Monday, June 03, 2019
Saturday, June 01, 2019
The Uluru Statement from the Heart was a "gift to the nation"
Julie Power
The Uluru Statement from the Heart was a "gift to the nation" to build a bridge "between an ancient past and a hopeful future", said Catherine Hunter, a partner with KPMG.
KPMG is one of 14 organisations who have accepted the Uluru statement's invitation to walk the path to reconciliation with First Nations' peoples. On Wednesday, a coalition of companies, organisations and universities will throw their support behind the Uluru Statement and its call for a referendum to enable constitutional reform.
14 top organisations have released a video to publicise their support of the Uluru Statement and its call for a referendum to enable constitutional reform.
Representing BHP, Libby Ferrari, manager of Indigenous affairs, said the company stood "side by side" in support of the call for a shared future.
"We've not always got this right in our history, but we know clearly that strong relationships, centred on listening and respect, get the best outcomes for everyone," she said.
Top organisations have thrown their support behind the Uluru statement of the heart.
The 14 companies, which issued the ‘Response to the Uluru Statement’, included BHP, Curtin University, Herbert Smith Freehills, IAG, KPMG, Lendlease, National Rugby League, PwC Australia, PwC’s Indigenous Consulting, Qantas, Richmond Football Club, Rio Tinto, Swinburne University of Technology and Woodside.
Many, like IAG's managing director Peter Harmer, saw it as a chance to bring about positive change to support and empower First Nations peoples.
Qantas CEO Alan Joyce said corporate Australia had a leadership role to play. And the coalition of 14 also urged other companies and organisations to follow suit.
In a formal response, the group says it has "heard the call for the establishment of a First Nations Voice enshrined in the Constitution and for a referendum ... " And it acknowledged the call for a makarrata commission to supervise an agreement making between governments and First Nations and "truth telling about our history".
Artists work on the Uluru statement
'Overwhelming support': How the Uluru Statement came together on canvasAdd to shortlist
A makarrata means treaty, but the Yolgnu word from the Northern Territory also embodies a process of resolving conflict, making peace and achieving justice.
In the spirit of reconciliation, the group said it would support Indigenous Australians to develop specific proposals in relation to "Voice, Treaty and Truth".
Peter Beattie, chairman of the Australian Rugby League Commission, said the league had a long and strong relationship with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. He was looking forward to walking with First Nations' peoples towards a constitutionally enshrined voice in Parliament.
Richmond Football Club chief executive Brendon Gale, CEO, said a commitment to the future had to be based on an "acknowledgment of the past".
The historic consensus reached at Uluru in 2017 was a "major milestone in the journey towards achieving constitutional reform," said Brooke Massender, global head of pro bono with Herbert Smith Freehills.
Karen Mundine, CEO of Reconciliation Australia, said their research showed "an overwhelming majority of Australians support the aspirations within the Uluru Statement from the Heart".
She said the statement from the companies - who have all achieved the highest level of endorsement for their work towards reconciliation - would help "build momentum towards genuine reconciliation”.
Aboriginal leader and Alyawarre woman Pat Anderson AO said the Uluru Statement from the Heart was issued as an invitation to the Australian public to walk with us.
“It is significant that the leadership of corporate Australia has accepted our invitation," she said.
The Uluru Statement from the Heart was a "gift to the nation" to build a bridge "between an ancient past and a hopeful future", said Catherine Hunter, a partner with KPMG.
KPMG is one of 14 organisations who have accepted the Uluru statement's invitation to walk the path to reconciliation with First Nations' peoples. On Wednesday, a coalition of companies, organisations and universities will throw their support behind the Uluru Statement and its call for a referendum to enable constitutional reform.
14 top organisations have released a video to publicise their support of the Uluru Statement and its call for a referendum to enable constitutional reform.
Representing BHP, Libby Ferrari, manager of Indigenous affairs, said the company stood "side by side" in support of the call for a shared future.
"We've not always got this right in our history, but we know clearly that strong relationships, centred on listening and respect, get the best outcomes for everyone," she said.
Top organisations have thrown their support behind the Uluru statement of the heart.
The 14 companies, which issued the ‘Response to the Uluru Statement’, included BHP, Curtin University, Herbert Smith Freehills, IAG, KPMG, Lendlease, National Rugby League, PwC Australia, PwC’s Indigenous Consulting, Qantas, Richmond Football Club, Rio Tinto, Swinburne University of Technology and Woodside.
Many, like IAG's managing director Peter Harmer, saw it as a chance to bring about positive change to support and empower First Nations peoples.
Qantas CEO Alan Joyce said corporate Australia had a leadership role to play. And the coalition of 14 also urged other companies and organisations to follow suit.
In a formal response, the group says it has "heard the call for the establishment of a First Nations Voice enshrined in the Constitution and for a referendum ... " And it acknowledged the call for a makarrata commission to supervise an agreement making between governments and First Nations and "truth telling about our history".
Artists work on the Uluru statement
'Overwhelming support': How the Uluru Statement came together on canvasAdd to shortlist
A makarrata means treaty, but the Yolgnu word from the Northern Territory also embodies a process of resolving conflict, making peace and achieving justice.
In the spirit of reconciliation, the group said it would support Indigenous Australians to develop specific proposals in relation to "Voice, Treaty and Truth".
Peter Beattie, chairman of the Australian Rugby League Commission, said the league had a long and strong relationship with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. He was looking forward to walking with First Nations' peoples towards a constitutionally enshrined voice in Parliament.
Richmond Football Club chief executive Brendon Gale, CEO, said a commitment to the future had to be based on an "acknowledgment of the past".
The historic consensus reached at Uluru in 2017 was a "major milestone in the journey towards achieving constitutional reform," said Brooke Massender, global head of pro bono with Herbert Smith Freehills.
Karen Mundine, CEO of Reconciliation Australia, said their research showed "an overwhelming majority of Australians support the aspirations within the Uluru Statement from the Heart".
She said the statement from the companies - who have all achieved the highest level of endorsement for their work towards reconciliation - would help "build momentum towards genuine reconciliation”.
Aboriginal leader and Alyawarre woman Pat Anderson AO said the Uluru Statement from the Heart was issued as an invitation to the Australian public to walk with us.
“It is significant that the leadership of corporate Australia has accepted our invitation," she said.
New Zealand Unions Welcome Wellbeing Budget
The Council of Trade Unions is welcoming the concept of a Wellbeing Budget “We certainly believe that a budget which focuses on meaningful measures to ensure the lives of all New Zealanders are better, is a good idea,” CTU President Richard Wagstaff said.
“The way the Budget has been prepared and presented emphasises the need for better wellbeing outcomes for New Zealanders. In that sense it has succeeded in being a Wellbeing Budget and after years of neglect we’ve seen the largest new spending in over a decade of $3.8 billion. But the needs of New Zealanders are significant and it will take even more than a single budget to ensuring wellbeing.”
“It is great to see a serious boost to primary mental health services and the large capital injection to fix hospitals. The overall increases to Vote Health maintain current commitments in real terms. However, the new spend isn’t spread evenly which will result in parts of the health sector remaining under pressure.”
“We welcome the funding for Future of Work and Just Transition development. The boost to apprenticeships and trade training is a crucial component in achieving a Just Transition and is especially welcome.”
“Indexing of welfare benefits is a certainly a step in the right direction, but it is from the low base that the Welfare Expert Advisory Group showed was totally inadequate.”
“It is possible to imagine a brighter New Zealand; where we all get the healthcare we need when we need it, where we can get good jobs in industries which are beneficial to the planet, where everyone can access world class education. We can turn these imaginings into reality through a properly funded wellbeing budget. By prioritising our resources we can have the country of our dreams.”
“Future Wellbeing Budgets will be able to build on this Budget and create such a future. Today’s Budget takes the first step towards a people focused future,” Wagstaff said, “the Government must review its Budget Responsibility Rules to ensure the funding is available to realise the full potential of a wellbeing budget.”
“The way the Budget has been prepared and presented emphasises the need for better wellbeing outcomes for New Zealanders. In that sense it has succeeded in being a Wellbeing Budget and after years of neglect we’ve seen the largest new spending in over a decade of $3.8 billion. But the needs of New Zealanders are significant and it will take even more than a single budget to ensuring wellbeing.”
“It is great to see a serious boost to primary mental health services and the large capital injection to fix hospitals. The overall increases to Vote Health maintain current commitments in real terms. However, the new spend isn’t spread evenly which will result in parts of the health sector remaining under pressure.”
“We welcome the funding for Future of Work and Just Transition development. The boost to apprenticeships and trade training is a crucial component in achieving a Just Transition and is especially welcome.”
“Indexing of welfare benefits is a certainly a step in the right direction, but it is from the low base that the Welfare Expert Advisory Group showed was totally inadequate.”
“It is possible to imagine a brighter New Zealand; where we all get the healthcare we need when we need it, where we can get good jobs in industries which are beneficial to the planet, where everyone can access world class education. We can turn these imaginings into reality through a properly funded wellbeing budget. By prioritising our resources we can have the country of our dreams.”
“Future Wellbeing Budgets will be able to build on this Budget and create such a future. Today’s Budget takes the first step towards a people focused future,” Wagstaff said, “the Government must review its Budget Responsibility Rules to ensure the funding is available to realise the full potential of a wellbeing budget.”
Labour Day's link to Australia and the eight-hour work day
With banners flying over floats representing their various trades, Dunedin unionists parade through the Octagon on New Zealand's first official Labour Day, in 1890. The annual parade began as an occasion to demonstrate the strength and aims of the union movement.Courtesy of Alexander
With banners flying over floats representing their various trades, Dunedin unionists parade through the Octagon on New Zealand's first official Labour Day, in 1890. The annual parade began as an occasion to demonstrate the strength and aims of the union movement.
Labour Day's origins are tied to Australian shipping companies but employment issues quickly travelled across the Tasman, resulting an a 10-week strike and an annual holiday, reports Jessica Long.
Industrial action paralysed the whole trans-Tasman shipping trade for 10 weeks from August 27, 1890.
After the strike ended, Labour Day was celebrated for the first time on October 28 by union members and supporters in New Zealand, as a show of strength in the aims of the movement.
Unionists also celebrated the Maritime Council's establishment and the 50 years since Samuel Parnell, a carpenter and the council's founder, won an eight-hour work day.
The 1890 strikes all started when a stoker, who was a prominent unionist, was fired. Friction between employer and employee ensued but trouble really began when ship owners refused to affiliate the Officers' Association with Australia's Trades and Labor Council in New South Wales and Victoria.
The officers sought the tie-up to distinguish them "from ordinary servants" when they were at sea, but their companies refused to comply with demands.
A strike under the Australian Maritime Union ensued in Australia, filtering down to include some workmen. Ship owners in New Zealand started to worry the tide would drift across the Tasman.
But New Zealand's Maritime Council, an umbrella organisation of transport and mining unions founded on October 28, 1889, initially wanted to avoid a strike.
However, tensions between Kiwi ship owners and their workers worsened when an attempt was made to bring all organised labour into one big federation.
Wharf labourers in Sydney refused to work New Zealand's Waihora. A few days later more ships arrived and free labour was brought in to work them. It was the turning point – a general strike was imminent.
Feelings were felt deepest in Wellington and when word arrived that free labour was used, there were "incipient riots and conflicts".
Samuel Duncan Parnell, who initiated the eight hour working day. Taken by Henry Wright in June 1890
"The feeling of many years found vent in the strike ... There had been sweating in the factories and retaliatory measures against unreasonable employers, and all the bitterness and uncharitableness came to the surface," the Feilding Star reported.
"The Maritime Council in New Zealand called out all its men from the Union Company's vessels. The business of the country consequently came to a standstill, and the train services were considerably curtailed."
An estimated 4000 unionists stopped work for 10 weeks, which cost the country an estimated £200,000 (about $39,728,607.59, according to the Reserve Bank of New Zealand inflation calculator).
The result "seriously disturbed industry and embarrassed financial operations", the Marlborough Express reported on November 25, 1913 – when New Zealand was in the throes of yet another series of industrial strikes.
The 1890 strike involved "a series of violent quarrels between employers and employed", and become the first major nationwide labour dispute in New Zealand, according to the New Zealand History website.
It was drawn out and heated but it all came to an end when industries began to be worked without the strikers. It basically came down to a conference where Sir George McLean, a Union Company representative and Otago MP, "would listen to nothing but unconditional surrender" the Feilding Star said.
Labour Day commemorates the struggle for an eight-hour working day. New Zealand workers were among the first in the world to claim this right when, in 1840, the carpenter Samuel Parnell won an eight-hour day in Wellington.
Labour Day commemorates the struggle for an eight-hour working day. New Zealand workers were among the first in the world to claim this right when, in 1840, the carpenter Samuel Parnell won an eight-hour day in Wellington. "This the workers' representatives had to accept, and so the strike ended."
Some employers then refused to recognise unions, blacklisted their members, slashed wages and ignored perilous conditions.
The strike was deemed a "failure" and when the Liberal Government took office in 1891 it formed the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act.
New Zealand then became the first in the world to outlaw strikes and introduce compulsory arbitration as a move to make unions a political ally. The system stuck until 1973.
Gisborne parade in 1908. Floats represented different trades, and banners carried union slogans, like 'unity is strength'. Courtesy of Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries,
New Zealand workers were among the first in the world to claim the right to an eight-hour working day.
On October 28, 1890, an elderly Samuel Parnell appeared at the first Labour Day event in Wellington as parades were trotted out elsewhere in the country, boasting thousands of supporters who saw the day as a movement to improve employment conditions for all workers.
Even government employees were given the day off to attend the parades and in 1899 Parliament legislated to make Labour Day a national, public holiday.
The statutory public holiday, on the second Wednesday in October, was celebrated by everyone for the first time in 1900.
After 1910 the marking of Labour Day was moved to the fourth Monday of October.
The Eight Hour Day committee in 1890, with Samuel Parnell in the centre.
With banners flying over floats representing their various trades, Dunedin unionists parade through the Octagon on New Zealand's first official Labour Day, in 1890. The annual parade began as an occasion to demonstrate the strength and aims of the union movement.
Labour Day's origins are tied to Australian shipping companies but employment issues quickly travelled across the Tasman, resulting an a 10-week strike and an annual holiday, reports Jessica Long.
Industrial action paralysed the whole trans-Tasman shipping trade for 10 weeks from August 27, 1890.
After the strike ended, Labour Day was celebrated for the first time on October 28 by union members and supporters in New Zealand, as a show of strength in the aims of the movement.
Unionists also celebrated the Maritime Council's establishment and the 50 years since Samuel Parnell, a carpenter and the council's founder, won an eight-hour work day.
The 1890 strikes all started when a stoker, who was a prominent unionist, was fired. Friction between employer and employee ensued but trouble really began when ship owners refused to affiliate the Officers' Association with Australia's Trades and Labor Council in New South Wales and Victoria.
The officers sought the tie-up to distinguish them "from ordinary servants" when they were at sea, but their companies refused to comply with demands.
A strike under the Australian Maritime Union ensued in Australia, filtering down to include some workmen. Ship owners in New Zealand started to worry the tide would drift across the Tasman.
But New Zealand's Maritime Council, an umbrella organisation of transport and mining unions founded on October 28, 1889, initially wanted to avoid a strike.
However, tensions between Kiwi ship owners and their workers worsened when an attempt was made to bring all organised labour into one big federation.
Wharf labourers in Sydney refused to work New Zealand's Waihora. A few days later more ships arrived and free labour was brought in to work them. It was the turning point – a general strike was imminent.
Feelings were felt deepest in Wellington and when word arrived that free labour was used, there were "incipient riots and conflicts".
Samuel Duncan Parnell, who initiated the eight hour working day. Taken by Henry Wright in June 1890
"The feeling of many years found vent in the strike ... There had been sweating in the factories and retaliatory measures against unreasonable employers, and all the bitterness and uncharitableness came to the surface," the Feilding Star reported.
"The Maritime Council in New Zealand called out all its men from the Union Company's vessels. The business of the country consequently came to a standstill, and the train services were considerably curtailed."
An estimated 4000 unionists stopped work for 10 weeks, which cost the country an estimated £200,000 (about $39,728,607.59, according to the Reserve Bank of New Zealand inflation calculator).
The result "seriously disturbed industry and embarrassed financial operations", the Marlborough Express reported on November 25, 1913 – when New Zealand was in the throes of yet another series of industrial strikes.
The 1890 strike involved "a series of violent quarrels between employers and employed", and become the first major nationwide labour dispute in New Zealand, according to the New Zealand History website.
It was drawn out and heated but it all came to an end when industries began to be worked without the strikers. It basically came down to a conference where Sir George McLean, a Union Company representative and Otago MP, "would listen to nothing but unconditional surrender" the Feilding Star said.
Labour Day commemorates the struggle for an eight-hour working day. New Zealand workers were among the first in the world to claim this right when, in 1840, the carpenter Samuel Parnell won an eight-hour day in Wellington.
Labour Day commemorates the struggle for an eight-hour working day. New Zealand workers were among the first in the world to claim this right when, in 1840, the carpenter Samuel Parnell won an eight-hour day in Wellington. "This the workers' representatives had to accept, and so the strike ended."
Some employers then refused to recognise unions, blacklisted their members, slashed wages and ignored perilous conditions.
The strike was deemed a "failure" and when the Liberal Government took office in 1891 it formed the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act.
New Zealand then became the first in the world to outlaw strikes and introduce compulsory arbitration as a move to make unions a political ally. The system stuck until 1973.
Gisborne parade in 1908. Floats represented different trades, and banners carried union slogans, like 'unity is strength'. Courtesy of Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries,
New Zealand workers were among the first in the world to claim the right to an eight-hour working day.
On October 28, 1890, an elderly Samuel Parnell appeared at the first Labour Day event in Wellington as parades were trotted out elsewhere in the country, boasting thousands of supporters who saw the day as a movement to improve employment conditions for all workers.
Even government employees were given the day off to attend the parades and in 1899 Parliament legislated to make Labour Day a national, public holiday.
The statutory public holiday, on the second Wednesday in October, was celebrated by everyone for the first time in 1900.
After 1910 the marking of Labour Day was moved to the fourth Monday of October.
The Eight Hour Day committee in 1890, with Samuel Parnell in the centre.
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