westing- destructive conventional weapons are missil~s to be installed in Europe, all are re-entry vehicle, a multiple warhead missile an everpresent risk or 'local' conflicts. house, Bechtel and General Electric who now as powerful and deadly as any tac of a piece. They are the concrete mani capable of striking at several targets. are busy opening up a new generation of tical or mini nuclear missile. festation of the reactionary strategy of global commerce. Already moves are It is, then, a mistake to focus on only attempting to regain USA hegemony NATO: North Atlantic Treaty Organization, I over the world. major military alliance of Western European afo~t to water down the 1978 non- nuclear weapons. The presence of non The nightmare is that an increasingly and North American countries. pr_ohferation legislation to assist corpor- nuclear weapons of mass destruction has desperate and reckless USA government, ~tlons to develop international business certainly lowered the threshold for pushed on by embattled multinationals Ostpolitik: Policy adopted by West Germany m advanced technologies. New markets nuclear war. Casper Weinberoer has de might succumb to the temptation of in the early 1970s aimed at breaking down are essential to the corporations since s~ribed the neutron bomb ~s a 'par barriers with Soviet Bloc countries, in using nuclear weapons. START (strategic particular East Germany. the collapse of the domestic market in ticulary useful weapon in several arms reduction talks), of course, is a building nuclear power plants. theatres of the world including Europe'. fraud. Eugene Ros tow has said: PD59: Presidential Directive number 59, But Pentagon support in furthering The USA over the past 40 years has issued in 1978, publicly stating USA first the demand for high technology pro- because of its expenditure on and com: The notion of having arms control agreements and a nuclear stalemate so as to make the strike policy. ducts must be linked to the funda- mand ov~r technology, set the tone and world safe for conventional war and for mental shift in USA nuclear strategy in character' of an extremely lopsided arms Rapid Deployment Force: A special USA guerilla war and wars of national liberation is force for intervening in 'trouble spots' like the .last ten years. Vietnam provides an race. ~t emerged as a superpower in the nonsense. It explodes in your face. In order to obvious turnmg point; for the first time twentieth century as if from nowhere eliminate nuclear war, you must eliminate war the Persian Gulf. a USA nuclear threat could not prevent ,developing its own institutions the mult/ itself. SALT: Strategic arms limitation talks, between the defeat of the USA military. nationals, 80% of which are USA-based . .BY any standards the USA leadership the USA and the USSR, begun in the late . Nuclear war is most likely in the And the "'.11air.i threat to hegemony of 1s msane. The American century, which 1960s. Middle East, South Africa or Central the multmat10nal corporation since created the world of haves and have America. Tactical nuclear weapons are World War II has arisen from the liber nots, has left a world in ruins. The threat SALT II: SALT agreement signed in 1979 now deployed by the USA in the Middle ation struggles of people from the Third to the survival of humanity is, perversely but not ratified by the USA. enoug~, due to the resistance of peoples East and the USA sixth fleet has in- World, particularly those struggles to Schlesinger: USA secretary of defence creased its nuclear arsenal by 25% since estab~sh. economies independent of to an mhuman system. But that resist 1973-74. 1979. multmat10nal corporations. ance, and in particular the peace move ~or the first time in 400 years all the . Nuclear weapons have been primarily ment, must move beyond its rhetoric of START: Strategic arms reduction talks I maJor territorial disputes in Europe have aimed at thwarting these struggles and crisis. 1980s successor to SALT. ' Inspired by feat, mass movements been resolved. In the past ten years trade at preventing the USSR and China from Strategic nuclear weapons: Very long range between Eastern Europe and the EEC aiding these movements for indepen have emerged in both the East and the ~as gr_own by 480%. The Siberian pipe- deuce. The USA policy as noted in the West to take the nuclear policy out of weapons. I hue will eventually go through. The EEC NSC-68 was to: the hands of fallout-breathing generals Tactical nuclear weapons: Intermediate-range and the Soviet Bloc are deeply tied to Foster a world environment in which the and politicians. But fear can also be weapons. each other. In Europe, Ostpolitik has American system can flourish ... embraces used to manipulate people. An 'exter worked. But such stability in Europe has two subsidiary policies. One is a policy which minist mindset' must be countered by Theatre nuclear weapons: Sh o:t-range weapons I not been matched in the Middle East. we would probably pursue even if there were analysis of that system of oppression intended for battlefield use. By the end of I 981 Alexander Haig as no Soviet threat. It is a policy of attemptino that threatens. to engulf us all. Warsaw Pact: Military alliance comprising the secretary of state had introduced to develop a healthy international community. Toan.he Pemberton is a Sydney journalist who Soviet Bloc countries. trip-wire strategy ' and established ! The. other is the policy of 'containing' the attended the 1982 United Nations Special ground presence in the regi·on. Soviet system. These two policies are closely Session on Disarmament as part of the Aust Weinberger: USA secretary of defence from interrelated and interact on one another. ralian Peace Liaison Committee delegation. 1980.
Chain Reaction Chain Reaction 27 A BOOK WITH A POINT ANDA STING Written by Illustrated by KEITH TUCKER * STUART ROTH Wally the Wombat takes a rhyming look at companies' attitudes to the environment and discovers a case of poetic injustice. '
wide range gearing comfortable saddles racks - alloy I steel panniers Fish deaths in nearby Rickabys Creek, attributed to G lightweight camp z a lack of oxygen, may have been due to high ing gear ci: biological oxygen demand from brewery yeast a: wastes used at the Castlereagh dump as fertiliser. custom built a. bicycles The. International Magazine Focusing on By Wieslaw Lichacz both working-class and semi-rural sub- onto vacant i'and or into rivers in well ~oc1al Change and Alternative Strategies urbs west of Sydney. Avalon, near orchestrated and sometimes heavily "i'oxic wastes have been produced Geelong in Victoria, was the site of armed operations. Successful pros Two Special Issues on Peace and Disarmament another incinerator proposal which met ecutions under the Clean Waters Act September 1982 December 1982 in military and agro-industrial complexes over the past century. The rate of active resident opposition. usually ended in minimal fines and the Guest Edited bv Ham· Redner production and the consequent dangers Well before any legislation was en- loss of a driver's licence. Huge tracts of A-rtielcs by:·B~b i1o~'tml S1ra1cgk Arm~ Ra~c_andArm ... Control; Gan·Sm11h From ·\NZl'S to Nuclear Al ha nee. Geo,xe LaAt:r From Cn~1vRc'.>pon\C to the Aholnion of W-ir· \/ /-~ / to environmental and public health acted to control the handling of haza.rd- bushland remain affected. :;'~nd~,n t:m/ .Ralph Su~nmy Au:,.tral_ian Peace Mo\cment The-me" ( I 885·19K2): 'c;,;1/~~:;,;: have reached worldwide crisis levels. ous wastes in Australia, the manufacture The Metropolitan Waste Disposal r~.n:-arm.tmt.:nt: Rohm Burm 01:,.armamt.:nt/Sexi:>m/Lcarning: Dun Huuo11 Nude.Jr Wc,1pon:,. and the Neutron Bomh. Recent disasters involving intractable of agricultural chemicals pesticides Authority (MWDA) was established by E~cnded Interviews with Kl'nne1h 8011/dmg andl1Hpeh Cann/len plastics, paint, petroleum' and paper: the then NSW Liberal government in Also poem:,.. -.hort '>loric-, and hook rc\icw:> wastes produced by such industries have occurred in Seveso in Italy, at Love and the metalliferous industries pro- June 1971. The MWDA now operates Back copies $2 each include: Canal near Niagara Falls USA and in duced toxic wastes which were stored almost all the solid landfill and liquid Vol.1 No.3 The Media & Society; Vol.1 No.4 Work & Industrial Democracy; Vol.1 or disposed of around urban industrial waste disposal sites in the Sydney No.5 Energy & Society; Vol.1 No.6/7 World Peace: The Nonviolent Alternatives· Hungary. Closer to horn~, at the Willa Vol.1 No.8 City & Citizen; Vol.2 No.1 Shadow Work; Vol.2 No.2 Aborlglnai wong dump near Brisbane, stored toxic areas. Some of these wastes included"' metropolitan area, and finances its Alternatives In Australia; Vol.2 No.3 Anarchy or Chaos. wastes have leached into the Brisbane polychlorinated biphenols (PCBs) whole operation with fees charged at River. chlorinated hydrocarbons such as pesti~ the dumps and income from other SUBSCRIBE! A citizens' revolt is rapidly becoming cides . and their breakdown produ~ts, investments. Individuals: $14 for 4 $25 for 8 I wish to begin with: evident, with increasing awareness and orgamc wastes such as solvents and 01ls In the early 1970s, reports were Institutions :;~~~,<~yr) issues (2yrs) Vol 1 No (3) (4) (5) (6/7) (8) cyanides, and physicochemical waste; prepared on the suitability of various 2 1 4 concern about the effects of chemicals and Libraries issues (1 yr) ~~~~~r(iyrs) Vol No ( ti%(::lJ j such as dioxin, agent orange, pesticides including acids, alkalis, heavy metal sites around Sydney for liquid waste TEAS, pension, (please circle clearly) and heavy metals. Sydney has witnessed' solutions, inert wastes such as cement dumping. A site at Castlereagh was dole $8 for 4 issues Single Copies $3.25 and latex, and biological wastes from evaluated and rejected on grounds of Subscriptions cover the cost of surface mailing. Overseas air mail,. add $3. intense local residents' resistance to the siting of a hazardous liquid wastes grease traps and tanneries. the difficulty in preventing seepage Th~ Edi~ors, Social Alternatives, Department of External Studies In December 1969 most local councils from the wastes. However, when a University of Queensland, 4067. AUSTRALIA ' treatment plant at Castlereagh and a high 29 Glebe Point Rd. temperature incinerator in Fairfield. in Sydney ceased accepting liquid wastes private waste dump was closed due to Cheques and money orders ($AUST) payable to SOCIAL ALTERNATIVES. in their landfill tips as a measure to court action, the· MWDA de.::lared a G lebe 660 6605 Wieslaw Lichacz works with Friends of the prevent environmental pollution. Many crisis situation and the Castlereagh Catalogue $1 Earth (Sydney). Thanks to Neva Wendt and industries, faced with expensive storage liquid waste dump was established in Herbert Beauchamp of the Total Environment problems, took to illegal 'fly-by-night' May 1974. Centre for their assistance. dumping of wastes down sewer mains, Amid pressure by industrialists to
~~~~~~~~- -~~--~~~--~~-~--~~~--~~~--~~~~~~~~~~ Chain Reaction 29 that leakage is occurring. After recent the district. The effect of these success suggest they may be of greater toxicity in-plant treatment at factory sites. periods of heavy rain, Friends of the ful gatherings was to bring the toxic than the original wastes being incinerated. However the MWDA still do not have IEarth Sydney members assisted some waste issue into prominence in Fair Information received from Friends of strong policy planks in their charter to local residents in their monitoring field to the point where it was a the Earth USA suspects that some incin encourage reduced waste production efforts. Preliminary results from water common topic of conversation amongst erators are affecting the health 9fpeople although a service is provided involving samples of discharges from the dump shoppers and migrant groups. living downwind from them. waste exchange between industries. show evidence of surface leakage. The public outcry forced the MWDA Hazardous waste disposal is not a Officials from the MWDA have indi On 20 December 1978, one local and the environment minister Eric problem confined to Sydney. It is cated that an incinerator could not lie campaigner witnessed a horrifying Bedford to shelve the development common to all industrial areas through idle because of the capital invested in its explosion at the dump in which a man application in early May 1982. The local out Australia. From state to state, construction so they have designed their unloading some solid waste into one of residents' group is now preparing a governments and their instrumentalities proposed plant to take ten years to the cells was badly burnt; he died strategy in case the proposal resurfaces differ in the scale and level of their process the backlog of stored wastes in Sydney. There is a danger that the Baulkham Hills shortly after. The witnesses were on a in the near future, and are calling disposal strategies. Most state govern 'safety tour' of the dump at the time strongly for the siting of a plant away ment policies could be described as commissioning of the plant will inhibit and the huge expl0sion lifted the from any residential area. being in the formative stages. drives to prevent or drastically reduce back wheels of their car off the ground. The question of worker safety in the Federally, the house of representatives the initial production of hazardous Local residents have reported hearing handling of hazardous materials was standing committee looking into the wastes. a series of explosions emanating from ignored in tJ Wetherill Park EIS, and production, storage, transportation and Since the shelving of the Wetherill Castlereagh liquid the dump and have witnessed a 'black inadequate information was provided on disposal of hazardous wastes mainly Park proposal, the MWDA has been waste dump fallout, like burnt paper' coming from most aspects of air pollution from the dwelt on the urgent need to register the looking for a solution to the problem of the dump area. A series of spillages incinerator. A major part of the Fairfield producers of the wastes so that an siting an incinerator; the authority from tanker trucks have been reported. rightly realises that an incinerator near Trucks can be heard arriving at the tip any residential area will receive strong into the early hours of the morning. public opposition. It is now attempting Very little action from the authorities to brush up its tarnished corporate image has followed these reports. after the hostile reception to its incin Over the years the MWDA has persist erator and waste disposal proposals. At ently refused to admit that the dump one stage a letter was released from leaks. However in 1978 one environment MWDA files into the Castlereagh area, minister, Mr Jensen, did admit to a which gave the impression that FOE PRANG delegation that it does. The (/) Sydney members believed that NSW Liverpool admission did not lead to closure or ~ had 'one of the most progressive waste improvements at Castlereagh, only a o disposal authorities in the world'. If it decision to install a high-temperature :.:: were not for residents checking, such a incinerator. A pilot incinerator was ~ letter could have had the effect of iso National tested and eventually withdrawn after 2 lating and diffusing the active environ Parks observations of blocked control valves > ment campaigns in Sydney's western and corrosion of pump impellers. ~ suburbs. The landfill operation was designed 3 0 Chain Reaction Chain Reaction 31 off all that oriental horror, which has nevertheless conveniently provided him with a brand new appreciation of the sweetness of family life. Does he ever confess to his wife Circle of Deceit (Die Faelschung). about the hot affair he had in Beirut Produced by Eberhard Junkersdorf, with the young German widow of a rich directed by Volker Schlondorff. 35 mm, Palestinian ('I think I'll stay here and go colour, 100 minutes. Available from Arab like you', he declaims amid mutual Cinema International Corporation Pty Germanic smirks). He was interested Ltd, Tel: (02) 211 4122. enough in her to loiter in Beirut past his deadline - only to witness the fact, of This film is about a West German which she had already courteously journalist - a refined version of George informed ~im, that she was having an Negus - who one day leaves the warm affair witn a mature-age Palestinian bed of his somewhat frayed-at-the-edges. fighter. ('The whore!' he mutters as he marriage to go on an assignment to war sees them embrace.) It's okay for her to be with him, a (married) European costly construction, including metres if, considering the restrictions placed on torn Beirut, where the Palestinians and By John Hallam Lebanese leftists were battling the tourist of the revolution, but not with thick concrete shielding, containment raising electricity charges by PUCs, they one of the natives ... The nuclear industry is in trouble in structures able to withstand the impact wouldn't be better off in another Lebanese fascists in the 1976 civil war. Perhaps the fact that the film was being What made Circle of Deceit mildly virtually every country that has a sub of an aircraft crash or an earthquake, and business. More and more utilities are interesting was the director's conscious stantial nuclear program. Nowhere is back-up safety systems. Items such as looking at means to diversify, and many shown in Sydney while 3000 Palestinians were being massacred in Beirut made it ness of problems like racism and the this more true than the country in valves, pumps, and control systems must of them are moving into the conservation amorality of the Western media, while which nuclear power has developed be manufactured to higher standards and solar-energy business. a mite too poignant. Perhaps the fact that I watched it with a Palestinian, a still continuing to perpetrate orien furthest, the United States of America. than those for conventional power An increasing number of utilities see talism and sensationalism beneath a Nuclear power, Wall Street investors plants. the way to financial salvation through good friend who only narrowly survived the civil war in Beirut himself, made me superficial critique. For the street are discovering, just doesn't pay. The result of all this, and of the ever scrapping their entire construction pro battles and shellings in Beirut are of The USA has had over half the world's tightening net of safety requirements grams ( of which nuclear power is the abnormally sensitive to certain nuances. But I am convinced that the film is an course a director's delight, with the committed nuclear power capacity. In which even the most pro-nuclear mem most costly component), and in im effects of shadowy figures locked in 1972 it was forecast that it would have bers of the Nuclear Regulatory Com plementing measures to restrict demand example of racism of a highly sophisti cated kind - using Beirut, and Arab seemingly insane nightlong duels in over 400 000 MW on line by the year mission feel obliged to ask of the indus to the available capacity. and out of the stark silhouettes of 2000. Some estimates put the figure as try, has been to force the cost of plants Wall Street has reacted to utility blood and tragedy, as a titillating From the film Circle of Deceit bombed out ruins. Like the hero we backdrop for the boring angsts and high as 1 million MW. The USA now has up from an estimated $USA300-400 conservation plans with cautious en on Channel 10 recently as part of the are drawn in en passant; like him, we 60-65 000 MW on line, and will have million in 1969-73 when the plants thusiasm. When the Potomac Electrical lusts of the blond hero in his quest to save his own tiny soul. Murdoch media's policy of justifying never get to know an Arab or even have just over 100 000 MW on line if what is were ordered to $USA3000-4000 Power Company slashed a $USA1500 the Beirut massacres). Superficially, the a meaningful conversation with one. now under construction is completed. million and rising, today. million construction program and in If you've read Orienta/ism, the director and the hero are neutral. We Arabs the others - are a moving Just how much of what is under con At the same time, the USA electricity itiated conservation and load manage brilliant book by Edward Said, a Pales learn of massacres on both sides in the backdrop for the primary quest: the struction will ever be completed is generating industry is in deep trouble. ment measures, as well as applying to tinian professor of English in the USA, 1976 civil war - however we are denied salvation of the individualist's squeamish problematic reactors up to 30% Unlike the electricity supply industry in the Maryland PUC for a rate increase, it you will understand precisely why this the history which would allow us to European soul. So we see the orientalist complete are now being cancelled at an other countries where it is normally saw its bond rating raised from A to AA film is objectionable. Said's thesis is that draw just conclusions, and the only stereotypes yet again: corrupt sheikhs unprecedented rate. state owned, the USA industry consists by Moodys Investment Services. the Arab world - 'the orient' - and its massacre that we witness in the film was and their fabulous women, beautiful Reagan's support for the nuclear of a patchwork of privately-owned, At the same time, utilities which inhabitants have historically been one carried out by Palestinians at belly dancers, macho commandos, pic industry seems to be dissolving into municipal, state-owned, and federally persist with nuclear construction pro regarded by European writers and Damour, which our journalist hero is turesque peasants. Sure, the hero knows empty rhetoric as his vaunted 'free owned utilities. Privately-owned utilities grams face difficulties in raising money. intellectuals as 'the other' (in the same supposed to write up. As bodies thud it is wrong to report the massacres in a market' turns its back on nuclear power. are regulated by state Public Utility The Public Service Co of New Hamp way as, according to de Beauvoir, men to the ground on screen, a gun-toting superficial and unfeeling way. You can Wall Street, conventionally regarded as Commissions (PUCs) which limit the shire, builders of the Seabrook plants, have objectified women). The syndrome Palestinian draws to a halt beside our admire him in the scene where he resig:-s the force behind the nuclear industry, rates a utility may charge. These PUCs had their bond rating, already classed as of orientalism is harmless enough in its hero .i1;1 a clo~~ . of dust and shouts ,.in the newspaper office back home. But has had its fingers badly burned - par are less and less willing to let private 'dismal', dropped still further. most benign form the Arab world is some timely cntic1sm about the amoraI1 that act has not brought him one step ticularly since the March 1979 accident utilities include the cost of Construction In spite of the pro-nuclear Reagan seen as sublimely exotic and its people and ahistorical practices of Western closer to understanding or attempting at Three Mile Island. Wall Street's Work in Progress into the 'rate base' rhetoric the rate of plant cancellations are as strange, beautiful and unpredict journalism. Our hero is anyway sickened to understand, the dependence of an disenchantment with nuclear power is from which charges to customers are in the USA has not slackened. Since able as a dream. But, as Said points out, by the callous and sensat10nal reportage inhumane system on concepts of largely the result of the financial crisis calculated. December 1980, seventeen plants have in the twentieth century the conflict of massacre and disaster, and he resigns 'otherness'. The film is therefore an faced by the USA electrical utility The electricity supply industry has been cancelled. A further seven plants between Israelis and Palestinians, forthwith. But does he make amends for updated example of all that Edward industry as a whole, and the mind sought to raise finance for its massive have been deferred, or have met diffi mediated by skilful Zionist propaganda his wasted prime by becoming politically Said means by 'orientalism '. boggling capital costs of nuclear projects. construction programs, both nuclear culties likely to lead to their demise. in the Western media, has brought out active, or even by setting out to inform Of course it is not only the Arabs However, Wall Street's disenchantment and conventional, by raising bonds on Statements by the Australian uranium the most negative and destructive aspects himself of the rights and wrongs of the but all Third World peoples who are is not confined to nuclear power, but Wall Street. The industry is one of the lobby that nuclear power will move of orientalist attitudes: the Arab world revolutions he has reported? No. Back dehumanised by the Western media and extends to all the massive and costly most prolific issuers of bonds in the USA. ahead inexorably, providing a market is literally exotic and therefore dispens safely to Germany, he dives into the academics. In this film racism is not construction programs being undertaken Wall Street investors look with a very for Australian uranium because it is an able, and the Arabs are dehumanised womb; into the bosom of his family experienced in a vicious' form. Through by the USA utility industry. sceptical eye on the financial stability of 'economic necessity', look very hollow and therefore easily massacred. and his attractive earth··motherly wife, the perceptions of a sophisticated Nuclear projects need massive and the utility industry, which as a result indeed as USA utilities, public utility Circle of Deceit, I hasten to add, is in a bourgeois version of a rural paradise journalist, it is simple alienation and can only borrow money on the bond commissions, and Wall Street drop nukes not an exercise in Zionist propaganda of (no cows to be milked) which contrasts distance. His trip to Beirut reminded me John Hallam researches the nuclear fuel market at ruinously high interest rates. and embrace energy conservation in the the same ilk as, for instance, Otto cycle with Friends of the Earth (Collingwood}. superbly with the shells and savagery of of the poem by Herbert Padilla about The utilities themselves are wondering name of the same 'economic necessity'. Preminger's shameless Rosebud (revived faraway Beirut. The hero has sloughed academic tourists of the Cuban revol- 3 2 Chain Reaction Chain Reaction Chain Reaction 33 start tackling the problem. The sources of detailed information ical about chemicals are discussed - com pany safety data sheets, government Guidelines on Chemical Hazards: Health reports and standard textbooks as and Safety Bulletin No 16 June 1982, by well as where to get them. The appro John Matthews and Nick Calabrese. priate policy towards new chemicals - Published by the ACTU-VTHC dangerous until proven otherwise - and Occupational Health and Safety Unit, the preferred method of dealing with ution: Trades Hall, PO Box 93, Carlton South, existing hazards - use a safer substitute They get their visas in a jiffy, Vic 3053. - are strongly emphasised. Workers are Are informed about anti-war campaigns, warned against being fobbed off with About protests against the Vietnam war, in These Guidelines are designed to provide cumbersome and inefficient protective short: a basic working knowledge for union clothing. Enclosure of hazardous sub They are treading the righteous path of officials and shop stewards who must stances and ventilation are far preferable. history. deal with the day-by-day problems of There are details of when and how to While they lounge in the shiny seats chemical hazards at work. They come as insist on monitoring hazards in the Of the international airports, Each flioht they take an illegal act, a breath of fresh air for anyone accus workplace, and on medical surveillance They fe~l pleasantly subversive, tomed to reading hazards material from of the workforce. Their conscience is clean. industry sources and government depart The Guidelines should prove a Caroline Graham ments which is characterised by its valuable aid to unions and their members duplicity and frantic attempts to avoid who frequently must feel overwhelmed any bad publicity for a particular prod by the deluge of new chemicals appearing uct or company. every year in industry. Workers now approach, may be regarded as a success, eo The Guidelines begin with some have authoritative, well-researched although conservationists fear that lack basic principles of chemistry a;11d material from a body with the backing of funds for research, failure to set up toxicology, written for the person. with of the entire trade-union movement. The an observer scheme, a closed-door Just Part of the Job produced by no formal knowledge in these subJects, style is at times perhaps too academic attitude to poor Third World nations the Unemployed Workers Union, and they go on to discuss how chemicals for the audience to whom it is directed, From the video Just Part of the Job. and other factors may make performance 194 High St, Northcote, Vic 3070. affect workers' health - how they are but the thrust of the guidelines - that out of step with the high aims of the Tel:(03)4811155.Available in %-inch than overt violence such as rape or absorbed into the human body, are workers should be in control of their Convention. However, the still-to-be U-matic colour video and ~-inch colour condoned. For example, the individual metabolised sometimes to a more toxic working environment is an excellent economic exploitation, yet acts to keep incidents of sexual harassment are not finally negotiated minerals regime is video, 20 minutes. Also available from us in as vulnerable a situation. form and their effects on the various one. more likely to prove hazardous for the Sydney Film-makers' Cooperative. The situation presented in Just Part placed within the broader political bodily organs. Both short- and long The work of the ACTU-VTHC perspective of women's oppression. preservation of the Antarctic, and this Tel: (02) 33 0721. of the Job will be familiar to many job term dangers such as cancer, genetic Occupational Health and Safety Unit book supplies plenty of ammunition for seekers. Robyn, in her efforts to obtain Nor is sexual harassment defined. effects and damage to the developing is an important initiative by the trade Similarly, some may be left wondering the fight to save it. work has completed a secretarial/ foetus ' are discussed in sufficient detail union movement, as it is the only The author well known to the con Just Part of the Job is one of the first receptionist course, suffers derision what is meant by the title. Or why the to giv~ an understanding of the basic independent institution in Australia pieces of work I have seen or heard of introduction is a wolf-whistle. servation mov~ment, is a lawyer who from her mother about the need for principles involved. Specific classes of which can take up these issues without specialises in international and environ which tackles the problem of sexual employment as marriage may loom in chemicals, such as pesticides, solvents fear of alienating the vested interests in harassment from the point of view of The video raises a wide spectrum of mental law.For the past four years he has the future, and is confronted, in a issues that are related to sexual harass and epoxy resins, are also discussed, and industrv and in government. Its work represented environmental organisations someone young and out of work. Most prospective employer's questions, by there is a section on the identification will consolidate and extend th~ activities earlier treatments have dealt with women ment: marriage, career, 'attractiveness', at the Centre for Law and Social Policy indications that the job includes a job exploitation, unemployment ben of hazards both by the traditional of the workers' health activist groups, in the workplace. Although there is in Washington, DC. He has served as a sexual role. efits, de factos, attitudes towards women methods of measuring death and disease who have done much pioneering work public member on various USA nego resistance to sexual harassment and It is encouraging to see a video in general. An example of the need for in exposed workers, and by the more over the last few years to raise awareness other forms of oppression of women, tiating teams interested in the Antarctic where not only is the story viewed post-viewing discussion is apparent in recent toxicological laboratory tests. within the union movement. and the Law of the Sea. He was co all too often it is through individual through a young woman's eyes, but the comments Robyn's prospective The authors are damning in their Bob Muntz founder of the Antarctic and Southern actions whioh may be idiosyncratic and where young women get together to employer makes about his wife - they assessment of present official standards Other guidelines issued recently by the ineffectual. Struggle is often instinctive ACTU-VTHC Occupational Health and Safety Ocean Coalition (ASOC) in 1977. He is talk about their lives and barely mention are arrogant, condescending and cliched. and regulations for chemicals: also a member of the USA Advisory rather than politically motivated or Unit are: . boyfriends. And with a topic as This is not unusual - we hear remarks The control of hazardous chemicals in Aus No 12, Guidelines for Working wzth Screen Committee onAntarctica. aware. Just Part of the Job may do emotional as sexual harassment there is and attitudes of similar ilk all the time. tralia is fragmented, dispersed, and for. the based Equipment, May 1982: . much to correct this situation. The first 36 pages of this book give no recourse to exaggeration or sensation Such issues are raised by the video, but most part non-existent ... General chemicals No 15, Guidelines on Working zn Heat, June information about Antarctica and the There is no doubt that most young alism. would remain unanswered unless are at present let loose on the market with 1982. . f Southern Ocean, the Antarctic Treaty, women are kept ill- or mis-informed of zero testing requirements ... out of 40 000- No 18, Guidelines for the Prevention o Robyn is lucky. She is self-assured, informed discussion takes place after their rights or options regarding work, plus chemicals likely to be in use in Aus Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI), Augu~t 1 ~82. and the present state of affairs in the self-sufficient, articulate and readily viewing. Excellent discussion notes are tralian workplaces, controls on exposure No 21, Guidelines on the Hazards of Vtbratzon, region. A good case is presented for sexuality, sexual harassment and life able to assess her situation. She has included for this purpose. style. This is in order to further a state levels have been laid down by the National October 1982. trying to save this special area and its friends to talk to, and the means to Health and Medical Research Council for less remarkable and important wildlife fr0.'tl of enforced passivity and compliance obtain appropriately 'attractive' clothes Just Part of the Job as a video may than 500 materials, and these controls are that ensures, amongst other things, a not do anything directly to better "' "pollution by exploration and exploi for her interviews. She is middle class. inadequately enforced by grossly . u:ider tation. The section setting out what can pliable workforce which can be used Not so lucky are the not so articulate or inform young women of their rights. staffed state inspectorates . . . S1m1larly and abused and acts as a reinforcement With the discussion notes and actual controls on the transport and disposal of be done to save the Antarctic gives a confident. My experience is that young very comprehensive list of what environ- to the econ'omic power which the ruling working-class women tend not to relate discussion it may 'encourage young toxic chemicals are lacking. class maintains in a deflated economy. people to' discuss the decisions Robyn mental groups and private citizens can to middle classness on the screen even if Given this situation, the most import do in the developing struggle. It indicates The same is true for all women but young women are depicted, but tend to faces and the compromises she may ant section of these guidelines is Let's Save Antarctica by Jam es N Barnes with photographs by Eliot Porter. what has already been done by bodies young women are the most vulnerable. see it as unreal and unrelated to their have to make, [with which] job seekers undoubtedly the workplace strategy to This is not to suggest that a boom will hopefully be better informed and Greenhouse Publications, Melbourne, such as the Antarctic and Southern lives and decision-making processes. control hazards. This is based on two Ocean Coalition (and its member economy - or any other - has ever This is one of the reasons it is essen able to deal with the situation when it's principles: that every worker has the 1982, 96 pages, $5.95 (paperback). been better for women in this respect. their turn to make those same decisions.' groups), the World Wildlife Fund and tial to use this video as a stimulative right to know what chemicals he or she the International Union for the Conser Women have always suffered from piece, as is its intent, rather than as a It may also act as a catalyst in a socio is working with; and that the workplace This publication is very timely, as the sexual harassment, within and without political understanding of their worlds. critical stage in the fight to save Antarc vation of Nature and Natural Resources. commentary in itself. The video provides should be designed and adapted to the The last 60% of this book is devoted the workplace. All women experience no analysis of the structural implications Of the available resources for young needs of the workers not the other way tica has begun. (For more information it, some accept it, some say they aren~t women it would be one of the few to do on this issue see CR 29 .) to appendices which reproduce all of unemployment for young women, around. The sort of information provided important relevant documents dealing bothered, but most, I would say, seethe nor of the relationship of this to ways so. should be ideal for those union shop The Convention on the Conservation in silence. Harassment is more subtle Margie Kaye of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, with the present and future of the in which institutionalised sexism is stewards who are concerned about a Antarctic. Having the Antarctic Treaty, hazard but do not quite know where to which decided on an ecosystem 34 Chain Reaction Chain Reaction 35 under such headings as radiation com creating a defensive armour, making pensation, military provisions, land use, herself impervious to criticism and and nuclear weapons and waste. Reading effectively stunting her political and it one is filled with horror and anger at literary development. the USA for forcing such a giant swindle Prichard's son, Ric Throssell, revealed on the people of Micronesia. For a little behind the armour in his bio instance, for approximately $USA27 graphy Wild Weeds and Wind Flowers, per hectare ($USA11 per acre) a year published in 1975. As Throssell com Belau is expected to give up large areas ments in his introduction to Straight the Convention on the Conservation of of land for USA military use and to Left, there was little room in the biogra Antarctic Marine Living Resources the waive its nuclear-free constitution. There phy for Prichard's political writing. This collection of articles and addresses on Applications/proposals are invited Convention on the Conservation'. of are of course such heartening reassur for the position of Editor/s of Chain Antarctic Seals, agreed measures on the politics, literature and 'women's affairs' ances as 'The Compact requires that Reaction, the national magazine of Conservation of Antarctic Flora and whenever materials or substances includ is intended as a companion volume. Fauna and many other documents ing nuclear weapons ... or ady toxic Here is Prichard in her most public Friends of the Earth Australia. collected together in one publication chemical or biological materials are guise, tailoring her persuasive arguments Straight (Since May there have been three makes this a very useful handbook for present in [Belau], the Government of to her particular audience over a period people working as Editors.) anyone involved or interested in the the United States shall handle them in of almost 60 years. Straight left includes Left The magazine is currently struggle. There are also lists of all the such a way that they shall not be articles reprinted from Australian and published quarterly, goes to Australian and overseas organisations hazardous to public health or safety.' international literary and political members of Friends of the Earth in journals and newspapers, rare pamphlets, in ASOC, acronyms of important If one questions why the people of Australia, other subscribers (including bodies, a bibliography, a glossary of Micronesia have even considered the typed scripts of radio broadcasts and speeches. For those studying Prichard's schools, unions, community groups, terms used in literature about the option of a compact rather than full libraries and individuals) and is on Antarctic, and copies of letters to independence, it is important to work this collection will save the president Carter and prime minister remember that the USA does not considerable time it takes to find these sale at community centres and Fraser. require compacts to put its bases on sources. various retail outlets. We are planning This book, which also contains foreign soil; that for 20 years Micro For the general reader the collection's for the magazine to be published six value is as a touchstone to the outlook beautiful coloured pictures of the booklet which the editors hope 'will nesian leaders have been singled out ic Throssell times a year commencing in 1983. Antarctic and its wildlife, is very well stimulate discussion among the people for trips to the USA and other benefits; of a left-wing activist who fixed her Chain Reaction covers a wide faith on the Soviet Union as the first larlf \Vhen she is presenting workfri'g produced and well worth the price. who will be voting on the Compact of and that for 35 years the USA has class characters. range of issues emphasising the discouraged local development, thus socialist state and maintained a blinkered To fight the battle for the Antarctic Free Association soon'. Ric Throssell's creation of a section politics of the environment, energy you need this book. The first part of the booklet is an encouraging full economic dependence. loyalty throughout her long life. Prichard saw in her writing a continu on 'women's affairs' in Straight left and resources. introduction and a political status For instance the major export from seems rather forced. This section is thJ The Editors currently work with chronology which is in the same style as Belau is scrap metal from World War ation of the realist tradition in Australian literature established by writers such as shortest and includes articles which collectives of volunteers in Melbourne From Trusteeship To ... ? Micronesia another publication of the Micronesia II, which to say the least is a limited could be more appropriately included in resource. Henry Lawson. But whereas Lawson and Sydney, FOE, and other and its Future. A joint publication of Support Committee, Marshall Islands, A spoke with a melancholy tone, Prichard the section on literature. the Micronesia Support Committee Chronology: 1944-1981. The chron However, the people of Micronesia community groups around Australia. looked with optimism at a pattern of Here Prichard presents with convic The magazine has been based in and Pacific Concerns Resource Centre ology begins with the granting of are not without hope. An important tion the Soviet solution to women's and increasing strength throughout the social evolution that would lead inevi Melbourne since it was established Hawaii, July 1982, second edition ' Micronesia to the USA in 194 7 as the tably, to socialism. Judah Wate~ calls inequality. This is the public voice of August 1982, 68 pages, $USA5.95 world's only 'strategic' trust territory. Pacific is the recognition of a shared the faithful party activist. The voices in 1975. colonial past and shared current realities. her 'the founder of socialist realism in (soft cover). It then jumps to 1960 and follows the Australia'. o~ her women characters, as they struggle The Editors' responsibilities For those who are interested in support changes in USA policy on Micronesia, While Prichard's novels written in the with unreconciled conflicts, speak more include ensuring continued operation For most people, nuclear weapons mean brought about by external pressure due ing the actions of the Micronesia Support clearly to us today. of the collectives, encouraging people Committee and in the issues of indepen 1920s were generally welcomed her the ultimate holocaust. For the people to the appalling social and economic activism drew attention to her p~litics Kathie Rea to work on the magazine, and, with conditions on the islands. Even an dence and a nuclear-free Pacific this of Micronesia nuclear weapons are part and her later work was dismissed as of their life. The islands of Micronesia investigative team sent by president booklet is essential for both reading and the collective, determining content, reference. mere propaganda in all but left-wing Ray Denn~ng Diary by Ray Denning, organising production, managing the joined the nuclear age in 1945 when the Kennedy in 1963 noted that 'per capita circles. Micronesian cash incomes were almost Christina Melaluka Ray Dennmg Publications, Sydney, finances, distribution, and promotion planes carrying the nuclear bombs Katharine Prichard's writing suffered destined for Hiroshima and Nagasaki three times as high before the war as 1982, 200 pages, $5.00 (soft cover). of the magazine. they are now'. The chronology details Straight Left by Katharine Susannah from lack of sound criticism. In an flew from the island of Tinian. Since article reprinted in Straight left, ·Pri then, ironically under the label USA the steps in the negotiations for the Prichard, collected and introduced by The Ray Denning Diary is a devastating Applicants may be required to attend Ric Throssell. Wild & Woolley, Sydney, chard draws a reasoned distinction account of the violence meted out to interviews in late January 1983 at a Trust Territory of the Pacific, the islands Compact to June 1982, and devotes Friends of the Earth Australia meeting several pages to the Marianas which has 1982, 256 pages, $9.95 (soft cover). between 'purpose' in writing and in Ray by NSW prison officers (with the have been a major site for the develop propaganda, but the distinction was near Adelaide. ment and testing of nuclear weapons. opted for Commonwealth status with consent of the Department of Corrective The anti-democratic forces have brought blurred in her mature work. Services) after he received a life sentence Remuneration negotiable. While this use continues, the USA the USA. The negotiations for the about the position in which we have to choose The new Editor/swill take office, after military has further plans to develop Compacts have been convoluted and The Cold War took its toll in all for_ the _malicious wounding of a prison a two week introductory period, on between yielding to fascism and the prospect camps. Here we see Prichard's expressed officer m 1974. That Ray has survived military bases and installations through confusing but are by no means over. In of interminable wars, or the defence of 1 March 1983. out the islands. fact the booklet, published in August democracy and organisation to abolish war. views on literature become arrogantly this retribution, indeed torture is Applicants are welcome to discuss the Micronesia has been under foreign 1982, is already out of date. Operation If we have to fight, let it be for all that makes dogmatic as she castigates Arthur remarkable. He has always maintained' magazine and obtain further information domination since Ferdinand Magellan Homecoming, the occupation by over life worth living. Koestler for 'irresponsible and decadent his innocence, insisting that his convic from the present Editors and Melbourne individualism', supports the suppression tion was based on an unsigned confession and Sydney Collectives- Tel: (03) 63 5995 arrived in 1520: colonised by Spain, 1000 members of the Kwajalein Atoll So it was that in 193 9 lifelong peace or (02) 211 3953. bought by Germany, granted as war Corporation of their home islands activist Katharine Susannah Prichard of dissident Soviet writers and dismisses invented by police and prison officers. Ray remains segregated from other Send written applications/proposals prize to Japan by the League of Nations which commenced in June, has delayed (1883-1969) rallied her audience for Patrick White's work a~ distastefully and enquiries to the Selection Committee in 1919, and then reallocated by the the voting, scheduled for 17 August, on war. Prichard, novelist, playwright and pessimistic. prisoners inside Maitland Jail after a cl- Chain Reaction, Room 14, Floor 4, ' United Nations to the USA in 194 7. the Marshall Islands' Compact. USA poet, asked rhetorically 'can the writers In his introduction Throssell insists spell in the Goulburn 'Zoo'. Recent 37 Swanston Street, Melbourne 3000 For the last thirteen years Micronesia authorities are concerned that the and artists of any country remain that each role in Prichard's life was reports from the NSW Ombudsman's Applications close on 14 Jan~ary, 1983. has been negotiating a change of political Marshall islanders may reject the indifferent when the issues which affect consistent and that she had long outlived office have likened the experience of status to 'renew our partnership with Compact; a risk that they are not their work and the people among whom the doubts and conflicts with which her solitary confinement to torture declar- the USA as an associated free state'. For prepared to take. they live are so vital?' characters wrestle. However, recent ing that this is 'unjust or oppressive three of the four states (Marshall The third part ot the booklet looks Prichard, a foundation member of the studies by women challenge this asser conduct' within the meaning of the Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, at the Compact of Free Association. Australian Communist Party, appealed tion, particularly in regard to Prichard's Ombudsman's Act. Solitary confine- and Belau), this means a Compact of Pertinent extracts from the Compact for vigilance against creeping fascism at attitudes towards women and sexuality. ment requires the continued use and Free Association. From Trusteeship to are included with comments on the home. Meanwhile Prichard, the private In her novels and plays Prichard 's pres abuse. of special sections ('tracs') - . . . ? Micronesia and its Future is a implications. Extracts are included person, reacted to social hostility by entation of the particular oppression of exercise yards, cages and cells some women always seems truncated, particu- of which haven't changed sin'ce the '--~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_J~ 36 Chain Reaction courts. He charges five prison officers the previous delivery, they would with assault. There is a shift in the not have been caught). balance of power once these charges are this book had appeared as a spy International Development Action laid. Ray is on the attack, but it novel, no one would believe it. First, 73 Little George Street, Fitzroy 3065 him in a vulnerable position. it not clear at all why Boyce should The assault charges take almost two want to sell the material to the USSR. years to reach court. They fail. At this had no immediate need for money. point, Ray stops his daily record. On the other hand, had he wished silence is eloquent. Failing in another to alert the USSR to what was attempt at justice, Ray escapes to he could have given the 'freedom'. Eighteen months later he is them. If he had wanted to recaptured. the CIA's activities he could To read Ray's diary is a harrowing have copied Daniel Ellsberg's Pentagon experience. In a system that technique and sent photocopies misery and violence, it is an important to newspapers. documentation of strategies of survival. Second, the operation went undetec Liz for two years. Boyce had a few close calls at TRW, but throughout his career was regarded as a very good employee. Meanwhile, Lee, who was on the run from the police, continued to cross the Mexican border undetected. Soviet Embassy in Mexico City Some of the information on USA bases is under close USA security and yet no in Australia has emerged only because spotted this suspicious visitor. of one of the USA's strangest Third, the CIA had a key role. The This startling book records trial delay of ten days between Lee's arrest and much else which is of use to all Boyce's arrest suggests that the let us take the blame peace activists. would have been satisfied with Chain Reaction guarantees anonymity and the Andrew Daulton Lee and the USA, rather than utmost discretion to those in the Public Service and Boyce were products of the trial. The CIA monitored industry wishing to pass on information in the baby boom and new and ensured that the full public interest. Our address is Chain Reaction, affluence. They had so much details of Boyce's transfers to the USSR Room 14, Floor 4, 37 Swanston St, Melbourne, them. But one became a drug not revealed partly to avoid Vic 3000 and our telephone (03) 63 5995. ('snowman' refers to the colour of the Australian government cocaine) who also acted as a courier further. between the other, now turned Lee and Boyce had different argu- and the Soviet Embassy in Mexico. for their defence; they were tried Boyce, whose hobby was Lee received life imprison (hence his code name), went to work ment Boyce 40 years. The book I VICTORIA'S NATIONAL PARKS 1974 for TRW, a firm handling ends soon after Boyce managed to escape ·------I CALENDAR 1983 19th century - which merely serve work. Coming from a 'good family' from a high security prison in January to isolate and punish those who do (his father was an FBI agent) he was 980 (he refused to leave the USA I 13 magnificent colour photographs an all-Australian not readily assimilate into the main trusted to work in the Black Vault, and was eventually recaptured). I production. r------•IIIIL stream prison community. handling secret cable traffic concerned Meanwhile in October 1978 President I The Diary, written between Septem with one of the most secret of all gave a description of the USA I IDEAL ber 1978 and March 1980, is a night USA espionage operations: spy satellites. spy satellites. At long last, the USA was I mare - a chronicle of vindictiveness Part of this network was controlled officially speaking about their opera XMAS and petty punishment inflicted by Pine Gap, Australia. But the tions. Ironically, this admission was I GIFT prison officers. Power is the name of Boyce soon learned, was not fulfilling by a failure in the high tech I the game, and Ray's major weapon is its agreement with the Australian nology of spy satellites: the human I AVAILABLE to keep a record of every punitive gover.nment: it was not passing on all factor. The CIA, which can monitor a I NOW technique, detailing names, dates, times its information to Australia. He noted telephone call between USSR officials I and places. The record is meticulous the way in which USA agents interfered in Moscow and read the headlines of I To: VNPA Calendar and obsessive. He is repeatedly charged in Australian politics. Boyce gradually documents from spy satellite photo Sales, 1st floor, with infringements of prison rules. His developed a distaste for USA foreign graphs, took two years to find out I notes are searched, read and removed. policy. Also, he was appalled by the about the spy in their own midst - and I 285-7 Little Lonsdale His cell is periodically 'ramped' and his Black Vault's use as a private den for even then that was because his carrier I Street, Melbourne 3000. property destroyed. He is left out in the sex, drugs and alcohol. was found littering in Mexico City. exercise cage while it is raining. And he Lee, meanwhile, was developing his Keith D Suter I Enquiries. is bashed. Repeatedly. This is what he drug trafficking expertise. His career I (03) 663 3591 writes about - his daily life. had its ups and downs. He was caught I But Ray is also a survivor. He taunts, few times but managed to obtain mild The Prison Struggle: Changing Australia's I Concession price to Chain Reaction readers of $6 answers back, refuses orders, writes sentences. While he was free, he made Penal System, by George Zdenkowski I from the VNP A office or $7 posted in sturdy envelope endless complaints to every possible large sums of money, especially by his and David Brown, Pelican, 1982, 464 I within Australia and overseas. authority, disrupts routines, keeps fit ability to get across the USA/Mexico pages, $14.95 (soft cover). I Please forward .... copy(s) VNP A CALENDAR 1983 through exercise, destroys his cell, and border undetected. Nunawading Energy Study by the when the going gets really tough, he Boyce decided to sell CIA material Conservation of Urban Energy Group, I Name ...... barricades himself inside. He also learns to the USSR. Lee was the carrier. The Conservation Council of Victoria, I to anticipate, to calculate the appropriate transfers commenced in 1975 and Melbourne, 1982, 108 pages, $3 (soft I Address ...... survival strategy. ended in January 1977, when Mexican cover). Towards a Sustainable Energy I ...... Postcode ...... The victories are always small and police arrested Lee for being a nuisance Future for Victoria: An Energy Efficiency I temporary; it is a no-win situation. His outside the embassy (he was trying to Scenario by BE Man ton. Australian 1 enclose cheque/money order payable to VNPA Calendar big hope is an attempt to get some sort make the last scheduled delivery of Conservation Foundation, Melbourne, I Sales for $ ...... being payment for ...... calenders of legal redress through the outside material ~· if Boyce and Lee had stopped 1982, 188 pages, $16 (soft cover). I at $7 each. 38 Chain Reaction 1------Chain Reaction 39 WANT TO STUDY THE ENVIRONMENT? Tasmania offers special opportunities in this field. Join us for an adventure of the rarest kind. From sailing in the tropics to exploring the frozen wilderness of Antarctica. From trekking in the The University of Tasmania offers a Himalayas to riding camels across the ~·ast deserts of two-year postgraduate degree for Asia. We offer adventures in every continent. In Australia we present a stunning programme of Master of Environmental Studies weekend and week-long outdoor activities. Ballooning. windsurfing. climbing courses. bushwalking. abseiling. lJy course-work or research, and hang-gliding. cycle touring. camel riding. diving. Doctor of Philosophy by research. caving. cross-country skiing and white-water rafting. Sydney: GPO Box 1787 AUSTRALIAN HIMALAYAN EXPEDITIONS 159 Cathedral Street Woolloomooloo NSW 201J Brisbane Phone (02) 357 3555 Old 4001 for information write to Dr R. Jones, Melbourne: Tel: 383057 Centre for Environmental Studies, OUTDOOR TRAVEL CENTRE 377 Little Bourke Street Melbourn~ VIC 3000 Animal Liberation (AL) began in NSW University of Tasmania, GPO Box 252C, Phone (03) 6 7 3354 51h years ago. In Queensland, AL started Hobart 7001 Adelaide: a little over 2 years ago, and now has THOR ADVENTURE TRAVEL nearly 1000 members. Phone: (08) 212 7857 The basic philosophy of AL(Qld) ------>-;-----Please send me your FREE colour catalogues of is that humans do not have the right Tasmania adventure holidays. Name ______to cause the suffering of another species in order to satisfy the wants of their Animal Liberation display. Lower right: four chickens in a battery cage. Centre: the environment state own species. This kind of suffering is four people in a proportionally sized cage. seen especially in AL's main areas of the fact that they are classed amongst the cides, weapons, alcohol and drugs, as concern: factory farming and laboratory six most intelligent animal species well as being used for teaching aids and animals. including humans. They are clean, in research for studies and medicine. For example, eggs are produced from gregarious, exploratory animals which Our immediate aim is the total abol chickens whicli spend their entire lives would, under free-range conditions, ition of animal testing for cosmetic Stop the merchants of nuclear death in tiny wire-floored cages measuring spend only 8% of their lives sitting or production. AL(Qld) is investigating the 30 cm by 45 cm. Three or four birds are lying down. Yet in Queensland alone Australian market to ascertain which Item 005 crammed together in each cage, with approximately 360 000 pigs annually cosmetics can be classified as cruelty A five-colour poster highlighting the link between their beaks mutilated to stop feather are kept in tiny stalls, sometimes free - that is, not tested on animals at ANZ nominees, uranium mining in Australia and picking and cannibalism. In Queensland, tethered by the neck, so that they can any stage during production or not Aboriginal people and their land rights. in 1980, approximately I 700 000 hens not even turn around. They are housed containing ingredients derived cruelly Printed in black, green, red, yellow and red ochre. were kept in such battery cages. Yet in sheds, never seeing the sun, never from animals. We will supply a list of Size 760 mm x 510 mm. Limited edition. there are economically viable alternatives exercising, many on slatted or concrete these products upon request. AL(Qld) Designed by Bob Clutterbuck. which allow the birds to follow their floors which often cause foot and joint seeks labelling of cosmetics to show Retail price $6.00 natural behavioural pattern, and which deformities, especially in the sows kept which are cruelty-free. do not cause the stress factors so preva for breeding. Our group also works for animals lent in caged birds. In England, shoppers boycotted veal that suffer during transport, including Broiler chickens live in deep-litter produced by a similar system. As a those exported live for food, and we ------~,Complete and mail this form to I houses, crowded into sheds where dim resuit, one of the major veal retailers are working with politicians to amend Red Letter Printing I lights may be kept on 23 hours a day converted to a strawyard system that the Animal Protection Act. Subcom Brunswick Work Co-operative Ltd to encourage the birds to eat so they has proved to be economically viable, as mittees work on the cruelty to animals 173 Albion St will be 'oven ready' at 7-8 weeks of well as providing a system more suited in the fur trade, zoos and circuses, and Brunswick, Vic 3065 age. They are then transported to a to the calves' behavioural pattern. to our wildlife. Please supply to slaughter house, where they are hung AL(Qld) seeks similar support from the To achieve our aims to alleviate by their feet on conveyor belts for up public to encourage the introduction of (short term) and eventually stop (long Name: .... to 6 minutes before they are stunned, an alternative to the current factory term) the exploitation of animals for Address: .. have their throats cut, and are dropped farm conditions for pigs. commercial gain, we seek: Franklin River into scalding tanks. Many birds miss Dr Peter Hemsworth of the Animal " members to add strength to our ...... Postcode ...... the stunner or have their throats cut Item 001 Research Institute of Victoria admits lobbying; Tel: ...... (BH) ...... (AH) incorrectly. The recently published 'there has been insufficient regard paid " to educate the -public about animal A five-colour poster in opposition to the proposed Franklin River dam Ammerdown Report, from the UK, to the social needs of the pig' (National exploitation; Item number ...... Item name ...... says that pre-stunning is often ineffec Farmer 19 March 1981). AL(Qld) in " to encourage the public to boycott in Tasmania. tive, and that some birds may miss both tends to ensure such disregard does not goods produced through animal suffer Printed in blue and green trans ...... stunner and throat cutting, and so are continue. ing, write letters to government and parent overlays, darK brown, cream plunged fully conscious into tanks of It is estimated that over 300 million authorities which can implement the and red ochre. Litho paper. Number of copies .... Total amount$ .. scalding water. Under factory farming, animals are incarcerated in laboratories changes we seek, sign petitions on Size 760 mm x 510 mm. Cheques should be made payable to poultry are treated like machines for throughout the world each year. These specific issues and join us in demon Limited edition. converting grain protein to meat protein animals are burnt, blinded, poisoned, strations and marches. Brunswick Work Co-operative Ltd in the cheapest and quickest manner mutilated, stressed, starved, electro For further details about our work Designed by Bob Clutterbuck. For further information please ring possible. cuted; they die to test cosmetics, and membership, please write or tele Retail price $6.00 Tel: (03) 383 3087 Pigs are also grossly mistreated despite toiletries, household products, insecti- phone the above address. ------40 Chain Reaction f\~'ii LINE.. Of \-\ENl IN -10£:.M COI.--VMN l I ~ '-INE- OF WT Lt--111=.J~-c, S\T 01\J --r--il S LINE:. P.t>&E. NO .