The NEXT coming Oz election thread!

Yep. So much for his great empathy for the ordinary "Aussie battlers"! Those workers who swapped sides & voted for him because they were so worried about their mortgage rates at the last election. He's perfectly happy to sell them down the drain. How long before they feel like mugs & become very, very angry? And has this man no shame? Who'd be an unskilled Australian worker with JH at the helm?

Nice try!

Nice try # 2.

PM's new breed of workers
Brad Norington
July 12, 2005/the Australian

JOHN Howard has identified a new class of "enterprise workers" willing to put Australia's long-term economic needs before their own, and foreshadowed even more workplace reforms.... <cont>

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,15900511%255E601,00.html

I'm now looking forward, with great anticipation, to further JH pronouncements about other folk willing to put the health of the Oz economy before their own interests. Let's see ...:

... The PM who'll settle for only one residence, rightly in Canberra, to help make the nation's ends meet, or the CEO who forfeits fabulous bonuses to keep his/her earnings within reasonable moral boundaries when ordinary folk are having such a hard time, or.... The opprtunities for showing great moral leadership for the good of the country's economy are HUGE!

PM facing workplace backlash
July 12, 2005/the Australian

YOU know the Howard Government is skittish when it races out a $20 million campaign to defend an industrial relations package yet to be introduced into parliament.

... But he is yet to convince the masses, or some in his Coalition team. A small gang of senators, both Liberal and Nationals, has voiced concerns, particularly over plans to establish a single national system. Howard argues that IR reform is an "article of faith" for the Coalition. But what about the erosion of states' rights that will occur under the Howard framework?

... Not since the GST has the Government so shamelessly exploited the public purse to launch a propaganda campaign in favour of its political agenda. Unlike the GST in 1998, industrial relations hardly rated a mention during last October's campaign. It was only when it became apparent the Coalition would secure a majority of Senate seats that the Prime Minister rolled out his long-held plan to dismantle the IR framework.

Now Howard argues that the full-page advertisements rolled out over the weekend are necessary to counter the "savage misrepresentation" by the ACTU of the Government's reforms. Nonsense. It's an inappropriate use of taxpayers' money.

Clearly, the union movement has won the early skirmishes in the IR campaign.

... But Howard's quest to once and for all dismantle the "industrial relations club" that has been his bugbear for two decades may end up costing the Prime Minister. Dearly.

<complete article>
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,15896868%5E7583,00.html

The little mongrel has lost it completely. He's channelling Il Duce or worse.

I feel the need to subjugate myself completely to the wellbeing of my employer and my government, especially my government.

Like fun I do. To quote his best mate "Bring it on Johnny!" We're waiting mate.

Hmmmm, I think this feels different to the Lib's GST campaign, goodfielder. I have the feeling he won't get away with it this time. I think he just got very cocky after the last election & believed he could get away with anything. ( & why not? )I suspect there might be quite a few Liberal supporters who believe he's lost the plot this time. Possibly, just possibly, there's a group of Liberal strategists meeting as I type, trying to figure out a way to withdraw without completely losing face?

Oh I hope so.

Building industry targeted with IR code
By Paul Robinson
July 14, 2005/the AGE

Building contractors will be forced to comply with tough new standards of industrial behaviour to be eligible for Commonwealth construction work.

The standards, announced by Workplace Relations Minister Kevin Andrews yesterday, emphasise the importance of enterprise agreements, restrict union entry, uphold the right of people not to belong to unions and limit the role of third parties in resolving disputes.

Mr Andrews told a conference in Melbourne that companies would have to demonstrate that all registered and unregistered agreements with building unions on state or private construction work complied with the new code before being considered for Commonwealth work.

He said the rules would operate from October and would be accompanied by "significant penalties" for breaches by unions or companies.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/building-industry-targeted-with-ir-code/2005/07/13/1120934301877.html

Rubbery figures & Howard's IR "reform" ads. Your taxes at work.

PM's spin inflates value of wage deals
By Paul Robinson and Tim Colebatch
July 14, 2005/the AGE

A Howard Government advertisement promoting individual work contracts has included the earnings of highly paid executives in figures purporting to show the benefits of the contracts for ordinary workers.

In advertisements in all major newspapers, the Government claims workers on Australian Workplace Agreements earn 13 per cent more than workers on collective agreements.

But Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show that full-time, non-managerial workers who had their pay set by collective agreement earned 50 cents an hour more than workers contracted by Australian Workplace Agreements. ... <cont>

http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/pms-spin-inflates-value-of-wage-deals/2005/07/13/1120934301871.html

Including managers' high pay makes for misleading truth
By Tim Colebatch
Economics Editor
Canberra
July 14, 2005/the AGE

If the Government is using our money to tell us these facts, they must be right. And, one detail aside, they are. And yet they are also misleading.

On Tuesday the Bureau of Statistics told us very different facts. Its book Australian Social Trends 2005 reported that for adults in full-time work, hourly ordinary-time earnings were highest for workers on collective (certified) agreements.

They averaged $24.10 an hour, compared with $23.30 for those on individual deals and $16.70 for those on awards. And the bureau tells no fibs.... <cont>

http://www.theage.com.au/news/tim-colebatch/including-managers-high-pay-makes-for-misleading-truth/2005/07/13/1120934301874.html

What a week! What a day! It's all happening & JH is everywhere!

HE ACTUALLY SAID "SORRY" for something! Finally!

PM says sorry for Immigration blunders:

Prime Minister John Howard has apologized to the two Australian women who were wrongly detained last year by Immigration authorities... <cont>

http://www.theage.com.au/news/immigration/pm-says-sorry-for-immigration-blunders/2005/07/14/1120934346855.html

He's also suggested a terrorist attack is "possible" in Oz:

Suicide attack can't be ruled out: PM

Prime Minister John Howard is standing by his comments that Australia could be subjected to suicide bombers, despite the Government having no information about any specific threat... <cont>

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200507/s1414128.htm

.. Which means we're to have another advertising campaign!:

Security hotline

There will be a fresh advertising campaign for the Government's national security hotline.

The campaign will run for three weeks on TV, in newspapers and on public transport.

Mr Ruddock says the campaign is not a response to any specific threat.

"The alert level I might say remains at medium, there is no known specific threat against Australia, so that situation hasn't changed," he said.

... Perhaps to take our minds off the disastrous IR campaign & the damning Palmer Report which was released today? :

Massive department shake-up following Rau case

A massive shake-up is under way inside the Immigration Department following a scathing report that found serious and deep-seated problems throughout the department... <cont>

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/massive-department-shakeup-following-rau-case/2005/07/14/1120934350301.html

.. & if that isn't enough, Oz troops will soon be heading for Afghanistan:


~

I read somewhere (re the DIMIA mess) that he didn't actually use the word "sorry". I see in the Age he said "give apologies". Does that mean he couldn't even say "I apologise"? If all that is accurate than there is something seriously wrong with this bloke.

As for everything else. Full frontal assault using taxpayers money and telling porkies all the way. I'm thinking it's unravelling.

That's my thinking, too. And I don't think I'm just talking myself into it, either. When JH starts talking up the possibility of terrorist attacks in Oz, you just know he's desperate to get the real stuff off the front page!

Such a mean spirited person, JH!
Jeeze, "sorry" is the very least he could say in the circumstances!

I really do think there's something damaged in his psyche. I only wish Icould care.

But I shouldn't laugh. His unique "vision" has done so much harm to some many people. <sigh>