"The true nature of the Dubai industrial mercenaries operation is now beginning to emerge," the Shadow Minister for Transport Mr. Lindsay Tanner said today.
"Mr. Michael Wells, the chief organiser of the operation, has now admitted publicly that the exercise was designed to smash the Maritime Union of Australia and directly target the jobs of existing waterfront workers.
"When the scheme was first publicly exposed by the Federal Opposition and the Maritime Union, Mr. Wells denied accusations of this nature, and asserted that the serving military personnel being recruited to train as stevedoring workers in Dubai would be deployed outside Australia in the Asia Pacific basin.
"The real agenda of this outrageous clandestine operation has now been admitted by Mr. Wells, and the true intent of the conspiracy has become clear. Mr. Wells' admission also casts doubt on the credibility of his statements throughout recent weeks, as he has now admitted to making false public statements about the issue when it first emerged.
"It is also clear that the exercise is driven by hatred of existing waterside workers and their union, who Mr. Wells described publicly as 'mongrels'.
"All Australians should reject this extraordinary scheme, which involved a covert operation training serving military personnel with the assistance of a foreign government to take the jobs of existing Australian workers who are complying with the law, complying with their industrial agreements, and not taking industrial action.
"The Federal Governmenrt should immediately launch an independent public inquiry into this shabby exercise in order to determine what involvement has occurred on the part of any Government Ministers, ministerial staff, departmental officials, and serving members of the Australian Defence Forces.
"There is no doubt that John Howard and the Federal Government are implicated in this disgraceful assault on Australian workers. They should now follow Mr. Wells example and own up to their precise involvement in the whole operation," Mr. Tanner said today.
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