I have often said in my threads that assessing politicians and leaders as possible role models, we notice if they walk the walk as well as they talk the talk.

Kevin Rudd can sure talk. The silver tongue can out-smart Howard, but will his actions and the actions of his wife match claims to being such self righteous Christians from a nice white church in Queensland?

The Work Choices campaigns against AWAs have been the main lines used by the ALP. These include the union movements and workers believing in their only hope.

Yet Kevin Rudd's own wife neglected to pay her staff adequate wages in her factory. Not only are they misrepresenting workers, they are not even representing the poor or vulnerable. So whom are they representing? The ALP have been champions in insisting that leaders must say sorry when they make a mistake. Did the Rudd's say sorry to their exploited workers in their own business? No. Did they go through reconciliation and compensate them? No.

The dinner party with Bourke is all but forgotten, and now its all the way with the silver tongue, a spin, and the sheep are herded by the drover's dog.

OK, orchestra, say it: "but we HAVE to get rid of Howard, anything, anyone has to be better than Howard is”.

I can't, however, see any reason why we can't be critical and cautious when hypocracy rears its ugly head.

“There is a quality even meaner than outright ugliness or disorder, and this meaner quality is the dishonest mask of pretended order, achieved by ignoring or suppressing the real order that is struggling to exist and to be served.” Jan Jacobs

To be in business you have to match or undercut the conditions of your competitors.

If she was all alone in this situation I would have to agree with you but first, what are the other employment companies paying and which other Members of Parliament have associated businesses and under what conditions do their employees work?

Political and personal smears usually start much closer to an election campaign but the Polls have forced the Libs to start a bit earlier than usual.

No doubt there will be more to come - from both sides.

saintfletcher - you don't mention the fact that the employees were reimbursed. That's not the same as compensation, I know, but the fact that there were reimbursed well before this furore hit the headlines, I think, counts for quite a lot.

I didn't know that they were reimbursed. That is something. But did they say "sorry"? The symbolic gesture would affirm something to the labor movement.

Most of Therese's income came from the Federal Govt for placing the short/long termed umeployed in a job.Once you get a Govt contract and perform satisfactorily,it becomes quite lucritive.Just placing a short twerm unemployed person is worth a few hundred,however a long term person can be worth thousands.We can have a a merry-go-round of people moving in and out of employment providing a constant stream of income to employment agencies.

Most of Therse's fortune has only happened since the Commonwealth employment sevice was privatised.Try achieving the same success in fast foods,or manufacturing.If you have the right contacts in Govt money can made with ease.Why does the Macquarie Bank employ Bob Carr?It certainly is not for his economic ability.

As with the mentality of most humanity,easy come ,easy go and most of our Govts waste tax dollars with consumate ease.Just look at our various State Govts.They took the GST and wasted it on bureaucrats.According to Peter Costello some $47 Billion or $47,000.00 for every working person.Even if he only half right,it is an absolute scandle.

We’ve got be careful here. OK so we are dealing with a law which is pretty black and white on paper, or is it? Is the foregoing of penalty rates, overtime and allowances for and extra 45 cents an hour actually illegal?

Could it be construed as good shrewd business tactics rather than dodgy practice to strike such a deal? What do other companies do? Is it accepted and general practice to push for or demand this sort of deal?

If it is illegal, do the authorities turn a blind eye, just as with many minor road rules, unless there is a specific complaint? If it is technically illegal but known to be condoned, then it is effectively legal, yes?

Is Ms Rein being unfairly dealt with because she is now the high-profile partner of our next PM? Would she have continued to be able to get away with that sort of deal if she was not in the public spotlight?

Would a company that did strictly adhere to this particular law be put at a disadvantage in an environment where their competitors bent the rules a little?

continued

How could a situation exist whereby workers can be underpaid in an ongoing manner? Surely it is just as much the responsibility of a worker to see that they are not unlawfully underpaid. Presumably, if this particular law is clear-cut, all it would have taken is for one of the 58 workers involved to bring the error to the attention of the company. If the law is not clear-cut, then we shouldn’t even be having this discussion or pointing the finger at anyone, especially now that ‘correction’ and recompense has been made.

Part of law enforcement must be to let everyone know just what the law is as it pertains to them. Part of a company’s duty to its employees is to make sure that they know or can easily find out, and part of an employee’s responsibility is to do so. In fact, employees can hardly cry foul if they find that they have been treated in an illegal manner if they had the ability to find out about it right from the start. And they could hardly expect reimbursement in that situation.

So who is really at fault? The CEO, the company, the employees who should have been looking out for themselves, the government or relevant department who apparently didn’t make it patently clear just what the law is or that it applies at face value or failed to policed it or impose significant penalties if they did police it?

To be in Business is to be the best at what you do and to offer the best product for value for exchange with conduct of professionalism beyond corruption;
In a Sociopathic society now days lead by Ideological Proletariat Looting and psychological soul capturing techniques, where do you see that principle of Value of exchange applied now day?
Nowhere but be it for a few dissidence /Infidels.
And out side of Harvard brainwashing – the days of real economics are dead and the value exchange has been muted.

Any question ?
Answered here: http://majorityrights.com/index.php/forums/viewthread/22/

Let's just call this well orchestrated "stage management" by the ALP - like temporarily getting rid of the ETU boss Dean Mighell - someone has a good sense of theatre here - ah "the willing suspension of disbelief" perhaps?

Therese Rein is running a very highly profitable business worth $150 million and sees the necessity to exchange overtime rates and public holiday rates for a mere 45 cents per hr so she can shore up her bottom line even more.Anyone who gets a Govt contract does not have the pressures of high competition as with every day consumerables.You don't have try as hard.

The rules say that you cannot trade conditions or pay off, if it leaves a worker worse off.Therese was clearly in full knowlege was breaking the good intent and rules of the Federal IR Laws which Kevin Rudd and Labor find so evil.Not only were the IR Laws used to gain advantage,they were used illegally! I've said on many occasions that John Howard needed to tidy up the detail in IR to make it fairer or risk losing the next election.

Now the apologists can try and circumvent the facts till the cows come home,but Rudd and the Labor Party have been found to be hypocryts of the highest order.

french society just before the revolution had become a twisted shambles of laws and customs, emanating from king, nobles and church. ordinary people couldn't get through a day without putting themselves in jeopardy from law breaking.

reading about, and watching commentary on the rudd/rein affair brought this to mind, because our tax law and work customs seem nearly as complicated and ineffective. another reason for a new, democratic, constitution.

But are any of the contenders for taking over as Prime Minister as pure as the driven snow?Have you noticed how the mud starts flying when election is in the air.What about the downright untruths for the 11 years,This Government brought the GST in,but didn't take the hidden tax off.So we get to pay 10% GST on top of the already taxed item.Have you been any better off for all this extra money the Government garnered.The health system if it wasn't so serious it would be a joke.Not all of us can afford a private health fund.To have to wait two and a half years to get dental work done is disgusting.I am a paraphlegic. my wheelchair breaksdown.So what! get it fixed,Medication has gone up.But I still get the miserable allowance given to me when I was put on a pension.And the scandal of taking people off the pension and making them go to work.There is no available work.Wake up Australia we are too far Americanized now.vote to stay Australian.People were put on a pension for a ligitimite reason.Now they are no longer unfit to work and have to find a job.What about the people that should be on a disability pesion but have been told they have to work.Then they lose a job because they can't keep up,but they have to find another job.No wonder the cases of suicide have gone up.Even the returning troops have a higher case of suicide then ever before?Why?

Charlee be realistic, one of the reasons you cannot get job is because the unions have priced employment out of the market and jobs have gone overseas as a result. Sure it is not the only reason but it is one of the main reasons. I am sick to death of hearing unions and Gillard talk about "better pay and conditions for working class families". It is that sort of nonsense that caused the last lot of high inflation under the ALP. I belonged to a union because I was forced to belong and it did nothing for me except see to my unemployment when my employer (a good bloke) went bust trying to give the unions what they wanted. Rudd and Partner know exactly what they are doing...it was all a bit of pre-planned electioneering.

Rein did actually say sorry, and also that she took personal responsibility for any underpayments and anything else that had been acted upon by her Board. Note that she personally wouldnt have sanctioned an underpay (mainly because there are penalties and she would have had to backpay anyway). She would have a HR function that would deal with this, and like most CEO's would entrust the appropriate business function to make its calculations correctly.

But she has demonstrated good business ethics and leadership and has taken personal responsibility, and also made a public apology (but of course this wouldnt have been reported widely as not nearly as newsworthy as the original story).

Maybe Mr Rudd should join the Liberal party and take over from Mr Howard. Either way we won't notice any difference except the Howard haters will then need somewhere else to direct their hatred!