Wilson Tuckey Knows What An Idiot Is

Todays Herald: Liberal backbencher Wilson Tuckey has taken a stand against the Liberal Party platform today, declaring that larrikin Nationals Senator Barnaby Joyce needs to learn to toe the party line and keep his mouth shut concerning the benefits of the upcoming industrial relations reforms. This from a party whose recent debate on the Georgiou bills has been characterised by statements about studied, informed dissent being the fundamental perogative of all Liberal party members (see below).

Wilson "Iron Bar" Tuckey knows what an idiot is, of course. He's been called one often enough. In 2003, for example, he sought to have a motor vehicle fine issued to his son overturned, writing three times on his parliamentary letterhead to have the fine dropped and then misleading parliament, for which he was sacked from the position of Regional Services Minister.

As Tuckey himself said today,

"He's just got to start using his brains before he puts his mouth into gear"

SPORTS MONDAY PART II

A groundbreaking event last weekend, as footballer Sal Rees notched up her 200th game. See here for further details. Sal is apparently an seasoned hand at making history, with her 1995 attempt to enter the AFL causing many a male nostril to dilate in fear.

While traditionally a male province, February saw the union movement moving into the realm of short skirts and long passes with the announcement that the AWU and Bill "Yes, Prime Minister" Shorten would be signing up members of the Australian Netball Players Association.

One wonders when the AWU will decide to sign Sal Rees and her ilk, as wouldn't we all love to see a showdown between Shorten and Dr Karl Kennedy as women represented by a traditionally male union sign a deal to undercut men represented by the artsy, fartsy MEAA?

Working Womens Centre Is Closing

The NSW Working Womens Centre is facing closure at the end of the financial year. Again. In light of the proposed Workplace Relations Reforms, this is a high-level disaster for the people from whom the state has withdrawn its protection and advocacy.

For those who aren't aware, the Centre is jointly funded by the NSW DIR and the Federal DEWR to provide a service specifically targetted at working women's issues, and every time a funding round comes up, the DEWR waits until the very last minute before deciding whether or not to approve it. A staff member at the WWC told me that one year they found out 10 Hours before the centre was due to shut for the last time that their funding would be re-approved.

This is unacceptable, and leaves both the extremely dedicated staff and their vulnerable clients in distress. It is especially unacceptable when you consider that the DEWR Wageline routinely refers their clients to the service, often just upon hearing their female voices over the phone, and that they refer all women callers who are probably under state jurisdiction and have mistakenly called the federal wageline, to the WWC.

I know. I've worked at DEWR and I've volunteered at the Working Women's Centre. The first intake of volunteers at WWC was last year. They needed these volunteers to keep running, because their funding from one body had been slashed, and the funding from the other body hadn't been indexed to CPI, so they had to cut staff and redistribute their ever-increasing load.

My first shift as a volunteer was an eye-opener. The centre just doesn't deal with first-level complaints - you know, "What award am I under" and that sort of thing. It doesn't deal with clean questions. It is a last stop. The people who go through all of the processes and are finally referred to the centre are desperate. They have been sexually harassed and assaulted at work. They live in tightly-knit rural or regional communities and if complain that their boss has been coming over to their house and masturbating in their garden, it's their word against his, everyone knows, and they can't get another job in their town. They have been underpaid or unpaid for many years, made to perform duties that aren't consistent with their experience or to clean the employee toilets in their own time, put on 20 hour shifts with no overtime, made casual without their consent, put on AWAs without knowing what they were, signed their conditions away under threat of unemployment... it's all there, and they can't afford legal representation and don't know how to do it themselves. And these are the people who haven't given up after going through several departments, waiting for phone calls - I can't imagine how many people just give up before they make it through the maze of burocracy. And then the WCC doesn't always have the resources to help the ones who do make it.

PLEASE HELP contact your local member, federal or state, and lobby for the renewal of federal funds and the increase of state funds. Do it ASAP - in the next couple of days. This is one of those rare initiatives that has always had support from women on both sides of politics. It has amazing merit and should be supported simply because the people who use this service are so desperate. I don't want to hear stupid comments about how there should be a Working Men's Service - maybe there should be, whatever, but there should definitely be a Working Women's Service, that's what counts.

Petro Georgiou and the Peaceful Transfer of Power

Oh yes, oh yes, we have a theory.

Petro Georgiou's new draft legislation, strategically released to the media and community groups prior to its discussion in the party room, is one of the most radical, public internal challenges to Liberal party policy and polity since, like, the dawn of time. It effectively decriminalises asylum seekers - well, most of them, anyway - and actually puts some checks and balances on the detention system and on DIMIA, forces ministerial intervention and offers compassionate amnesty to people who have been in the system for years. While I believe it does not go far enough - for example, even under this new legislation, you have to be imprisoned sans having committed a crime for over a year before the prospect of release is mentioned - it is a start, a radical challenge to policy and is genuinely motivated by the concept that Human Rights are not just Citizen Rights. See text of bill on Margo Kingston.

The timing could not have been better. Could not. Post Cornelia Rau, white woman in distress. And, of course, of course, in the context of The Stoush (phrase coined from Liam). And here is the great truth of it all:

Costello is testing his numbers.

Howard is apparently manoevring to knock Georgiou off, if you believe Crikey. Old Petro has nothing to lose and much to gain - he's never been offered the senior ministry he was expected to walk into, and his consolation prize of parliamentary secretary was insulting - not surprisingly he refused it. He's also very very fond of the old Liberal philosophies of individual rights, and this includes those of non-citizen refugees (apparently - shocking, I know), and his electorate is full of his kind of people, and not Howard's battlers. Meanwhile, Costello has been busy pasting his name around town as the humanitarian alternative.

It's a head-rolling issue. Howard can't back down on this one, and he won't - unlike the recent IVF backlash , where he placated his revolting numbers to weather the leadership storm. If he allows a conscience vote, he'll be seen as doing just that. If he refuses a conscience vote, Costello's numbers will go through the roof. Public opinion is the key to this battle, and even if Howard gets Da Battlerz onside it could be a Phyrric victory. Costello has a track record of standing silent behind the PM, and there's no need for him to speak out to this motion, although he may choose to if he thinks the public is sufficiently onside. Georgiou, who has nothing to lose but his seat, will take the brunt and feel good about it.

Comments?

Newspeak Alert!!!

Today, cabinet meets and approves Kevin Andrews’ new guidelines for the consolidation and further deregulation of the industrial relations systems. The Herald reports that, amongst other attacks Those Who Aren’t With Us, the Australian Industrial Relations Commission will be reduced from Gytrash to toothless hound, in favour of a “Fair Pay Commission”. A system where wages are set, not by a body independent of government and trickledown and Reserve Bank economics, but rather by a panel consisting of Treasury officials and business representatives.

Bleargh! “Fair Pay” indeed. Fair is relative – fair for whom? “Fair” in the same fashion as Eliza Doolittle, a system tarted up to sound and smell appealing but underneath quivering with its own inadequacy. “Fair” for the Business Council of Australia, whose perennial cry that $400 per week after tax is a grossly “unfair” wage for their members to have to pay their employees. The BCA’s recent “Workplace Relations Action Plan for Future Prosperity” calls for the establishment of a board of economic experts to set the minimum wage, because:

Research by Access Economics shows higher minimum wages are associated with higher unemployment. This is important to acknowledge, because while higher minimum wages are seen as a means of enhancing fairness, no amount of increase in the minimum wage will improve the living standards of those unemployed… Research shows that in Australia, unemployment and non-participation in the labour force are the most important predictors of household poverty (2004:16)

In other words: the greedy unions and the AIRC are spoiling for all Australians. So, they say, we have a fabulous economy, 5.1% unemployment, the lowest in ages (although due to an extreme rise in the number of casual and part-time jobs many of those counted as “employed” are desperate for more hours). But still! Unemployment is the fault of those greedy people who chow down on others’ share of the pie, not business with its multi-million dollar bonus payouts to executives, oh no, that’s an appropriate reward for creating jobs, but those unions who want a $13 per week extra for their members – who’ll clearly put it in a poker machine or piss it up a wall! Heaven forfend.

In Canberra-town, Newspeak is saved up on purpose for the workplace relations agenda, probably due to the unpalatable aspect of the proposed reforms. Examples include the More Jobs Better Pay bill in 1999 – reducing AIRC powers - to the Fair Dismissals bill in 2004 – removing the rights of employees of small business to unfair dismissals appeals and redundancy payments. It is this disgusting misrepresentation and misuse of power that should offend – it truly makes the reforms indefensible.