Protesting the new Industrial Relations laws
Decided to join in the protest march this morning against the Government’s new workplace changes. I felt it was an important issue to stand up for. There was an article in The Australian on the weekend which said the OECD have recently suggested there’s limited evidence that weakening the employment protection laws benefits the economy. Previously they had said the opposite and apparently the changes made by the Howard Government were based on their previous analysis.
On top of this I think individual workers in small organisations, casual employment and certain sectors will suffer. In fact it has already been shown that employers are making changes which disadvantage workers. This must surely undermine stability and cause more stress in our society with negative ramifications.
A few of us from work started the march in Spring St near Parliament along with hordes of country and metropolitan firefighters, Health Services union protestors, the Greens, the ALP, the public service union and others. We were waiting there for at least 30 mins then Steve Bracks and Kim Beasley appeared. They walked straight past me! After they lead our group off, we all marched down to the Bourke St mall. Others converged there from different parts of the city. The firefighters had handed out posters so I was carrying one of theirs.
There were speeches from a number of people including Beasley and Bracks, union leaders, the Uniting church and John Woods. The people near us were pretty vocal, one guy yelling out some fairly amusing “compliments” of John Howard.
The march started at 10am and we headed back to work at about 11.30am. I’m really glad I took part.
Here’s an interesting overview of public opinion about the new WorkChoices changes (PDF) from the Victorian/ Tasmanian arm of the Australian Institute of Management.
Had another driving lesson tonight and I think I have mastered the clutch in Andrews’s car! Yay! It feels like a major hurdle has been cleared. Learnt some more about reversing and also starting on a hill. Andrew had to help out with the handbrake at an intersection after the car started rolling quickly back as I attempted to go forward!
If the workplace reforms had been in place when Sean lost his job 18 months ago, we would have been up that well known creek. I am pretty sure however, that despite not being able to negotiate under Industrial Relations laws, that many would still have a claim at contract. In any event, the new workplace reforms are draconian.
As for the driving - I am amazed at how slowly everyone in Brisbane drives. It’s like they’re on coconut time. The lights turn to green and people sit there for a good 20 seconds or so before they take off. Wake up Qlders!!
Good on you to support the people who will be most affected by the new IR laws. As usual it’s the battlers who suffer. We hope some good will come out of the march.
Your perserverance with the driving is paying off….well done.
It’s so good that you took part in the protest. It is so important to make a stand on these sorts of issues. At a dinner I was at last night some people were commenting about immigration to Australia and saying only people who speak English should be able to move here. I felt really angry as I do volunteer work with refugees who have fled persecution and haven’t had the chance to learn English, yet still deserve a safe home, which Australia can provide. I didn’t say anything to rebut the comments and regret it now. You have inspired me to speak out more!
Yes it’s too easy to take the attitude that someone else will say something or do something about it but each individual adds up. I can’t believe the stories of employers who have sacked people since the laws came in so they are under the quota of 100 workers and therefore exempt from “unfair dismissal” laws. Some have sacked staff then re-employed them with more casual conditions.
I also disagree with the idea that everyone should speak English who moves here - it’s a generalisation and clearly doesn’t apply in all cases such as refugees. And it’s the sentiment behind it that I dislike - that people have to fit a certain image and identity to be accepted otherwise they in some way pose a threat.
I agree. It is the multicultural diversity that makes Australia special and there are many communities here that speak 2 or more languages and thereby keeping their culture alive in Australia. To say that someone can’t come here because they don’t speak English is naive. I wonder if they are the same people whose parents emigrated here after the war and knew no English (the Italians, Greeks, Polish, Russian, Nigerian, Zimbabwean etc). It does make it easier for someone to live here if they know some English, however that should not be the prerequisite by which we accept refugees and asylum seekers in Australia.
I am angry at this government because over the last 10 years thay have turned public sentiment towards fear and loathing of anyone who is different. Instead of opening their arms to refugees we send them to Detention Centres, and if they have there way these will be on Pacific Islands off the mainland of Australia. There is no moral or ethical fibre in many of the ministers in this government. They only seem to crunch numbers. They crow about the economy, however while doing so they are eroding the security of many of the people who are contributing to the economy. There is no sense of social awareness with this government and all that seems to come out of their policies are fear and hatred. This is not the Australian way and not what people laid down there lives for in two world wars. I could go on but it would just make me angry…
Anyway, and now for something completely different
Ruth’s driving is coming along in leaps and bounds. She really is getting the hang of driving a manual car. Go Ruth!!! 
So good to hear there is some compassion still out there. As you say Andrew, the Howard government has made tolerance a pretty rare commodity unfortunately.
And yes, some of the people who expressed the narrow-minded views at the dinner the other night do have parents who came to Australia with little English!
I see a lot of clients at Legal Aid who are refugees. Many are women who speak little English so sometimes I need an interpreter. Unfortunately their poor language skills mean that they are excluded from many types of employment and the language barrier often keeps them powerless against tyrannical husbands or fathers. Often times they have their children taken from them because they don’t know enough language to get access to the law and fight residence and contact issues against their ex partners.
Perhaps the government should be providing more opportunities for refugees and other migrants to learn English and maybe even offering a basic course on how to use ATMs, the ins and outs of the Medicare system, how to fill in forms etc. I think this would also be a relevant exercise for Australian born citizens who are illiterate. You would be surprised to learn how many people are out there in the community who can’t read or write. Ex prisoners also have many problems dealing with the world and forget how to operate in society when they have been inside for a long time. Parole officers don’t always assist.
As for the dinner guests the other night - are they perhaps culturalists rather than racists? Some people get militant about their country and language and it comes across sounding racist when it may just be national pride gone crazy. Having said that, it is unclear how refugees are meant to learn English prior to arrival.
Yes I think more needs to be done to help people get access to all those things we take for granted. It’s hard to really comprehend what it would be like not to be able to read a basic form or ask for information but I imagine it must be very alienating and bewildering.
Good to see this issue is still generating debate! I was interested to hear about the work you do with LegalAid, Fiona. You are right that, in addition to English classes, refugees and other new arrivals need support in a lot of other areas.
The guy I am helping at the moment has had to learn how to liaise with Centrelink, Medicare and so on, but it’s not easy. Even I - as a native speaker - have trouble untangling the Centrelink bureaucracy.
Interesting point about whether the people at the dinner were racists or culturalists. I think I do have a tendency to overreact when certain issues are raised and anything other than left-wing sentiment is expressed.
I guess the trick is to argue one’s point but not use sensationalist labels - like racist - too liberally.
On a related point, I think a lot of the people at the dinner had never spent much time in a non-English speaking country, except as tourists. I think never having dealt with the language (and cultural) barrier makes it easier to hold narrow-minded views.
I find it amusing sometimes that the people who are more than willing to speak uncharitably about refugees and other new migrants are often people who are not from English speaking backgrounds. I have listened at dinner parties to many Mediterranean peoples runing Aborigines and other ethnic groups into the ground! It’s a strange phenomenon given that many Italians and Greeks would have experienced prejudice in the early days of their arrival in Australia.
On a happier note I have met two former refugees this week at work and both of them have gone on to lead successful lives here and one has carved out a career in nursing. They were very interesting people to talk to and very hard working. What impressed me the most was their great love for their children and concern for their children’s future and welfare. The male client has been workign two jobs to ensure his eldest child gets to complete her university studies. It was very uplifting given that I have had three cases of child abandonment and abuse of babies this week. More power to the good parents.