Steve Madden – was that $400 an hour you received or was that $400 an hour someone else was charging for you (whilst paying you $40 an hour)?

“Blaming the victim for everything”

I have blamed “the victim” for nothing.

If anything you are attempting to blame me for the outcome of those who have not bothered to work at school or make any effort to improve themselves through their own effort.

As for “Telling us how smart you are and how much you make” well Steve, that is the pot calling the kettle black, especially after your revelation of supposedly earning $400 / hour. I see the stench of hypocrisy follows your posts, as it does most know all intelligentsia elitist socialists who presume how to tell everyone else how to live (and usually do the opposite themselves).

You do not know how I spend my time Steve. I do not parade it like you do (“I help them for nothing. (Voluntary work)”)

How patronizing of you, I bet you get lots of acolytes fawning as you regale them with tales of your heroic actions in the name of socialism, its enough to make one want to vomit.

This Friday just gone, I attended a debate on the topic of workchoices, held in the central Queensland city of Gladstone.

Present were Joe Hockey, Minister for assisting the Minister for Industrial Relations, Paul Neville, Federal member for Hinkler and an Australian Industry Group spokesman.

In opposition were Grace Grace, secretary of the Queensland Council of Unions, David Peetz, Professor of Industrial Relations and the QCU's chief legal advocate.

With the room packed to capacity, the debate was the most most explosivly charged discussion I have ever attended. The few non- union members - the conservative leaning Member for Gladstone, Liz Cunningham and a local buisinessman sat quietly as mice while the other 99.9% of the crowd vented their outrage, particularly at Minister Hockey.

Workers told their stories to the panel: a Telstra employee who was presented with an AWA that slashed ten thousand dollars a year from his pay: construction workers docked four hours pay for holding a meeting about a companys refusal to provide two sets of working toilets on a site almost a kilometre long(urinating in the open would result in instant dismissal).

In the end, it was clear to me that the Government fervently believes that the way forward for Australia is a system that breaks down workers collective power, thus driving down wages and expensive working conditions in what will be a futile effort to compete with the rice bowl economies and mighty giants such as the U.S and the European Union.

The majority of workers are simply not in a position to truly bargain with an employer. There is a huge difference between having bargaining SKILLS and having bargaining POWER. Should this thing run long term, it will be remembered as the most destructive legislation ever introduced to this country(except by big business who will love it).