Author: Kev

BARNABY Joyce has dropped his push for mandated penalty rates on “iconic” public holidays, saying he will accept a compromise ensuring Australian workers cannot be sacked for refusing to work on Christmas Day. I’m not surprised. Joyce was obviously going to be brought to heel sooner or later after certain home truths were pointed out to him.

The outspoken Queensland Nationals senator last night gave his strongest indication that he would not block the Government’s industrial relations changes, telling The Australian he would not push for penalty rates if the Government guaranteed workers could not be sacked for refusing to work on significant public holidays.

That’s a start. Now we should see the bill passed before Christmas

Senator Joyce said later making it impossible to sack workers for refusing to be rostered on during holidays would effectively force employers to have to offer more money on those days. “If it is really essential to work I would imagine people would have to pay you double,” Senator Joyce said last night. “My protection is then the ultimate protection. Iconic public holidays will remain such — as compass points in the Australian calendar.”

Extra money for working iconic public holidays like Christmas, Australia Day and ANZAC Day seem reasonable to me but not just for working Saturdays or Sundays. It is worthy of note, however that not all workers demand extra money for working Christmas Day and neither do all unions Sharan Burrow attacks what she perceives as the weak link in the governments armour, Barnaby;

While ACTU president Sharan Burrow tried to sway the Queenslander yesterday, delivering an 85,000-email petition imploring him to block the Work Choices Bill, Senator Joyce was leaning towards a more traditional Nationals constituency, the farmers.

Knowing it’s not difficult to programme emails and mass produce them with different signature blocks I’m less than impressed with Sharan’s 85,000 email petition than I am with Joyce’s apparent change of heart. I note that ABC radio has transformed the email petition to 85,000 signatures I also heard Anna Booth, saviour of the outworkers some years back, complaining on ABC radio about the requirement for secret ballots meeting a minimum of 50% voter return in the positive before a union can call a strike. I understand the idea is to send a postal vote to each member for them to decide on the issue. It can easily be said that it is mainly true believers that attend union meetings where a good speaker can, and often does wind the troops up to such an extent that they would kill Howard should he wonder by. In these circumstances a vote to strike is a given. I would rather the vote be considered in the cold light of the domestic scene; the kitchen table awash with bills and due mortgages and a clear thinking wife to counsel other avenues of dissent.

Nero fiddles while Rome burns and Howard plays cricket while civilization as we know it dies. THE PM’s XI cricket match should be called off because it is to be played on the same day of Australian Nguyen Tuong Van’s scheduled execution, a Labor senator says. Senator George Campbell said today it was insensitive for Prime Minister John Howard to attend the match on Friday.

Australian Democrats senator Natasha Stott Despoja agreed, saying she felt sickened by the prospect that Mr Howard would attend the game on the same day that an Australian would be executed.

If we needed any proof that Nguyen’s imminent death is being used as a political cosh to attack Howard then this is it. Ian Moore in an article in todays Australian says Don’t blame PM for other people’s sins;

The belief seems to be that their predicament is not the result of their own illegal behaviour; it is all the fault of the Prime Minister. This is not some fanciful notion; this charge has come from the families of those concerned, and from Opposition Leader Kim Beazley, no less. The problem is, they appear to believe it.

Michell Leslie

“What has really shocked me is the amount of anger levelled at me, especially from the Prime Minister,”

Her Father, Albert

…complained about the “un-Australian” treatment of his daughter and blamed Foreign Minister Alexander Downer for taking no interest in his family.

My father, Leslie Albert, always said

Son, once you are an adult, you are responsible for your own actions

I hope the PM enjoys his day at cricket. God knows he doesn’t get much free time and I will spend Friday doing whatever I have to do. I will pause, and I think the PM will as well, and feel sad about Nguyens fate but I will not afford him the honour of a minutes silence. That I reserve for Veterans who died honourably in the service of their country.