ACTU 09 February, 2010 | Media Release
Reports that Liberal leader Tony Abbott is considering a taxpayer-funded paid maternity leave scheme must be treated with extreme suspicion given his track record as a supporter of WorkChoices and previous hardline opponent of helping working mothers, say unions.
ACTU President Sharan Burrow said the Howard Government's WorkChoices had undermined pay and conditions for women, and it was simply not credible that Mr Abbott believed in supporting working mothers and would actually deliver on such a scheme.
She said that when it came to women in the workforce, Mr Abbott was an unreconstructed traditionalist who was now attempting to court the female vote.
"After years of entrenched views antagonistic to the interests of women, Tony Abbott is now trying to con the electorate," Ms Burrow said.
"His real views are contained in comments he has made in recent days that housework and ironing are the role of women.
"During his years as Employment Minister under John Howard, Mr Abbott never made any attempt to introduce a paid parental leave scheme. He is on record as opposing it."
In 2002, he told a Liberal Party function in Victoria:
"Compulsory paid maternity leave? Over this Government's dead body, frankly."
Ms Burrow said women fared extremely badly under WorkChoices, which took away job and income security, and made it harder for mothers to balance their work and family responsibilities.
"To its credit, the Rudd Government has committed to a fully-funded, universal scheme that will start next year," Ms Burrow said.
"Will Mr Abbott support this legislation – or block it, like he does with every positive initiative from the Government?
"We already know that Mr Abbott wants to re-introduce WorkChoices policies into Australian workplaces.
"Working parents simply cannot trust him to do the right thing."
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Tuesday, February 09, 2010
Iraq war enquiry needed
Age Editorial: 30 January, 2010
No act of a national government is more momentous than the decision to commit the nation to war. That is why the constitutions of many countries - though not of Australia - require the government to obtain the consent of parliament before doing so. And in the past decade, no military action has aroused more opposition within the countries supporting it than the 2003 invasion of Iraq by the US-led ''coalition of the willing''. In Australia, the Howard government's decision to participate in the coalition sparked rallies and street marches on a scale not seen since the Vietnam War.
The Rudd Government's lack of interest in allowing the record to be set straight publicly cannot arise from any bipartisanship about the war, because Labor opposed the invasion. Trade Minister Simon Crean, who was opposition leader in 2003, was criticised at the time for telling troops about to leave for the Gulf that the opposition did not believe they should be going. Such criticism now seems like one more attempt to stifle debate about the war, and Mr Crean's remarks are acknowledged as a brave refusal to be browbeaten into silence.
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No act of a national government is more momentous than the decision to commit the nation to war. That is why the constitutions of many countries - though not of Australia - require the government to obtain the consent of parliament before doing so. And in the past decade, no military action has aroused more opposition within the countries supporting it than the 2003 invasion of Iraq by the US-led ''coalition of the willing''. In Australia, the Howard government's decision to participate in the coalition sparked rallies and street marches on a scale not seen since the Vietnam War.
------------
The remarkable thing about the Chilcot inquiry for Australians, however, is that it is being held at all. Australia has not conducted its own inquiry and does not seem likely to do so, yet the war was as divisive here as it was in Britain. The questions raised at the time about the evidence on which the Howard government relied in making its decision, about the kinds of pressure that may have been exerted on it by the Bush administration, and about its readiness to accept US assurances of the war's legality have never been satisfactorily answered.The Rudd Government's lack of interest in allowing the record to be set straight publicly cannot arise from any bipartisanship about the war, because Labor opposed the invasion. Trade Minister Simon Crean, who was opposition leader in 2003, was criticised at the time for telling troops about to leave for the Gulf that the opposition did not believe they should be going. Such criticism now seems like one more attempt to stifle debate about the war, and Mr Crean's remarks are acknowledged as a brave refusal to be browbeaten into silence.
more
Monday, February 08, 2010
RadioLabour: Solidarity News
The labour movement has created a new tool in its efforts to build national and international solidarity: an audio news show on the Internet.
The show, called Solidarity News, is available on http://www.radiolabour.net/
It is 20 minutes of news about workers and their organizations from all around the world.
The newscast is made available every Sunday morning and is kept on the RadioLabour website throughout its current week.
Solidarity news is both a journalistic and educational project.
In terms of labour journalism, it reports news about unions using its own team of reporters.
But, also, it encourages anybody related to the labour movement to contribute audio reports.
These reports could cover particular events, such as a strike or convention, or the point of view of labour organizations on particular issues.
People wanting to contribute audio reports can do so by using inexpensive recording equipment (usually just a headset) and editing software that is available free of charge.
Even more easily, people can supply reports by leaving a message on RadioLabour's voicemail box on Skype, a voice-over-Internet service.
The show, called Solidarity News, is available on http://www.radiolabour.net/
It is 20 minutes of news about workers and their organizations from all around the world.
The newscast is made available every Sunday morning and is kept on the RadioLabour website throughout its current week.
Solidarity news is both a journalistic and educational project.
In terms of labour journalism, it reports news about unions using its own team of reporters.
But, also, it encourages anybody related to the labour movement to contribute audio reports.
These reports could cover particular events, such as a strike or convention, or the point of view of labour organizations on particular issues.
People wanting to contribute audio reports can do so by using inexpensive recording equipment (usually just a headset) and editing software that is available free of charge.
Even more easily, people can supply reports by leaving a message on RadioLabour's voicemail box on Skype, a voice-over-Internet service.
Wednesday, February 03, 2010
ACTU: Abbott's flimsy excuse for a policy
ACTU 02 February, 2010 | Media Release
The federal opposition’s response to climate change fails to grasp the enormous challenge of moving Australia onto a cleaner energy footing, and ignores the economic and environmental risk of doing too little too late.
"Mr Abbott is kidding himself if he thinks he can tackle the transformation of Australia's industries with a $3 billion dollar pot of government money," says ACTU President Sharan Burrow.
Ms Burrow says Mr Abbott's voluntary scheme invites "industry" to offer up ideas that might cut carbon emissions, some of which might then be granted a government hand-out.
"This is not a plan. Business is not required to make any contribution, financial or otherwise.
"There is no imperative to cut emissions in existing industries on a uniform national scale to meet Australia's modest targets or keep pace with improvements in competing economies.
"There is no policy setting to attract the billions of dollars required to create jobs and build our new renewable energy industries.
"This flimsy excuse for a policy will actively stifle the creation of thousands of new jobs and threaten existing jobs as the rest of the world moves fast on investing in clean energy technology and modernization to put existing industries on a sustainable footing."
"He ignores the reality that we are being left behind as the US, China, Brazil, the European Union, India, Japan, and other nations aggressively pursue clean-tech job creation," says Ms Burrow.
The clean-technology sector is now one of the largest recipients of venture capital dollars globally with clean energy alone attracting $US3.35 billion in the U.S. in 2008 and $13.5 billion worldwide in 2009 (source: New Energy Finance). Australia needs to join the race or we will continue to miss out.
"Mr Abbott's lack of a serious plan reflects his belief that climate change is "crap", and today, he has taken the Coalition further into fantasy land.
"Pulling weeds and planting trees is not enough to attract the investment Australia needs to drive the biggest economic change in our history," says the ACTU President.
The federal opposition’s response to climate change fails to grasp the enormous challenge of moving Australia onto a cleaner energy footing, and ignores the economic and environmental risk of doing too little too late.
"Mr Abbott is kidding himself if he thinks he can tackle the transformation of Australia's industries with a $3 billion dollar pot of government money," says ACTU President Sharan Burrow.
Ms Burrow says Mr Abbott's voluntary scheme invites "industry" to offer up ideas that might cut carbon emissions, some of which might then be granted a government hand-out.
"This is not a plan. Business is not required to make any contribution, financial or otherwise.
"There is no imperative to cut emissions in existing industries on a uniform national scale to meet Australia's modest targets or keep pace with improvements in competing economies.
"There is no policy setting to attract the billions of dollars required to create jobs and build our new renewable energy industries.
"This flimsy excuse for a policy will actively stifle the creation of thousands of new jobs and threaten existing jobs as the rest of the world moves fast on investing in clean energy technology and modernization to put existing industries on a sustainable footing."
"He ignores the reality that we are being left behind as the US, China, Brazil, the European Union, India, Japan, and other nations aggressively pursue clean-tech job creation," says Ms Burrow.
The clean-technology sector is now one of the largest recipients of venture capital dollars globally with clean energy alone attracting $US3.35 billion in the U.S. in 2008 and $13.5 billion worldwide in 2009 (source: New Energy Finance). Australia needs to join the race or we will continue to miss out.
"Mr Abbott's lack of a serious plan reflects his belief that climate change is "crap", and today, he has taken the Coalition further into fantasy land.
"Pulling weeds and planting trees is not enough to attract the investment Australia needs to drive the biggest economic change in our history," says the ACTU President.
Monday, February 01, 2010
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