'Howard's gone over the top'

My first demonstration was an anti-Vietnam war march, but this one [on November 15] was the biggest I've ever seen. It wasn't just a union rally, it was a community rally. It reminded me of the 1970s before [former Labor Prime Minister Gough] Whitlam was elected.

There's a political change starting to take place in Australia. Howard's gone over the top. Howard is arguing that an 18-year old worker in their first job can negotiate equally with the company CEO! If Howard had just attacked building workers, six months down the track, he might have been successful. Instead, he's attacking all workers.

Tommy Watson, Victorian secretary of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union's FEDFA division.

From Green Left Weekly, November 23, 2005.

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From GLW issue 650