The government is promoting individual contracts over union-negotiated collective agreements by docking the benefits of jobseekers who refuse to sign individual agreements, according to unions and the Opposition.

People on unemployment and job search benefits can be held to have breached their obligations to Centrelink if they refuse to take a job which requires them to sign an Australian Workplace Agreement (AWA).

Although the system has existed for some time, a more severe penalty regime, combined with moves to force thousands of disabled people and lone parents to look for work and changes to the industrial relations regime which encourage individual contracts, will see many more welfare recipients suffer, according to Opposition spokesman Chris Evans.

Single mothers with children and disabled people coming back to the workforce with few skills and no training are most likely to be offered low-paid, casual work where individual contracts are more common, he said.

Unions NSW secretary John Robertson said if the Government was serious about giving people choice under its proposed new industrial regime, it would not dock jobseekers' benefits should they choose to reject an AWA.

"What we're saying is, if there is genuine choice then surely you wouldn't lose your dole payments for refusing to sign an AWA," Mr Robertson said.

(Source: Sydney Morning Herald)

 

Five refugees were denied food, water, medial attention and even toilet breaks while being transferred from one detention centre to another.

The five detainees were taken on a six-and-a-half hour journey in the back of a van with no toilet breaks and no food or water while being transferred between the Maribyrnong and Baxter detention centres.

An independent report on the incident in September 2004 also found that one of the detainees, who was injured by a guard at Maribyrnong in Melbourne and then restrained in the van, did not receive medical attention during the journey to South Australia despite being in pain.

The report, by Keith Hamburger from Knowledge Consulting, said the detainees were treated in an "inhumane and undignified manner" and there was a "disregard of appeals for assistance from detainees in obvious distress".

The report also found that initial complaints made by the detainees were quickly dismissed without investigation by an officer of Global Solutions Ltd, the private company that runs Australia's detention centres.

(Source: The Age)

 

A former senior official says that the Federal government has allowed the fossil fuel, energy and mining industries too much influence over its policies, while a top scientist has described the relationship between the government and industry as "verging on the corrupt".

Gwen Andrews, former chief executive of the Australian Greenhouse Office, told The Age she was never asked to brief Prime Minister John Howard on climate change during her four years in the role.

Ms Andrews left the Greenhouse Office in 2002 and now heads a council in Britain.

Ms Andrews says that while industry talked about the economic harm of greater environmental protection, "their definition of economic interest was constrained to their own businesses and shareholders." She also claimed that they made implied threats to leave Australia if government policy did not meet with their approval: "there was a consistent underlying theme to their arguments that if Australia implemented any policy measures that raised the cost of doing business for them, they would have to consider the wisdom of investing further in Australia."

Ms Andrews said of the government's new plan to research 'clean' fossil fuel methods "one has to wonder whether it is really an effort to tackle the issue or just an attempt to deflect criticism about inaction by taking action in a way that doesn't commit them to any restraints on emissions."

The government's plan also involves directing substantial amounts of public money towards the fossil fuel, energy and mining industries, with a new $500 million fund to support low-emission technologies and $1.5 billion in fuel excise relief.

Rio Tinto, Alcoa, BHP Billiton, Exxon Mobil, other companies and national mining, fossil fuel and energy lobby groups had a substantial influence on the Government's climate change and energy policies, with last year's white paper on energy reflecting most of their policy 'suggestions'.

Fossil fuel, mining and energy companies are large donors to the Liberal and National parties. Between 1998-99 and 2003-04, BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto, Woodside, Western Mining and Wesfarmers donated at least $1.69 million to state and federal Coalition parties and their associated foundations, according to Australian Electoral Commission figures. Labor's federal and state organisations received $412,311 from the same companies during that period.

The Government has strong links to the fossil fuel industry, with its chief scientist until May, Robin Batterham, also a Rio Tinto executive and a big supporter of geostorage. Mr Howard's nephew, Lyall Howard, is Rio Tinto's government affairs manager.

Russell Higgins, who chaired the Government taskforce responsible for the white paper, now chairs a co-operative research centre for coal. He is a former associate secretary in the Prime Minister's department.

Clive Hamilton, executive director of the Australia Institute, a public policy research group, said the Government was too close to coal and energy industries. "The Government is in the pocket of the fossil fuel lobby, there is no doubt about it," he said.

Leading scientist and author Tim Flannery said the Government's relationship with the fossil fuel, mining and energy industries was "verging on the corrupt" and "definitely not in the national interest".

A Senate inquiry earlier this year recommended the Government set firm targets for carbon emissions to achieve a 60 per cent cut by 2050. It also called for an increase in the mandatory renewable energy target, for an emissions trading scheme to be reconsidered and for less emphasis on 'geostorage' - the burying of carbon dioxide from coal-fired power plants.

The government's 'white paper' reflected the position of Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton by saying it was premature to establish an emissions trading scheme, despite an earlier recommendation to do so by a Government review headed by former resources minister Warwick Parer. It also gave strong support for more research into geostorage, describing it as the "key" to low-emission use of fossil fuels.

(Source: The Age)

 

Australia's children are victims of the new economy that has turned increasing numbers of men into casual or part-time workers and is 'increasingly hostile' to parents, a leading economist has warned.

Sue Richardson, professor of economics at Flinders University, said the nation's low unemployment rate hid a "disastrous" trend to semi-employment among many men, not seen since the 1930s.

Of the 1.5 million extra jobs created between 1992 and 2004, only 12 per cent were permanent full-time jobs taken by men. Another 24 per cent were described as full-time for men, but were actually contract, labour hire, or casual jobs without conditions such as annual leave or sick pay.

Professor Richardson said increased levels of casual work among men and a culture of long hours at work were big factors in the country's historically low fertility rate, low marriage rate and the rise in sole-parent families. They also undermined the well-being of children. "We need to change course to avoid a lot of despair and misery. The labour market is making it extremely difficult for men and women to choose to become parents."

Professor Richardson, co-editor of a forthcoming book, No Time To Lose: The Well-being of Children, made her warning in a speech to the Australian Social Policy Conference at the University of NSW yesterday.

At the beginning of the 1990s, about half the jobs held by men were permanent full-time positions. The change, she said, was a "disaster; it is not a successful labour market. It's bad for men, and it's bad for children. You can't keep a family on a part-time job."

Because increasing numbers of men lacked the security of full-time permanent jobs, they did not marry, and had no or few children. Those who did marry were prone to separation, partly because of the stress brought on by an insecure labour market. "The labour market has been extremely hostile to men, particularly men who don't have any post-school education," she said.

"Men who can't get a full-time or secure job are not attractive marriage prospects."

The proportion of men with full-time jobs had fallen dramatically since 1976, with single men faring worse than married men. Of men with low education levels, 20 per cent had no job at all.

Trends in work hours were also hostile to family life, Professor Richardson said. Many of the new jobs created required either fewer than 15 hours a week, or more than 50: "You can't be a good parent either in the low-hour or long-hour jobs - you've either got not enough money or not enough time."

Women had filled 60 per cent of the new jobs created since 1992, but only 22 per cent of those were full-time permanent positions.

"This can work for children if men are providing more of the caring," she said. "But while women have changed a lot, men have changed only a little. And the workplace...has become increasingly hostile to the needs of parents and children."

(Source: Sydney Morning Herald)

 

The new Medicare card, to be distributed to 11 million Australians next year, could become the blueprint for a new national identity card.

The new Medicare "smart cards" could include a photograph of the holder, with the Government considering expanding its use to become a "government services" card.

"People will have a choice of a photo on the front of the card, or stored on the chip," Human Services Minister Joe Hockey told The Australian.

The card's roll-out, scheduled for next year, will be used to build up expertise for the possible introduction of a national security card containing "biometric" data, such as fingerprints.

While no decision has been taken on a national ID card - the government is working on models that may evolve into a de facto national scheme.

Mr Hockey confirmed that he was considering ways to replace the Medicare card with a new "government services" card. This could include a photograph of the holder, allowing commonwealth - and eventually state - government agencies to check the identity of individuals.

Mr Ruddock said last week that the Government had no plans to introduce a national ID card, but was forced to backtrack after John Howard said cabinet would consider the plan.

(Source: The Australian)

 

Quote of the Moment:

"How many Bush administration officials does it take to change a lightbulb?

None. There is nothing wrong with the light bulb; its conditions are improving every day. Any reports of its lack of incandescence are a delusional spin from the liberal media. There is no shortage of filament. That light bulb has served honourably, and anything you say undermines the lighting effect. Why do you hate freedom?"

anonymous.

 

The Labor Party has created a new think tank aimed at making the party appeal to evangelical Christians.

The Faith and Values in Politics group includes senior Labor figures such as Kim Beazley and Shadow Foreign Affairs Minister Kevin Rudd.

Mr Rudd claimed that, on issues such as homosexuality, "there is no binding position that makes us any different" from the Liberals.

Labor Party figure Lindsay Tanner could not confirm whether the party would keep its promise to amend Federal legislation to remove discrimination against gays and lesbians. "I expect we'll have further debate about all these issues before the next election. I can't predict whether you'll see any change in any of those positions".

(Source: MCV newspaper)

 

The US military has announced charges against 11 US soldiers for assaulting detainees.

Although the official statement described the detainees as "suspected terrorists", it also said that only one of the alleged victims is still in US custody.

The statement said the Army's Criminal Investigation Division had begun an investigation, which will determine whether the troops will face trial.

An article by Associated Press earlier this year stated that "since the Iraq war began, at least 10 US military personnel have been convicted of a wide array of charges stemming from the deaths of Iraqi civilians. But only one sentence has exceeded three years."

Those 10 convictions do not reflect the dozens of investigations that have not produced court martials nor the large number of prosecutions that have led to acquittals.

Marine lieutenant Ilario Pantano was tried for murder after the platoon he commanded captured two Iraqis in 2004. Pantano ordered the captives' handcuffs removed, had them assume defensive positions, instructed his soldiers to look away, then emptied two magazines into them.

Pantano was cleared in a pretrial hearing after he claimed that the two Iraqis moved suddenly.

Also in 2004, Sergeant Tracy Perkins ordered his men to throw two Iraqis into the Tigris river, apparently to punish them for being out after curfew. One of the men drowned. Sergeant Perkins and his men were found not guilty of involuntary manslaughter. He was found guilty of assault and obstruction of justice, charges that held a maximum penalty of 11 years in prison. He served 45 days.

American soldiers are completely immune from being charged by the Iraqi government.

(Source: Sydney Morning Herald, Asia Times [Hong Kong])

 

Australians are the hardest-worked citizens of any country in the Western world, having an average workload higher than workers in America, Europe or Japan.

Research by academic Rodney Tiffen and journalist Ross Gittins found that Australians on average work 1855 hours a year, or 38.6 hours a week if you assume they work 48 weeks a year. The statistic is even more remarkable given that Australia has the West's second highest rate of part-time workers.

Workers in only three Western countries have lower leave entitlements than Australia. In the US, there is no legal leave entitlement, but there is a de facto minimum of 10 days' leave and the average worker takes 17. Similarly, in Japan, the legal minimum is 10 days but the average is 18.

Australia's minimum of 10 public holidays a year is towards the lower end as an entitlement in the West.

(Source: The Age)

 

Quote of the Moment:

"We are practically in stage one of a civil war as we speak."

Former interim Iraqi prime minister Iyad Allawi.

 

Some London hotels more than doubled their prices after the bomb attacks left many people stranded.

With the transport networks down and many people unable to return home, one man said he had paid 250 pounds for an 80 pound room.

(Source: BBC website [UK])

 

A carpenter who had worked for his employer for 26 years has been sacked after refusing to sign an individual contract.

The 52 year old father of three was fired by Masterton Homes, after being given an individual contract that cut his pay and removed many of his entitlements including overtime rates and rostered days off.

The man, who asked that his full name not be used, said "I have always told my children to stand up for what is right and to stand up for themselves, so when the company wanted me to sign an agreement which took away many of my entitlements, I decided that I needed to lead by example."

"I asked myself, if John Howard was faced with an individual workplace agreement that cut his pay and removed conditions his predecessors had fought for, would he agree and sign it?"

"This is the first time I have every done anything like this and I am just an average person standing up for my rights and saying no, I refuse to be bullied into signing my rights away."

The Construction Forestry Mining Energy Union, with the support of Unions NSW, has launched an ongoing picket outside the Masterton Homes showrooms.

(Source: CFMEU)

 

British and American aid is being diverted to paramilitary commando units accused of widespread human rights abuses, including torture and extra-judicial killings.

Iraqi Police Service officers said that ammunition, weapons and vehicles earmarked for the IPS are being taken by anti-insurgency forces.

An investigation by the Observer newspaper claimed that suspects were the subject of serious and deliberate abuse by these forces, including burnings, strangulation, the breaking of limbs, sexual abuse and - in one case - the apparent use of an electric drill to perform a knee-capping.

The Observer says that there is now a network of secret detention centres across Iraq, inaccessible to human rights organisations, where torture is taking place. It says that official and unofficial detention facilities apparently cooperate, and that there is evidence of 'extra-judicial executions' by the police.

International and Iraqi officials claim the use of torture has become more extensive since the country's new government was sworn in.

(Source: The Observer [UK])

 

Public health officials are threatening to resign from a nutritionists' group, saying that it has become influenced by sponsorship from companies that make junk food.

The Dieticians Association of Australia is sponsored both by Kellogg and Nestle. The organisation's last two annual conferences have also included a stand run by McDonalds.

Kellogg pays at least $60,000 a year to be a 'gold sponsor', giving it the right to put its name on ads, pitched as community service announcements, which promote breakfast as the most important meal of the day.

Last week a group called the Parents Jury voted a Kellogg's Coco Pops advertisement the winner in the Smoke and Mirrors category in its inaugural TV advertising awards. In the ad the ABC-TV Playschool presenter Monica Trapaga says: "Coco Pops contains no artificial colourings or preservatives and eight vitamins and minerals, including
calcium for strong bones and teeth".

Professor Boyd Swinburn, of the Australasian Society for the Study of Obesity, which with Cancer Council Victoria and Diabetes Australia is a founder of the Parents Jury, said: "The ad only tells you part of the story. It doesn't tell you that [Coco Pops] is low in fibre and that the vitamins and minerals are added, and are only there for marketing purposes." Coco Pops has 36 grams of sugar per 100 gram serve, compared with Weet-Bix's two grams.

Although the ad did not breach any advertising guidelines, a spokeswoman for Food Standards Australia New Zealand, Lydia Buchtmann, said it "just scraped through" and there had been complaints from parents. An ad for another Kellogg product, Nutri-Grain, was nominated for the same category, as was an ad for Nutella spread.

Professor Roger Hughes, head of public health at Griffith University, asked "how can we be critical of the food industry when we are dependent on it for revenue? We are at risk of being infiltrated by the food industry in much the same way that the health sector has been by the pharmaceutical industry."

Julie Woods, a lecturer in nutrition at Monash University, resigned over the issue, after she took part in a committee looking at food regulation which was biased towards the food industry. "I just felt I was banging my head against a brick wall" she said.

(Source: Sydney Morning Herald)

 

New York Governor George Pataki has announced that his son Teddy has been commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Marine Corps, making him one of the few US politicians with children in the military.

Governor Pataki is a Republican and supporter of the war in Iraq.

Lieutenant Pataki will apply to defer his military service for three years to complete law school, rather than serving in Iraq.

Governor Pataki did not serve in the Vietnam War, receiving a medical deferment for poor eyesight.

(Source: Newsday website [US], radio 1010WINS website [US])

 

Half the 'free-range' eggs sold in Australia actually come from hens kept in cages or barns, according to farmers.

Ivy Inwood from Country Range Farming says the current demand for free-range, and the over-production of eggs from barns and cages, means that thousands of eggs are being falsely labelled 'free range'. Eggs marked as free-range can cost up to three times as much.

Farmer Phil Westwood says that many farms put free-range hens at the front of the property, while the majority of their birds are in cages out back.

The industry was deregulated in Victoria in 1994, and has had essentially no legal definition of 'free-range' since then.

(Source: ABC News website)

 

Two psychologists who practiced without being registered at Baxter detention centre have been 'punished' by being given a warning.

The South Australian Psychological Board said that after seeking an explanation, it had decided not to institute legal proceedings, but issued the warning. The two had apologised for their 'oversight'.

Acting Immigration Minister Peter McGauran claimed in April that all people working as psychologists at immigration detention facilities were appropriately trained and registered with relevant agencies.

(Source: The Age)

 

Doctors have refused to supply Centrelink with references testifying that sole parents are still single, saying it was not their job to act as "welfare police".

From July 1, sole parents who change address will be forced to prove their single status to Centrelink by supplying references - preferably from a doctor or lawyer - or risk losing their welfare payments.

Over the next year, Centrelink will ask 20,000 sole parents who have moved address recently to attend an interview. Many will be required to return two signed referee statements, preferably from "persons of some standing in the community", to verify that they are not in a de facto relationship.

Australian Medical Association president Mukesh Haikerwal rejected the bid to ask doctors to verify the personal living arrangements of their patients.

Haikerwal said asking GPs to play such a role could discourage some patients from talking about medical conditions that might be due to their domestic situation, for fear they would be reported to Centrelink.

(Source: The Age)

 

The new head of the Commonwealth bank signed a letter aimed at stopping legal recognition of gay relationships, which claimed that children of gay parents were at risk of abuse and murder.

New Zealand businessman Frank Norris took over the Commonwealth Bank in June. Last December, he and his wife were among the signatories to a letter aimed at stopping the Civil Unions Bill. The letter cited research claiming that children of gay parents were more likely to be the victims of abuse and murder. The research was carried out by a conservative lobby group, and is not accepted by mainstream scientists.

(Source: MCV newspaper)