Well it's my first day back at work and already the year has started with the predictable attack on workers that usually accompanies conservative governments in their first term of office.
They always claim that unions are corrupt and should have special laws to prevent them from being involved in workplaces or politics.
This year's attack from the Tony Abbott government includes blaming workers for having excessive wages and employment conditions. Witness the Holden closure and the crisis surrounding the SPC food cannery. Yep, same old same old, it's the unions' and workers' fault again.
It was only last year during the federal election that we saw Abbott in a fluoro vest with hard hat being escorted around factories or construction sites professing to be the workers' best friend. Not six months later the workers are being kicked in the guts.
No plans to save workers' jobs, intervening to reduce wages and conditions, trying to make out unions are evil and should not exist, cutting thousands of jobs in the public sector, increasing medical costs and bringing back work for the dole. And parliament hasn't even sat this year yet.
Now I'll declare straight up that I've been a carpenter and I'm still a proud Construction Forestry Mining Energy Union member.
But surely anyone can see that last week's stories about criminal behaviour and corruption in the building industry carried out by the so-called joint investigation of Fairfax and the ABC was the biggest media beat up since the Cole royal commission in 2001.
Then, as now, a series of stories were prepared and leaked to the media, all with the intention of creating the impression that we need a royal commission. When nothing was found last time, a special government watchdog was created to prevent unions operating in the workplace. It was called the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) — designed to reduce workers' wages and conditions so that big developers could make even more money.
The previous Howard-led conservative government spent $63 million on the Cole royal commission and further untold millions on the ABCC. This time it will cost even more taxpayers' money to essentially run the same political tactic for the same end - to stop unions organising, reduce labour costs and increase profits. A simple strategy for simple minds.
If this was really about criminal corruption in the building industry then why leak little bits to the media? Why not go straight to the police and the Australian Investment and Security Commission? Both these organisations have all the authority and resources to handle such matters.
It is not much of a vote of confidence by the Abbott government for the NSW and Victorian police forces.
Yes, plenty of money for royal commissions etc, yet no money to help save jobs in the manufacturing and food industries. This is shaping up as a big year for conservative propaganda.
But don't despair — even if you did vote for fluoro Tony. Geelong Trades Hall is starting monthly campaign meetings to oppose the Abbott conservative agenda and will continue to stand up and fight for workers' rights.
[Tim Gooden is Geelong Trades Hall secretary. This article was first published in the Geelong Advertiser.]