Quote Belly:

“Just this week a young man stood up in a workers lunch room and poured his dislike of the ALP out hoping they would never win an election.
Breathless about his blast I was about to ask questions when he made it clear he thought John Howard lead the Labor party!”

Isn’t that scary, Belly? I have often had people ask me which party John Howard is the leader of…and these people vote!

It reminds me of a case I made against compulsory voting on another thread (although I don’t necessarily hold strong views either way). But it could also be said here to expand on your point about the some being uninformed…

We have too many apathetic people with no political nous, voting for/against something they know nothing about. Some classic scenarios:

-I just voted for them ‘cause that’s who my parents voted for;
-I just voted for them ‘cause they’re the evil I know;

…Oh dear, why do I have to take a pay-cut now?

A couple of the many examples of this I know are:

An acquaintance of mine, voted for the coalition because they were the evil they knew. Then, when the IR reform took place, they asked me what it was all about. When I told them, their response was: “But they can’t do that, can they?”

Another example is a girl I know who voted for the coalition because that’s who her boyfriend voted for. She was then forced to sign an AWA and now works for less. She has since said: “But I didn’t realise governments were allowed to do things like THAT!” My initial thoughts were: “Well you shouldn’t be voting then.”

Mr Man, Billie and Belly,

Please include Teachers who are often employed on contract and have no paid income for long stretches. Women with children in particular find it difficult to find work during holidays because of lack of vacation care places ... and there's no child care for teenagers. There's an oversupply of teachers in capital cities, so they're easy to exploite. But come March, the contract offers are flying thick and fast.

Having said the above, I am eternally grateful to my local state Labor representative who put in motion the opportunity for permanency for me in my city after yet another contract position came to an end, and Welfare for Work came looming.

Spare a moment of thought for all those single parents out there who are experiencing the double whammy of welfare to work and 'workchoices'. Oh, and the lack of child care. It's definitely a reality. At my daughter's school the children are dropped off and gather together under a tree until staff arrive. It's stomach churning as a parent to leave your child there unsupervised.

Mr. Moore is complaining that the spin doctors haven't done their job. They have yet to convince us that black is white. The cost, footed by the taxpayer, to be told lies on the Government's behalf, has gone into the pockets of a group of admen to fund their cocaine habits in the name of creativity.

Des Moore talks about casually getting another position if the employer in the current position you hold is trying to rip you off. Which ivory tower does Mr. Moore hail from? Perhaps if you live in Western Australia that may be possible; however, if you reside in a rural area its simply not an option. There are several examples of work places where employers have ripped off employees; Mr. Moore's comments are dismissive of these situations which has the impact of devaluing his comments.

Work Choice type legislation has already been proven to be against the interests of workers when enacted by the Court Government, Kennett Government and former conservative New Zealand Government.

The IR legislation was pushed through Parliament as though there is no tomorrow with a follow up multi-million dollar advertising campaign convincing nobody. Economic rationalism has already done much damage to the social fabric; Work Choices will continue the process of social breakdown. Social break down occurs when one group is given legal sanctions to rip off another group.

Speaking of the ad campaigns. Apparently many of the workers who featured in the TV commercials are suing the government because they were told that they were filming an ad promoting workplace health and saftey.

Every aspect of this whole situation has stunk from the word go.

Liz - Good points. I think one of the problems is that the Australian electorate has demostrated to The Coalition that it dosn't matter what they do, we'll just vote 'em right back in. Call me cynical but a big part of me believes they be in power for a long time to come yet...despite what they do.

I don't know how accurate or inaccurate the polls are, but apparently they indicate that Australians in general aren't really phased by the IR Reforms and also, that The Coalition will still win the next election. Although I'd be surprised if they gained control of the Senate again.

What astounds me most about this Federal term is that the Howard Government has destroyed the old Aussie sentiment of a "Fair go". Something that had been in our culture for over 200 years, in one foul swoop, is now gone. I have also noticed over the past ten years that our whole sentiment of mateship is diminishing as well, we're all becoming such a greedy, self-serving bunch of people (someone please prove me wrong).

But I guess these things move in cycles. If there's anything good that comes out of this, it's that I hope we've learned that you don't give a political party total control.

Mr Man

I generally agree with what you say but the coalition will control the senate again after the next election. This is because it is a half senate election.

If labor win (and that is a big if) we will again have the senate as a house of review