Page 3478 - Week 11 - Tuesday, 14 November 2006
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Liberal federal government is the pervading ideology of running your life as you would a small business, in other words, looking after yourself at the expense of all your colleagues. This is the doctrine on which these IR laws have been set.
The federal government is always stating that a win for Labor means that unions will take over the running of the country. While we believe that this would at least ensure some equity for those people least able to articulate their concerns, nothing is ever mentioned about the fact that for the past 10 years big business has been pushing the agenda at all times and the fact the federal government is only listening to big business in this debate.
If this federal government really did care, as they say they do, about Howard’s battlers, then these draconian laws would never have been introduced in the first place. It is the very people that Howard purports to care about who are about to have the full force of these draconian laws inflicted on them. As these laws bite and those less able to sustain a concerted attack fall through the cracks, it will become self-evident that the real purpose behind these laws, the eroding of the basic working conditions for Australian families and the subservience of ordinary workers to their masters, is the real agenda.
The Howard government is funded by the masters of these changes, the born to rule brigade, and has no desire or interest in seeing just and equitable sharing of this country’s wealth among any but its own. The rate of corporate pay packets is evidence of just how these people rate themselves. The only way that we will win a fairer IR system is through ongoing political and industrial campaigning over the next 12 months, leading up to the next federal election.
History will show just how the introduction of these IR laws and the decision of the High Court today will impact on the future directions of all Australians. Certainly the ability of an individual worker to have a say in the conditions of their employment has been compromised. The collective will of the workplace to decide on how they decide to work has been eroded. The collective agreement was just that—collective and fair, a majority vote for the benefit of all employees.
It is clear now that the only way forward is to throw this federal government out at the next election and rid ourselves of these laws. On that point, on 30 November, the ACTU is organising an Australia-wide rally in support of changing both the federal government—(Time expired.)
Sally Lilienthal
Indigenous youth
DR FOSKEY (Molonglo) (4.55): Mr Speaker, I want to remember another great role model who has recently died. That is happening too often these days. People who have been very influential in my world are reaching a certain age.
Sally Lilienthal was an American woman who set up an organisation called the Ploughshares Fund. Some of you might have heard of it. It is pretty well known to people active in the peace and anti-nuclear movement. It is dedicated to preventing the spread and use of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons.
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