Now this may not be the right place to talk about this but I figured if you work then it is, and chances are that 95% of yous work.

I'm a little concerned that the government is spending our tax dollars on talking us into something that is not good for us. Yes I'm talking about Work Relations. The other day I changed from Ch Ten to Ch9 to Ch7 and every one of them had that bogus work relations ad with that deep comforting Aussi accent, trying to make me believe that it's going to be good for Australia.

Let me just say that from what I understand among other things it basically removes the option for workers to band together.

Yes it can help the economy and make Australia's labour market more competitive, but lets get real the only people who are going to get richer are those VERY few at the top, and they don't kitesurf.

It won't effect me cos I have to work my ass off anyway to impress my boss so he gives me a pay rise. But it will effect the good decent middle class workers, and I don't want any of them missing their sons footy match cos the father has to work unpaid over time to remain competitive.

I say Australia can afford to be a little less competitive on the world stage if we can preserve our good family values and the ability to band together.

Now my rant about the terrorism laws... I'm too scared to talk about that, and that can't be right. Shouldn't we the people see the legislation and be able to vote it in or out? I'm mean they can makes us vote for anything anyway.

Thank you, and god bless Australia.

The real issue is not how this is going to affect us, but how is it going to affect the next generation, how will these changes affect them? Perhaps we will all be contractors? We are a society not a market economy.

Only when the last fish is caught,
the last tree is cut down,
and the last river poisoned,

will we know that money can not be eaten.

You'll be pleased to hear that Australia has the most lax electoral and government advertising laws in the developed world.

Government advertising: This latest Workplace relations advertising blitz has cost $50million of taxpayer money. This is for a policy which is not even legislation yet. It is to persuade us that we really do want these changes to job security.

Irrespective of whetehr anyone agrees with the workplace changes, I think we should all be concerned with the fact that our money can be spent to advertise changes that haven't even been enacted yet. The ability to advertise like this was fought in the courts by the ALP and the ACTU, unsuccesfully. Apparently the fact that it is legal makes it morally acceptable. Never mind the fact that popular policies would never need a PR campaign like this.

Electoral advertising: This is even murkier than more depressing than government advertising. We, the taxpayers, have the priveledge of providing millions of dollars to the major political parties in funding for electoral advertising (a process which was supposed to make the electoral process more fair and open, but instead has served to further cement the major parties in power, giving other candidates much less chance). If this were the only source of funds for electoral advertising, it would maybe not be too bad. However, unlimited corporate donations are permitted, with many corporations donating to both sides of poliotics, resulting in such situations as the Queensland ethanol producer (who donated millions to the Liberal party) receiving a greater dollar value in subsidies from the government in return.

In the UK, there are strict limits on the amount of airtime available to political advertising, and caps on spending. Even the good ol' USA, home of free speech etc, places caps on political advertising budgets

Furthermore, political parties have exempted themselves from the Privacy legislation, meaning that they can keep and share whatever information they like about you. Together with a "printing and mailing fund" of over $100,000 per elected member, this means that we get to pay for them to keep large amounts of information on us, so they can carefully tailor the mailouts you don't want to be sent to you telling you all the information that they hope you'll respnd to.

No other developed nation allows its political parties to do this. However, such policies are widely present in repressive regimes.

Now where did I leave my soap box...

Ah Bondo - you show your true colours at last.

But what if its windy on Nov 15...what a dilemma..the blue singlet or the rashie

quote:

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Originally posted by Mr Plow

Ah Bondo - you show your true colours at last.

But what if its windy on Nov 15...what a dilemma..the blue singlet or the rashie

---

in the event of a 25 knot seabreeze the protest will be held at st kilda, on the flatest part of the water, just upwind of the dead rats

Unfair Dismissal laws sux
Government bad................... 95% stuff = bad TAXES

kiting might be good thou

oh and that adverstising stuff.. corporations make denotions in US = some curruption guessing... QLD has DENOTIONS for ???????

The newly proposed IR laws make provision for a "collective agreement" to be made if so desired. So there is nothing to worry about if you believe that collective bargaining is your bag.

The misinformation is being provided by the Unions who have the most to lose. They are a diminishing dinasoar and are fighting for their lives. This is why they are promoting the mooted Gay March.

I would much rather negotiate directly with my boss to create a personalised package of remuneration and leave rather than just be one of the sheep.

FItzy Gold Coast OZ

labor party was/is founded and supported by unions = big opposition of the IR thingomabob

Studying eh

Good maths mate. Slave labour ain't the way forward...don't be angry Carbs though.......its not worth it.

It is sad that there are a lack of "skilled" people (or so "they" say), people do need training, and at the end of the day companies do the "investing." In some companies it is often a multi-year process of "investing" before people become "profitable" to the shareholders (they guys who took the risk on the person). "Labour relations" are a lot of talking...on and on and on. Those companies that pay well (we need to earn a lot more to buy our own land these days!) are also the ones that pay more that $10/hr. The $5/hour is not much, thats for sure...but then again most people on this planet work for a dollar a day....I could ramble on and on about this sh.t, but it doesn't get me out on the water....or do my home work

Do your own "lifestyle," and do the maths.

Crap Winter, and no wind in the front

economic reform must be proceded with whether you clowns like it or not for the sake of long term prosperity of aus.
what do you suggest? sit back take a ride and watch other developing countries **** all over us.
this government has been one of the greatest in australia's history, all you need to do is look back at 1995/96 whenever it was the coalition came in. Labour had interest rates at long highs, unemployment high, negative growth etc etc. compare that to now....
i say good work john and the coalition.

you have to remember the majority of australia voted for this governement (on a 2 party preferred basis)(and IR reform was on the tables at the last election, it's not as if it was sprung up from thin air) so you can only blame the MAJORITY of the australian public, not the polies.

having said that i have read some non rubbish posts as well.
and no i'm not a capatalist pig either.

Billions mate...very sad situation......you are here for no fault of your own either.

Just thank your lucky stars, be humble and remember how you want to save the world today, for when you really can....you might become a cynical old fart like myself.

carbine are you blaming their quality of life on the governement of today?
it sure sounds that way in some of ur previous rants that they're souly to blame.
they're there to do a job and they are doing it pretty bloody well compared to their predecessors, what more can you ask for. everyone loves to hate the government but lets see you do a better job huh?? good one em, and keep the reforms happening all in the name of growth.
there will always be ppl in bad situations through no fault of their own, but that is a fact of life and can't be blamed on the government, give them a break i say.

For easy listening....go to www.dogcatradio.com. Only in California; love a pet, **** the people. www.firstpetlife.com/

Good night.

Nice one Lovey!!

I'm contracting to a big utilities company at the moment, its no surprise that all the sheep who work there are all bitter about the new changes, slack workers might find it harder to hide in the crowd now. I dunno what everyone is so worried about, if you're a valued contributor at your workplace, then your bosses are going to want to reward you and retain you. Simple as that. Stuff the unions and collective bargaining, if you've got something to say, then front up and fight your own fight.

I moved here from overseas for the good lifestyle. $10.00 per hour is not all that bad as a minimum wage people, it will buy you a meal with change to spare, and thats usually only a junior position or apprentice wage, prove your worth and you'll soon be making more.

Life is good here, enjoy it!!