Cricket thrives in India. John Howard is therefore not worried about his quest for Australia to likewise become a third-world country. Perhaps his twin ideals of a cricket-mad third-world Australia will be realised sooner rather than later, judging by many of the faces playing cricket in south-west Sydney these days.

i've seen john howard bashing but come on , do you hate cricket with some sort of passion or something ? Anyone has got the right to voice thier opinion or support for a team , 3rd world country what a joke !

I thought John Howard was responsible for all the world's ills,from poverty to prosperity,pollution,over population.He must be indeed a very powerful man to be responsible for so much carnage.

Mark;Soon army will come and wipe out all those who voted Liberal.
Julia;But it's already been,Sri Lanka, India Archei.
Mark;Didn't John abandon Archie?My army of Howard haters will rise up and smite them down as predicted by Gough the profit.

And it all began with;

Julia;Werri were you Mark?
Mark; In terror Gal.
Julia;You'll have to give up the grog Mark,your pancreas is getting livered.

Ah,it was the best one yet.

What a stupid article. I came into the workforce in the late 1980s and there was much much much more job insecurity under the Hawke-Keating Governments. IR changes are much needed to save our future - the right to employment and the right to earn a living. I can virtually guarantee that this author, based on his arguments, has never experienced the pain of unemployment like I have. If it came down to a choice between the right to watch a full 5-day test match on TV as an unemployment statistic or forego that right as a member of the workforce, I know which one I would choose.

You all need to learn to play FOOTBALL {soccer to you tragics}

More players internationally, practice with the kids and does't take a game 5 days. You don't need a helmet, not even special boots.

Thanks John. fluff

I think respondents thus far miss the point of Mr Ritters article. The point is "the space" to enjoy things including traditional games of childhood cricket.

I but passed a park the other day seeing little kids playing cricket and thought back to that wonderful time years ago when my parents had "the space" to enjoy a morning watching little kids play cricket.

The future is that this "space" has limited value other than as an opportunity cost to my employer who now expects (and will soon demand) that I service their client demands instead of my own client (childrens) needs. Time is money.

In the future I and my family will suffer because I have less protection now than what my parents had then. That is the point of his comment methinks!

To my shame, in pasing that game the other day, I thought to myself that I don't think that we have the luxury of "space" for our kids to play cricket. I now recognise that the demands from my employer are currently benign, but latent with potential, in this time of bounty.

Just you wait until the economy turns and employees start undercutting themselves to get or keep the work. Then we will truly see what impact this legislation will have on our lives...Mr Ritter might just be onto something!