The Australian push for imported corporated labour is picking up speed.

Released on the Treasurer's website yesterday

The Treasurer today announced improvements to the taxation arrangements for
temporary residents which will give Australia one of the most competitive expatriate
taxation regimes in the world.

A foreign source income tax exemption for temporary residents was introduced
into Parliament twice in 2002, but failed to pass the Senate because of Labor
Party opposition. The Government announced it would re-introduce the measure
in the 2005-06 Budget.

As discussed earliear, US Wheat Associates were pondering the
use of the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act to examine the AWB in both
the America and Australia, as the group had companies in both
countries.  This has left me with a mapof money flow whose geography
has long since vanished under arrows.

I'll take my favourtie
company as an easy example.Until 2003  headquarters of divisions were
scattered across the globe naval in the UK, infrastructure in Australia
etc.  These divisions were registered companies of the nations in which
they resided.  In late2004 the business was reorganiesed.

 Reprint of Australian Council of Trade Unions Media Release, February 14

The ACTU calls on the Prime Minister to
intervene in Australia's immigration program to guarantee that
temporary work visas are not being abused amid reports that employers
are rorting the system by importing low-paid foreign workers to fill
job vacancies that should be filled by Australians.

ACTU President Sharan Burrow said today:

"There is mounting evidence that the Federal Government's migrant
worker system is out of control - leading to both the abuse of foreign
workers and Australians being denied job opportunities.

Senator Vanstone will need to look after Halliburton. They're the quickest way to generate a globally-competitive population increase.

I'm extrapolating from the story in tomorrow's Australian:

[extract]

IMMIGRATION Minister Amanda Vanstone has rejected claims construction company Halliburton Australia exploited Indonesian workers hired to work in the South Australian desert.

The Adelaide Advertiser newspaper reported that the company, a subsidiary of US giant Halliburton, had paid the Indonesians as little as $40 a day.

 With four weeks to the SA election, Rann will be busy convincing the
local citizenry how he's brought all ths defence work to the state. 
Unfortunately he's lying.

Annoouncements like this, even three months late, would be fine if the SA Labor Government had any involvement with Tenix's securing of this Defence contract. However, the decision would probably have been made by former Defence Minister Reith, who retired from the Defence portfolio into a Tenix consultancy

[from ABC News On Line]

Halliburton Australia. has a major part of South Australian business activities It's Adelaide office was fomerly the company's global headquarters for infrastruture.

Under the trading name of KBR it is employed by the State government and local councils. It has been involved in construction of the Port River Expressway and has proposed a development project for Lake Alexandrina.

Halliburton is also employed by the Department Of Foreign Affairs and Trade to carry out international aid contracts on Australia's behalf, and has many defence industry contracts.

In South Australia's outback, Halliburton has been flouting Australia's Industrial Relations laws by employing foreigners at wage levels inappropriate to Australian ethics.

For a change, it's nothing to do with Scott Parkin, and I think this gentleman may be a little more aggressive in his activism techniques..Ciaron O'Reilly, who has had his photo taken with both Nelson Mandela and East Timor's President Xanana Gusmao, was, while returning to Australia last week, detained for questioning by ASIO.

 O'Reilly was reportedly was a member of the"
ANZUS Ploughshares" which disarmed a B-52 Bomber in upstate New York during the 1991 Gulf War. He was also a member of the "
Jabiluka Ploughshares" that disabled uranium mining equipment in the
Northern Territory of Australia in 1998.

Looking at South Australia's purchase of a new batch of security cameras for buses and trains, I've realised how well the Great Cash-In is coming along

"In the wake of the tragic London bombings last year, we have been reviewing security across the whole of government.

"Transport security has always been a priority for all governments, but this investment means every train, tram and bus can be monitored to help deter illegal activity, including vandalism and assaults."

Qinetiq, the privatised arm of the UK MInistry of Defence, currently controlled by the Bush/Bin Laden firm Carlyle, are keen to take care of us all at sporting events.

Mr Simon Stringer, director of Qinetiq's Security and Intelligence Division said recently that he"would never encourage the use of technology for technology's sake. There may be instances, for example, where the best course of action is to change the way your security personnel are trained and briefed before an event. Alternatively, a simple process change like altering the way spectators are directed into a venue may produce the required result. However, when appropriate, properly applied and deployed technology is what the military refer to as a real force multiplier."

"The military is well versed at detailed planning for massively complex operations. To ensure preparedness they exploit a variety of tools, such as planning software, 3D modelling and synthetic environments which use highly accurate immersive models against which blast modelling and vulnerability analysis can be conducted. Other technologies and capabilities such as digital mapping, multiple sensor integration and surveillance optimisation models have consistently proven their worth to the armed forces in critical operational situations and these capabilities are increasingly available to civil security operators." he said.

"Building on its defence technology research has allowed QinetiQ to develop an in-depth understanding of how this technology and science can be applied to the security market and, in this instance, best address the threats and vulnerabilities faced by sport event organisers. With a track record in counter-terrorism and associated projects aimed at protecting the UK's critical national infrastructure we are excited by the prospect of bringing this expertise to bear in the area of event security."

The former global leader of Halliburton's infrastructure activities is now in control of shipbuilding in South Australia.

An expanded maritime site announced today is now owned by a corporation controlled by ex-Halliburton/KBR chief Andrew Fletcher, who had been recruited last November to "oversee" the warship project. Fletcher, while still in his Halliburton job, held a seat on the South Australian Economic Development Board

After this week's revelations that the Pentagon, on behalf of Halliburton, has been spying on a US protest organiser "in the national interest"  I would like to know, as an Australian Halliburton "activist",  how much the Australian Government has been spying on me.

I would also like to know how our Government can continue to rely upon, in matters of national security and international invasion, an intelligence system that can make such a stupid mistake.

Every "conspiracy theorist" looks in shadows for faces but perhaps some have greater cause for concern than others.  Looking at what's happenned to Parkin I reckon that I qualify for an extra dose of paranoia.

This will need remembering.  For some reason I find this to be quite disturbing.  No doubt an Australian  equivalent will follow.
[from Construction and Maintenance (posted today)]

 KBR awarded U.S. Department of Homeland Security project

Arlington, Virginia – KBR announced that the Department of Homeland
Security’s (DHS) U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
component has awarded KBR an Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity
(IDIQ) contingency contract to support ICE facilities in the event of
an emergency.

With
a maximum total value of $385 million over a five-year term, consisting
of a one-year based period and four one-year options, the competitively
awarded contract will be executed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers,
Fort Worth District. KBR held the previous ICE contract from 2000
through 2005.

ICE is one of three agencies that make up the
Border and Transportation Security (BTS) Directorate of the DHS. The
mission of the BTS Directorate is to secure the nation's air, land and
sea borders. ICE, the largest investigative arm of the DHS, is
responsible for identifying and shutting down vulnerabilities in the
nation’s border, economic, transportation and infrastructure security.

KBR
is the engineering and construction subsidiary of Halliburton. KBR
employs more than 60, 000 people in 43 countries around the world.

Halliburton Watch continues:
:

 As he steps down as Defence Minister, Robert Hill is completing the militarisation of South Australia

MR Hill says that  said he had written to the
leaseholders and local indigenous groups indicating his approval of the
acquisition of land near the Cultana training area, near Port Augusta.

The training centre, currently used by Army units for manoeuvre and
weapons training, will triple in size, making it one of Australia's
largest military training areas.

"This project will see an expanded range ready for use by 2009 and will
increase the Army's presence in regional South Australia, providing
significant economic benefits, particularly for Port Augusta and
Whyalla," .
"An expanded all-weather training range at Cultana will provide the
Australian Defence Force with a training area that can be used during
the northern Australian wet season and support future joint training
needs."

 If this is the information that ASIO used to deport Parkin, some questions will need to be asked.

Firstly, was ASIO acting based on a current profile of Parkin, or outdated infomation it had previously received from TALON

Secondly,
is the Australian Cabinet, from Prime Minister Howard downward, guilty
of acting on inappropriate information simply because it existed ?

Thirdly:
Have ASIO's activities in Australia mirrored the intensity of Paul
Wolfowitz' US program?  If so, how many how many profiles of Australian
anti-war activists and writers now exist in ASIO's files.

"Contractors with conflicts of interest would be prohibited from conducting oversight or writing contract requirements they could bid on, as Halliburton did for its $7 billion no-bid Iraqi oil contract awarded in 2003."

Australian aside:..... and  the warship environmental  measures, and the nuclear dump safety consultancies, and South Australia's Major Works Development 

Adding to the statement in the introductory paragraph,  US Democrats believe what is needed is  “closing the revolving door between federal contract officials and private contractors.”