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Greg Ray’s Writing

Read more about the article All those jobs I couldn’t cope with
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All those jobs I couldn’t cope with

My wife and I were talking the other day about our patchwork employment histories. I'm lucky I wound up, eventually, with a job I loved. I sure had a lot of jobs I didn't love. The first “job” I ever had was selling programmes at Newcastle Rugby League matches. I think I was still in primary school, and I got the job because a classmate’s father produced the programmes and maybe had something to do with the league competition. The idea was to earn some pocket money, since my official family pocket money had been indefinitely…

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Read more about the article Old King Coal was a merry old liar and cheat

Old King Coal was a merry old liar and cheat

A friend of mine had a job once at a grain silo in western NSW, testing wheat for its gluten content. Farmers were paid according to the gluten content of the grain, so the results he got from grinding and analysing his test portion were very important to them. Some farmers, my friend said, offered him bribes of alcohol and other presents to falsify his test results. Needless to say, he refused. Not unlike a story that resurfaced this week, when independent MP Andrew Wilkie accused the multinational corporations that run Australia’s export coal industry of…

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Read more about the article The word from Australia’s masters

The word from Australia’s masters

Opinion by Greg Ray The floggings will continue until morale improves. That’s the word from Australia’s real government – the energy and mining industry. According to the head of the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association, Ian Davies, “political attacks” on the energy industry could kill investment and make consumer prices go even higher than they are now. In other words, shut up and take your lumps, otherwise we will belt you harder. Naturally, in the lala-land of the Murdoch press this warning is reported with solemn gravity. Don’t be nasty to the big bosses or…

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