Following up on the post by Liz. 10% of teachers in Victorian classrooms are contract teachers or emergency replacements. These people have studied at university for 3 to 4 years for a degree and have a HECS debt to pay off. Contract teachers are laid off before each holiday. Emergency teachers are hired by the day, generally with a phone call on the morning asking the teacher to be at such and such a school in 30 minutes or an hour. This is absolutely no way to live.

Twenty years ago Victorian schools had a bank of emergency teachers on salary. The emergency teachers played golf in summer, got paid holidays and worked hard in winter.

Twenty years ago the emergency teachers were male, as Liz noted many contract teachers are women.

AWA = Abuse of the Workers of Australia

Mr Moore, in your initial article, you state that Australia has an unemployment rate of some 5%.
I wonder, seeing that you seem to be more of an expert on these matters than I, if you could advise us what the unemployment rate would be if the same parameters were used to measure the unemployment rate 10 years ago?
The media seem to tell us that, nowadays, anyone who works more than 1 (yes, one!) hour per week is statistically shown as "employed".
What was the figure 10 years ago; 5 hours, 10 hours, 20 hours?
Does anyone else know?

I figure to earn a living, one needs to be employed 38 hours per week.

Also, our young, and some older, need a PERMANENT JOB so they can qualify for a home loan, make plans to get married and raise a family, etc, etc.
Having a job and a decent wage means we workers can afford to buy goods and services from other employers - this must be good for the economy, including small and large businesses! I dont think the Howard Government or the business community are looking that far ahead.
If Aussie workers worked for $1 a day, there wouldn't be much retail spending - if any! Think about it.

Mr man its far more than scary, but if we stop such people voteing we stop far more in numbers than most would beleave.
This shamefull sacking in the news, the shamefull inclusion of a sick clause in an AWA that demands 12 hours notice of being sick!
It highlights the dreadfull AWAs that are being signed post workchoices.
John Howard is slipping in the polls ,but how much more would he slip if an ever increaseing pro conservative press printed the news instead of makeing it in factory farming opinion way?
The author must be concerened his post looks further from the truth daily.

Yes Belly, I saw the news article about that young lady expected to give 12 hours notice for sick leave otherwise she'd face a $1200 fine!

I have often wondered about the whole compulsory voting thing. At first I was all for it because I had the impression that the ones who'd be most inclined to show-up on election day would be the Liberal voters. But then you look at many other Western countries who don't have compulsory voting and some of them have had more, shall I say, worker friendly governments in power for quite a while now. I dunno. Whatever happens I just hope we can get rid of The Coalition as soon as possible. But with Beazley as the opposition leader, I'm sceptical it'll happen this election.

One thing that was comforting though, was reception John Howard got at the end of the State of Origin match tonight. I don't know what state you're from or if you watch the State of Origin, but put it this way, at the end, when they were presenting the trophy to QUEENSLAND (WOO HOO), and they introduced the "Honorable" Prime minister John Howard, the entire crowd boo'd the biggest boo I had ever heard in my life!

Yes, it was a beautiful moment.

Mr Man

Hopefully your prediction will not be a reality. But I am afraid, like you, that they will be voted in again. I think most Australians are apathetic. If they bought their houses prior to the housing boom, they're just not experiencing what other Australians who are paying immoderate accommodation costs are experiencing.

I also think, and it's been mentioned in previous posts, that many Australians are politically illiterate. They don't know who belongs to what party, and for many, they have no concept of the link between policy and the impacts it has on their lives.

Billie: I have heard about the exploitation of Victorian teachers. NSW is heading that way. Qld has adopted that model as well. What Deputy Principals usually do these days when offering contracts in disadvantaged schools, is to dangle the carrot of 'possible' permanency, if the teacher will teach on contract first. Of course, student population conveniently decreases just as the contract expires.

In Qld, if they end the 2nd semester contract a few days before school holidays, and not employ them until the 3rd day of the new school year, they do not have to pay the teacher over the Christmas holidays. They frequently arrange oral contracts with teachers, again using the carrot of 'possible' permanency, based on student enrolment numbers, they will have long-suffering teachers agree to these conditions.

I note your comments on the stable of relief teachers and the higher representation of male teachers during that period. The Qld Police Union has organised some great deals for their members. Our union just doesn't have the same power. We obviously have to learn to be more macho, or play golf perhaps.