Goodbye to a decent life

"Last week, the brave new world of WorkChoices unfolded before Senate estimates hearings with the evidence of Peter McIlwain, the Employment Advocate. McIlwain's testimony in relation to 250 Australian Workplace Agreements lodged in April vividly exposed the sham of "protected award conditions". These conditions are protected only in the sense that they have to be specifically excluded by agreement. This can easily be done in a context of workers with poor bargaining power through the use of pro-forma agreements. Indeed, McIlwain conceded that an appropriately drafted "single sentence" could do the trick. Not surprisingly, all the workplace agreements in the sample removed at least one "protected award condition" while 16 per cent removed all such conditions".

So writes Joo-Cheong Tham, Melbourne University Law lecturer, in this op-ed piece from The Age - in which he analyses the ramifications, not only economic, of the new IR legislation on workers. It makes for sober reading here.

In a not enrelated topic - for the so-called Lucky Country - The Australian Federation of Homelessness Organisations [as noted in the Salvation Army "On the Streets" publication] reports that on any given night at least 100,000 Australians are homeless, each day 1 in every 200 people are homeless and 1 in very 3 people using homeless services is a child.

Comments

Robert Fisk's predictions for the Middle East in 2013

There is no gain-saying that Robert Fisk, fiercely independent and feisty to boot, is the veteran journalist and author covering the Middle East. Who doesn't he know or hasn't he met over the years in reporting from Beirut - where he lives? In his latest op-ed piece for The Independent he lays out his predictions for the Middle East for 2013. Read the piece in full, here - well worthwhile - but an extract... "Never make predictions in the Middle East. My crystal ball broke long ago. But predicting the region has an honourable pedigree. “An Arab movement, newly-risen, is looming in the distance,” a French traveller to the Gulf and Baghdad wrote in 1883, “and a race hitherto downtrodden will presently claim its due place in the destinies of Islam.” A year earlier, a British diplomat in Jeddah confided that “it is within my knowledge... that the idea of freedom does at present agitate some minds even in Mecca...” So let’s say this for 2013: the “Arab Awakening” (the t

Reading the Chilcot Inquiry Report more closely

Most commentary on the Chilcot Inquiry Report of and associated with the Iraq War, has been "lifted" from the Executive Summary. The Intercept has actually gone and dug into the Report, with these revelations : "THE CHILCOT REPORT, the U.K.’s official inquiry into its participation in the Iraq War, has finally been released after seven years of investigation. Its executive summary certainly makes former Prime Minister Tony Blair, who led the British push for war, look terrible. According to the report, Blair made statements about Iraq’s nonexistent chemical, biological, and nuclear programs based on “what Mr. Blair believed” rather than the intelligence he had been given. The U.K. went to war despite the fact that “diplomatic options had not been exhausted.” Blair was warned by British intelligence that terrorism would “increase in the event of war, reflecting intensified anti-US/anti-Western sentiment in the Muslim world, including among Muslim communities in the

An unpalatable truth!

Quinoa has for the last years been the "new" food on the block for foodies. Known for its health properties, foodies the world over have taken to it. Many restaurants have added it to their menu. But, as this piece " Can vegans stomach the unpalatable truth about quinoa? " from The Guardian so clearly details, the cost to Bolivians and Peruvians - from where quinoa hails - has been substantial. "Not long ago, quinoa was just an obscure Peruvian grain you could only buy in wholefood shops. We struggled to pronounce it (it's keen-wa, not qui-no-a), yet it was feted by food lovers as a novel addition to the familiar ranks of couscous and rice. Dieticians clucked over quinoa approvingly because it ticked the low-fat box and fitted in with government healthy eating advice to "base your meals on starchy foods". Adventurous eaters liked its slightly bitter taste and the little white curls that formed around the grains. Vegans embraced quinoa as

Mahler's Prodigal Son

Search This Blog