Billy and the work 'choice' lie

Alice Tinning & David King, Melbourne

The Howard government's $55 million "Protected by Law" advertising campaign has been a dismal failure. Some 6 million booklets explaining the virtues of the individual contract have not even seen the light of day.

The 68-page booklet, which attempts to sell Howard's industrial relations "reforms" to a sceptical public, hinge on how "Billy" would benefit from Work Choices. Billy was the unfortunate youth who was forced to sign an individual agreement (AWA) that removed his award conditions for public holidays, rest breaks, bonuses, annual leave loadings, allowances, penalty rates and overtime loadings. Howard staunchly defended "Billy" — his creation, it turned out — arguing that it was better for Billy to be employed without rights than to be unemployed.

Ironically, Billy exposes the "choice" lie. Many people don't have a choice about signing an AWA, and the booklet makes this very transparent. Interestingly, only 217,000 of them were distributed before the bill went through parliament. A Senate estimates hearing last November revealed that the remaining booklets — close to 6 million — are stashed away somewhere, gathering dust.

[Alice Tinning and David King, who are producing a short documentary on the above fiasco, will be attending the June 28 protest in Melbourne marching behind a "Free Billy" banner.]

From Green Left Weekly, June 28, 2006.

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From GLW issue 673