On September 17, federal IR minister Julia Gillard unveiled Labors new industrial relations system based on the IR policy it took to the federal election, Forward with Fairness (FwF). But rather than tear up Work Choices, Labors pre-election promise, its replacement IR system largely preserves it.
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The Greens were the major beneficiaries of the swing to the left in many councils across NSW at the September 13 elections, probably taking their representation to more than 70 for the first time. Independents and other progressive tickets, including the Socialist Alliance, also made gains.
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On September 15, in his last full day as federal opposition leader, Brendan Nelson confronted the Labor government with a tin of baked beans and a jar of jam. “That is the reality for Australian pensioners: baked beans and jam sandwiches”, Nelson said, moving a censure motion against the government for its failure to agree to increase the Age Pension by $30 a week.
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The Macquarie Dictionary defines plutocracy as “the rule or power of wealth or of the wealthy”. With the accession of Malcolm Turnbull, the richest person in parliament, to the leadership of the Liberal Party, this definition would seem to provide a pretty good description of Australian “democracy” also.
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Tibet: A precious Human Life
By Damon Annison
Distributed by Brumby Books, $35 (pb) -
Soubhi Iskander is a candidate in the September 13 Blacktown City Council elections. He is standing on a Socialist Alliance ticket, which includes fellow Sudanese activist Hassan Elnour Abaid and queer rights activist Rachel Evans.
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In the lead-up to last years federal election, the then-Labor opposition worked furiously to narrow the policy difference between itself and the Howard government.
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The Business Council of Australia (BCA) — representative of the 100 largest companies in Australia — has threatened that its members will be “forced” to relocate offshore if the federal government’s Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) is implemented.
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The social impact of increasing petrol prices and mortgage costs, and persistent inflation, continues to deepen. The financial pressure on lower-income households across Australia has massively increased, according to Jago Dodson and Neil Sipe in their study Unsettling Suburbia: The New Landscape of Oil and Mortgage Vulnerability in Australian Cities, released through Griffith University on August 11.
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Documents leaked from Telstra’s human resources department and released by the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) to the Sydney Morning Herald on August 14, show that the company wants to bypass unions and impose a non-union collective agreement on its 32,000 employees, thereby cutting its annual wages bill by $50 million. On August 13, Telstra announced a $3.7 billion profit for the 2007-08 financial year.
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Australian Workplace Agreements (AWAs) were abolished by the Rudd Labor government in February. However, mining giant BHP has taken advantage of gaps in the new laws to sign up 46 new employees to a virtually identical Enterprise Workplace Agreement, according to Steve McCartney, WA president of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU).
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All those who want to live in a healthy, equal society should vote for the Socialist Alliance, Soubhi Iskander, one of three candidates to contest ward 3 of the Blacktown City Council elections for Socialist Alliance on September 13, told Green Left Weekly.