The NEXT coming Oz election thread!

Well Peter Beattie, especially, has been making a lot of noise about the legislation not being ready for consideration as soon as Tuesday (Cup Day), Deb. But lots of Legal eagles have been very publicly expressing grave misgivings, too.

Yes, I have heard a bit of that.

... Meanwhile, the Labor Party has been seriously considering issues of national importance, too.



.. Interestingly, according to a couple of (respectable) polls, the Labor Party would have won a federal election if it was held last weekend. Seems that proposed IR legislation is seriously, seriously on the nose with the electorate. There seems to be a huge deal of anger about the cost of those shonky IR advertisements by the Libs, too.

WorkChoices a health risk, report finds
By Nick O'Malley Workplace Reporter
October 29, 2005/SMH

The Government's pending workplace changes will create a vast pool of low-paid workers with worse health and shorter life expectancy than their wealthier peers, prompting a general decline in health standards, a new study has found.

"There are direct linkages between some aspects of IR policy and health outcomes, especially in relation to infant/child mortality and development," says the report by the University of Sydney's industrial relations research centre.

Yesterday the International Monetary Fund's Asia-Pacific director, David Burton, wrote to the ACTU president, Sharan Burrow standing by its support for the changes, which are due to be introduced to Parliament on Wednesday. They would "improve the functioning of the labour market and help sustain Australia's strong economic performance", he said.

Citing studies by the British epidemiologist Professor Sir Michael Marmot, the university's report says workers with less control over their working life - such as those on contracts - and workers on low pay are more likely to suffer stroke, heart disease, cancer, mental illness and gastrointestinal disease... <cont>

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/workchoices-a-health-risk-report-finds/2005/10/28/1130400366714.html

Very interesting development from a normally conservative source. It seems that the longer the government peddles it's outrageous WorkChoice propaganda, the more anxiety is being generated in the community! An "insult to the intelligence of young people?". Not at all. The parents' proposal is a serious attempt to address the likely work environment that their children will inherit in Howard's brave new world! ) They're not stupid!

Teach students their work rights: parents
By Justin Norrie Education Reporter
October 29, 2005/SMH

Catholic parents are campaigning for new high school courses that teach children how to defend their rights under the Federal Government's proposed workplace changes.

The Council of Catholic School Parents, which represents 470,000 parents in NSW and the ACT, said young workers should know how to negotiate contracts and bargain with employers, since the changes would leave them "particularly vulnerable". Lessons could be added to existing subjects such as personal development, health and physical education or vocational courses, a spokeswoman for the council, Danielle Cronin, told the Herald.

...... A spokesman for the federal Minister for Workplace Relations, Kevin Andrews, said the proposal was "an insult to the intelligence of young people … and would be politicising the curriculum". ... <cont>

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/teach-students-their-work-rights-parents/2005/10/28/1130400366684.html

Tell me, am I being wildly optimistic or do I detect a small whiff of change in the air? I've been reading about the political developments in the US with great interest. Could it be that there's actually a real change in the political climate? Is this the beginning of a return to political sanity? A start? And now I'm seeing small changes here in Oz, too. Ruddock was not able to push the anti-terrorism proposals into parliament next week as planned. Public alarm was actually noted! Then I look at the latest polls & see that Howard's losing support with the electorate. I believe there's real alarm in the community about the IR changes. Are Australians finally paying attention, waking up? I'm feeling cautiously optimistic. Has the wheel (finally!) started to turn? And here's today's the AGE editorial:

Howard's parliamentary vandalism

A year after winning his second election, John Howard successfully campaigned against a republic by arguing that Australians should not abandon the constitutional arrangements and institutions that had served their nation so well. After winning his fourth election, the Prime Minister again voiced his respect for the institutions of Parliament and assured Australians "that the Government will use its majority in the Senate very carefully, very wisely and not provocatively". Now, a year later, one has to wonder whether he meant any of it. The Parliament has approved the sale of Telstra after a token Senate hearing that ran for just one day. At least the Coalition could claim to have given fair notice of its Telstra policy. That cannot be said of two far-reaching legislative packages that are yet to be put before Parliament but which the Government insists must be passed before Christmas. The scope of the industrial relations changes and anti-terrorism laws was simply not foreshadowed at the time of the election. ... <cont>

http://www.theage.com.au/news/editorial/howards-parliamentary-vandalism/2005/10/28/1130400358093.html

... & this, too!:

Emperor Howard
October 29, 2005/the AGE

Is the Prime Minister misusing the Government's Senate majority by rushing to introduce two major pieces of legislation? By Michael Gordon.

"I want to assure the Australian people that the Government will use its majority in the new Senate very carefully, very wisely and not provocatively."

... & this, too!:

Emperor Howard
October 29, 2005/the AGE

Is the Prime Minister misusing the Government's Senate majority by rushing to introduce two major pieces of legislation? By Michael Gordon.

"I want to assure the Australian people that the Government will use its majority in the new Senate very carefully, very wisely and not provocatively."

Showing Labor the way
October 29, 2005/the AGE


Illustration: Spooner

If the ALP wins the next election, the unions will take more credit than the party, writes Shaun Carney.

Hawke delivered the Lionel Murphy memorial lecture in Sydney on Wednesday and in doing so provided an object lesson to today's Labor politicians in how to draw together a series of points and turn them into a message.

..... (Hawke) described John Howard's IR plans as "an assault on the very core of what generations of our citizens have been proud to boast of at home and abroad as the essence of the Australian character: the fair go; the belief that might is not right; that it is not those already with privilege who should be protected by government but the most vulnerable in our society; the encouragement of enterprise, not exploitation".

Whether you agree with that or not, it's hard to deny that it's a powerful, effective political statement, something that gives the ALP plenty to work with. It's what Labor should be saying, if only for the sake of its own survival. And Labor needs to say it over and over again all the way to the next election because if it cannot deal itself back into contention on the back of the IR changes, it might as well fold its tent and get lost.

....... a change of government in 2007 remains possible. If it does come about, I suspect it will happen largely in spite of the ALP organisation and the party's parliamentary leadership, and because of uncharacteristic misjudgements on the part of the Government and a phenomenal campaigning effort by the ACTU and union members........

<complete article>
http://www.theage.com.au/news/shaun-carney/showing-labor-the-way/2005/10/28/1130400359530.html

up

I dunno Msolga.

I do sense a shock at things not being all their way, given the senate thing.

Please feel free to join in on this ongoing conversation, ausuccess. I'm not quite sure how to interpret your comment.

Sheesh. I have just got so cross here:

http://www.able2know.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=1645173#1645173

Finn on perfection:

"The difference between America and the rest of the world isn't that we have political leaders who are above the temptations and corruption of power, but that we have a system of government and law that consistently keeps them in check."



Sorry, just needed to get that off my chest.

Where do these people GET their arrogance?

I sense more (obviously, from my run of posts, above. ) But I'm wondering if I'm so desperate for change in the political landscape that I'm projecting my fervent wishes onto my interpretations of events. I do hope I'm right!

John Howard's mental illness

Sorry I couldn't help myself

disclaimer: I am not taking the whatsit out of mental illness or those afflicted with it.

But if I were, JH wouldn't do anything about it because he doesn't give a rat's about those who are so suffering.

Wow, you guys have been busy...

Work for the Noel/CDEP - probably a good thing, if only because it engages the disenfranchised back into their own communities (some NT communities have been withholding the dole, from members who don't help out, for yonks). I wasn't aware of a third choice though.



It's cultural and founded on wilful ignorance - it's not a endemic to Americans, and they don't all have it. I understand your frustration - how can they not even know their own history? Why should I know more about it then them? Cocacolonisation. Ask Finn about Spiro Agnew. Sheesh. Ask him if the law keeps them n check why is is such a political battle to appoint judges?

I was talking to a seppo on a flight from Townsville last week - he thinks the US is headed for a collapse of 'the fall of the Roman Empire' proportions. But he travels all over the world and works in education, the majority of Americans aren't really aware of the wider world they live in, the US is big enough and important enough to be the universe in their eyes - can you imagine what watching nothing but american television would do to your worldview? It's bad enough for us and we're half a planet away.

Oh, I spoke not of Americans per se, just the loonier elements of their right.

A well-travelled American friend of mine who is an author once suggested to me that "you might not like America but you've never met an American you didn't like." He pretty well summed up the paradox. Not that I don't like America, far from it (this was when Reagan was in the White House and I was going through an anti-US foreign policy phase). But I thought he summed it up nicely.

... um, why are we discussing fairly predictable comments by conservative US A2K posters? I rather liked having a neo-con free zone on this here Oz thread. :wink:

msolga - bloody globalisation I tell ya!!