This week's stories: Government Outsources Fraud...Union Demands 8 Minutes Rest...Majority Disbelieves Official Story on Iraq...Up In Smoke.
Crime syndicates are making millions of dollars from false GST claims. Some investigators estimate as much as 10 per cent of GST revenue is lost through false and fraudulent claims. The Sydney Morning Herald says that some staff at the Australian Tax Office privately refer to the ATO as the ATM because of the ease of making electronic claims. During 2001-02 the Tax Office registered 476,785 Australian Business Numbers. As at June 30 last year there were 3,892,756 active ABNs. In 2000 a House of Representatives economics committee report found there were 5.3 million excess tax file numbers, many of which were used to commit fraud. ABNs can be registered over the internet. A Tax Office spokesman said that in 2001-02, the office's audit program targeted 9 per cent of GST-registered businesses which resulted in $363 million in additional GST being paid. The government claimed that the GST would stop the 'black economy'. (Sydney Morning Herald, July 21). Some linesman are putting in working days of more than 16 hours, doing dangerous work repairing electrical equipment. The Electrical Trades Union says some workers in the country can spend a standard working day just driving to a site to repair damaged power lines. The ETU has put in a claim for 1000 percent penalty rates. The union says that they don't really want these rates, they are just trying to achieve a complete ban on dangerously excessive hours. (Sydney Morning Herald). Roughly two thirds of Australians believe that the government misled the public about war on Iraq. 36 per cent believe they were knowingly misled by the Howard government, 31 per cent believe they were unknowingly misled, and 25 per cent believe they were not misled at all. (The Australian, July 22). A senior tobacco company employee says that his company "sanitised" documents which contained damaging information on the health risks of smoking. Frederick Gulson was secretary and legal counsel of WD and HO Wills Pty Ltd in 1989-90. He was responsible for preparing the company for an expected wave of legal action. The company, now called British American Tobacco Services has denied selectively destroying documents. Mr Gulson said in an affadavit that it was "obvious to everyone in the know" that the company's strategy was to "get rid of all the sensitive documents but to do so under the guise of an innocent housekeeping arrangement". The documents included information on what the group of companies knew about about addiction and the disease risks of smoking, including reports on the companies' efforts to make cigarettes more addictive. It also included information on marketing "directed at all age groups". (The Age, July 19). anarchist news service write to James, PO Box 503, Newtown NSW 2042 or email [EMAIL PROTECTED] contact us to get ATNTF emailed directly to you. If you like All the News That Fits, forward it on to people or lists who might be interested in it, or post it on your local Indymedia: http://www.indymedia.org. Some other Australian anarchist contacts: Love and Rage is an anarchist, non-profit record label. Our CD is available by mail order. 20 songs for $10 within Australia, $15 in New Zealand, $10 in the USA, $10 in Canada, 5 pounds in Britain, or 10 euros in the rest of Europe. Other countries, or enquiries from shops and distroes, email us and ask. Address for orders is PO Box 1191, Richmond North VIC 3121 (Australia). Please make cheques or money orders out to J. Hutchings. http://www.loveandrage.rocks.it http://www.angry.at/thegovernment - anarchist website with fliers for download, contacts etc. http://www.angry.at/racists - Anarchist/anti-racist music site with free mp3s, Real Audio, Real Video, internet radio, band interviews etc. Also includes the text of 'Escape', an anarchist novel - http://www.geocities.com/skipnewborn/novel.doc http://www.dolearmy.org - information for unemployed people. http://www.activate.8m.com - anarchist magazine aimed at teenagers. All the News That Fits appears in the Anarchist Age Weekly Review (http://www.vicnet.net.au/~anarch - PO Box 20 Parkville VIC 3052) and The Ham (http://www.theham.cat.org.au). Media outlets mentioned in All the News That Fits are sources - items are not direct quotes from news media. Background information may have been gathered from sources in addition to media outlets cited. Where no source is cited, the information has been gathered from direct sources. .. -- -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Archived at http://www.cat.org.au/lists/leftlink/ Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Sub: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsub: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
