The AMWU and AWU campaign for federal protectionist measures

The Australian today reports that Kevin Rudd has rejected the goal of the AMWU and the AWU that the federal government should adopt the NSW Labor Government’s policy of giving preference to local suppliers by varying tender prices by 20%. (See here for the Victorian Government’s rejection of the NSW Government policy.)

It’s good to see the PM rejecting the campaign – it would be very disappointing to see the contrary. Strangely enough, the AMWU doesn’t describe its goal as “protectionist”, but instead as a “fair go for manufacturers”:

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says the push by the left wing Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) and the right wing Australian Workers Union (AWU) were the kind of policy that was used during the Depression, adding it would hurt access to export markets.

AWMU national secretary Dave Oliver hit back, saying his call for federal public service tenders to favour local producers was not protectionist.

“This isn’t about protectionism. There’s not a tariff in sight,” he told ABC Television on Monday.

Renewed suggestions that the NSW Legislative Council should be abolished?

I’ve recently heard of suggestions that the NSW Labor Party should reinstitute its previous policy to abolish the NSW Legislative Council. I don’t know if it ever dropped this policy, but it certainly hasn’t tried to implement it since it was elected in 1995.

These suggestions should be resisted. Upper Houses should continue existing and retain their ability to enquire into government activities. While Upper Houses may frustrate the ability of Lower House majorities to implement their policies, they also represent an institutional hedge against Governments being able to do whatever they want.

The Qld experience may be informative – it has been often suggested that the problems that arose in Qld under the Bjelkie-Petersen Government may have been amplified by the lack of an Upper House. While it cannot be known whether an Upper House would have prevented or greatly diminished these problems, it’s likely that an Upper House with an active committee system may have allowed another avenue for airing problems and inquiring into issues.

Banning the sale of bottled water

As recently reported in the BBC, residents in the town of Bundanoon, New South Wales, voted to ban bottled water.

The BBC story states that residents:

…say huge amounts of resources are used to extract, package and transport bottled water.

The discarded plastic bottles then end up as litter or go into landfill sites, the “Bundy on Tap” campaign says.

Personally, I think that bottled water is ridiculous when perfectly good tap water is available, and I have bought no more than a handful of bottles of water in my life. However, I oppose a ban on the sale of bottled water.