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Who profits, who pays? Andrew Lowenthal unravels corporate Australia's dealings in Iraq.

Article Excerpt
'What floor are you going to?' a woman asks as a group of twenty activists cram their way into the lift.

'Seventeen.'

'Oh no you're not!' she shouts and attempts to block the buttons. The activists scramble to another lift and she leaps out to run and call security. The woman happens to be an office manager for the Worley Group, whose office these people are on their way to occupy. The activists make it to the seventeenth floor where the secretary mistakenly lets them through the front door. Angry employees attempt to usher them out but the protesters are going nowhere. Under the slogan 'Occupy the Occupiers', the Worley Group, a massive oil and infrastructure company that provides most of Melbourne's gas through the Longford gas plant, now find their everyday business disrupted.

Australian companies have been well rewarded for the Government's participation in the invasion and occupation of Iraq. A host of companies have received contracts related to oil infrastructure, communications technology, transport, food distribution and much, much more. While relatively small compared to the major projects given to US and UK businesses, Australia's corporate participation is by no means insignificant, and...

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