By Andrew Phillips, 9th July 2006
One can hear the popping of champagne corks in the leather clad lounges of the H.R. Nicholls Society and parliamentary bars around the country following this week’s run of “good news”.
The pace of Howard’s I.R. reforms have picked up quite nicely and Australian workers around the country are beginning to feel the heat following the overwhelming support given to internationalist parties at the previous election.
In a move reminiscent of the Yarra incident, 18 crew members of the MT Stolt Australia have been sacked and replaced with a foreign crew — Filipinos. This vessel was the company’s last remaining Australian flagged vessel and following this voyage it will sail over to Indonesia to be re-flagged to the Cayman Islands and re-staffed with cheap foreign labour. Under Howard’s stewardship, the fleet of Aussie flagged vessels has dropped from 104 to just 52.
While this may seem a minor issue to most Australians and be met with a characteristic shrug of the shoulders, it should be remembered that foreign flagged vessels, their owners and cheap coolie labourers all pay NO tax in Australia — so not only are Aussies losing their jobs but these leeches are making no contribution to the welfare of their host nation.
It is gratifying that the union movement has made it’s displeasure known — only to revert back to it’s “quid each way” bet by claiming not to have a problem with the cheap Filipino labour, only not liking the fact the government made it possible in the first place. Perhaps the union won’t have so much of a problem once Beasley and his cohorts start doing it?
Australian abattoir workers seem to be the front line guinea pigs in the early days of Howard’s free for all. The Office of Workplace Services has just released a report indicating that the recent sacking of workers in Cowra, followed by the offer of re-employment with poorer conditions was entirely legal. This must certainly make those workers feel a hell of a lot better as they go home to their families and desperately try to crunch the numbers and make ends meet.
South Australia’s company of the moment, T&R Pastoral, is once again stealing the limelight here in S.A. following the takeover of the old Conroy’s Port Pirie export abattoir. In a move of golden opportunism, T&R have fallen upon the unfortunate Conroys and picked up yet another abattoir to add to its list. Barely the ink is allowed to dry on the contract and Conroy’s 85 workers received notice that they no longer had jobs, with the futures of another 50 casual workers yet to be decided.
Likewise, the security of another 70 workers in the Adelaide boning room is also in doubt. T&R has announced that they cannot guarantee the future of those workers left but, in a display of true altruism, encouraged those workers who have just been sacked to re-apply for positions with T&R under their current conditions on offer. Given T&R’s recent penchant for bringing in foreign labourers, particularly in Murray Bridge, we wouldn’t advise those sacked workers to be hanging around their phone for too long.
Not that any of us should be too concerned. In the wake of North Korea’s saber rattling in the form of missile testing over the region (with the comfort of Big Brother China looking over their shoulder for reassurance), there should be thousands of jobs waiting for us all in the nation’s mining industries. In yet another fine display of kowtowing to our Asian neighbours, Howard and co. have seen fit to offer to supply North Korea with a steady supply of cheap fuel in the form of coal and gas exports, if only they’ll be good little boys and come back to the table for a talk. What a bloody nightmare — it’s like our Foreign Affairs Department is taking lessons in dialogue from the “Super Nanny”.
However, as one would expect, this exercise in appeasement to a warmongering totalitarian regime would require we all make sacrifices. In order to provide cheap fuel long term to these people, Australian workers would have to take a cut in pay and conditions in order to make the whole thing work.
Back flipping and policy gymnastics is something we all come to expect from these internationalist invertebrates.
For years, we have been told that in order to survive in the international marketplace, Australian businesses would have to think smart. This included the introduction of “value adding processes” into the processing of our raw products. Governments, both Labor and Coalition, have pushed this rhetoric continually for years. It’s a philosophy that is both sound and commendable and one that I personally support. It increases the value of the end product that is exported, it aids employment growth, providing Australians (both urban and regional) with gainful employment, and assists numerous related businesses to grow by providing relevant goods and services in the process.
Unfortunately, to our current crop of global village loving sycophants — it’s all rhetoric. Only recently, there has been yet another round of closures of wool processing plants here in Australia. Once again, Australian jobs are lost, and local producers are left to produce raw material that is bought at a price dictated by multinational companies and sent overseas to China and Turkey to be processed by cheap labour.
Once again, Australians are thrown onto the scrapheap.
Australians have every right to be angry at the constant betrayal by politicians who have little concern for their constituents and no love for their nation. The question is, how long have they got to save what little is left? An election is due in 18 months — will Australians maintain the rage into the election campaign, or will they succumb to yet another round of smoke and mirror tricks, a campaign of pork barreling, and continue to vote for the same vermin who are selling their futures for a pittance?
Australia — It’s Your Nation, Your Future — Take Them Back!
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