William Zanzinger killed poor Hattie Carroll
Hattie Carroll was a maid in the kitchen
She was fifty-one years old
And gave birth to ten children
Who carried the dishes and took out the garbage
And never sat once at the head of the table
And didn't even talk to the people at the table
Bury the rag deep in your face
Now is the time for your tears
Adapted from Lonesome death of Hattie Carroll
Bob Dylan
[News]
Federal opposition leader Bill Shorten is on the way out
Mr Shorten’s credentials as a union leader will be under question when he fronts the Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption.
Mr Shorten will be asked if he brokered sweetheart deals between the Australian Workers Union and a cleaning contractor for the Sydney Olympics.
It is alleged that Mr Shorten, then State Secretary of the Victorian AWU, cut a deal with CleanEvent boss and mate, Craig Lovett, that cost workers two million dollars per year by cutting their hourly rate down to $18 per hour and depriving them of overtime.
The Royal commission is investigating whether CleanEvent paid the AWU to extend favourable Enterprise bargaining agreements that included low rates of pay and committed the union not to take industrial action against the company.
As part of the deal, it is alleged, Bill Shorten’s closest factional allies received payments from CleanEvent disguised as health and safety training fees. The money is supposed to have created “phantom” union memberships to boost the AWU’s standing at ALP state conferences. This is almost precisely the same scam that Julia Gillard’s old boyfriend Bruce Wilson used to run a reform ticket against the old guard of the AWU. It was Gillard’s legal advice on the scam that got Julia the sack from Slater & Gordon. Julia Gillard was from the Left faction.
Mr Shorten denies all allegations claiming: ” I always put the interests of workers first as their representative, just as I always put the interests of Australian families first as opposition leader.”*
The Royal Commission will resume today at 10am at Market Street in Sydney.
Ian Curr
18 June 2015
* Note: Bill Shorten’s nickname Zinger refers to the pithy grabs Bill Shorten gives the media.
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[Opinion]
What union member will vote for an organiser who signs an EBA for $18 per hour when the industry is paying more than twice that much?
If Bill Shorten was running for union elections now he would be out on his ear.
That is the good thing about a union elections, you make promises to members, and, if they trust you, they vote you in.
If you don’t deliver they chuck you out.
Ask the officials of the Qld Plumbers union who just got voted out.
This is the beauty of union elections.
But in parliamentary elections, both sides make promises and they never deliver for union members, they attack the union … so workers can’t win.
Meanwhile Shorten’s factional allies are ripping into the Labor Government in Queensland for phasing out sand mining on Stradbroke Island.
This is ironic given that both Annastasia Palaszczuk and Cameron Dick are from the AWU faction of the ALP. These two, with Jackie Trad (Left faction), form the Troika that are running Queensland at the moment ;).
Apologies to our readers, I have to quote the Courier Mail below because that is where the AWU has made its stinging riposte to its factional mates … ah, the Courier Mail, a well known pamphlet for the LNP re-election in Queensland.
There remains the unanswered question from ministers, media and pundits:
What happens to the Quandamooka high court challenge now that the Queensland government has decided to phase out sand mining on Straddie? What about the aboriginal people who never ceded country on Straddie or anywhere else?
Ian Curr
June 2015
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[Courier Mail – LNP electioneering pamphlet]
Scrapping Stradbroke Island mining will come at huge cost, warns resources council boss
Australian Workers’ Union branded the planned shutdown a kick in the guts to workers and a decision aimed at “soy sipping latte politics of West End and Paddington’’.
The comments were a powerful attack on the Government and Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, who belongs to the AWU faction.
It follows a decision by Environment Minister Steven Miles to phase out mining on the island by 2019, rather than allow for the Newman Government plan for an end in 2035.
AWU state secretary Ben Swan labelled the Stradbroke decision “a kick in the guts”.
“This decision speaks more to the soy milk latte sipping politics of Paddington and West End in inner city Brisbane than it does to the Government’s stated objective of supporting jobs and sustainable resource development throughout Queensland, particularly at a time when unemployment remains high,” Mr Swan said.
“There has been absolutely no consultation with the workforce and their representatives by the Government on this issue.
Source: Courier Mail
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[THE AUSTRALIAN]
Record low for Shorten approval
Bill Shorten’s approval rating has taken a dive, Newspoll figures show. Source: News Corp Australia
Bill Shorten’s approval rating has tumbled to a record low of 28 per cent, with nearly twice as many voters dissatisfied with the Opposition Leader’s performance, as Labor’s primary vote dropped to an eight-month low.
But rising support for the Greens continues to keep Labor ahead of the Coalition in two-party-preferred terms, according to the latest Newspoll, conducted exclusively for The Australian at the weekend.
Tony Abbott also suffered a hit to his satisfaction rating over the past fortnight but he remains more popular than Mr Shorten and is still ranked as voters’ preferred prime minister.
After a fortnight in which the government was on the backfoot over housing affordability, stepped up the debate over citizenship laws and faced allegations it paid people-smugglers to turn around an asylum-seeker boat, Labor’s primary vote fell three points to 34 per cent, the lowest since October as the Coalition dropped one point to 40 per cent. The Greens nudged up one point to an eight-month high of 14 per cent while others, including independents and minor parties, gained three points to 12 per cent.
Source: THE AUSTRALIAN
[caption id="attachment_28649" align="alignleft" width="608"]
Quandamooka Land marked[/caption]
In June last year the Quandamooka People – the traditional owners of Minjerribah (North Stradbroke Island) lodged a High Court challenge to the legislation [passed by Campbell Newman LNP government].
In January this year the then Labor Opposition promised to repeal the said legislation and get the agreement between the Quandamooka People and the State of Queensland – the Indigenous Land Use Agreement (ILUA) – back on track if it became the government.
All the current Queensland Government is doing [by announcing its decision to phase out mining] is honouring the previous agreement negotiated with the Minjerribah (North Stradbroke Island) community four years ago, including the Quandamooka People, mining company, local residents and conservation groups – an agreement the Newman Government effectively tore up, providing benefit to a third party campaign donor [Sibelco].
The Newman Government passed this law without consultation with the Quandamooka People, whose native title rights were suppressed for a further 15 years.
The Quandamooka Yoolooburrabee Aboriginal Corporation (QYAC) is the Quandamooka People’s registered native title corporation.
On 4 July 2011 the Federal Court of Australia recognised the native title rights of the Quandamooka People, in accordance with the Commonwealth Native Title Act, over land and waters on and around Minjerribah (North Stradbroke Island).
Source: http://www.qyac.net.au/dont-undermine-our-rights/
