o sung wu,

David Shoebridge and the Greens are in tight with the CFMEU, which explains a whole range of their policies.

It is a cynical last ditch effort to grab $$ in the form of:

1) free publiciity for Shoebridge and the NSW 'Watermelon' Greens; and

2) extra pay in the form of penalty rates with an additional and unnecessary public holiday.

It has nothing to do with commemoration.

Shoebridge, the Greens and the CFMEU are shameless, cynical hypocrites.

BTT,

You are asked what ANZAC means for me. Dawn Service and return to the university regiment for a gunfire breakfast and refreshments. We will then all go our separate ways wondering where the years have gone, but thankful we get to live them and in a free country (so far).

Beach "the family farms of my forebears were run almost entirely by women. Our families did not even get the men back crippled. It is easy to understand why all of children myself included, did men's work and were so strongly encouraged towards independence."

Oh, you poor little blighter, doing all that men's work, did you have to trudge through the snow? Dis you have a faithful companion named Lassie. What a stoic tale you tell. Is that how it was in Nazi Germany.

What's that I hear, Paul?

It's that famous old march "Opportunism Now" and there's the band,
'The Greens and Union Misfits' blowing for all they're worth and riding, appropriately, on the Bandwagon, as usual.

H (again) ONTHEBEACH...

Your last paragraph is pretty typical of what most people who've been aligned to the military in one way or other, may do and 'feel' ? The age old question...where have all the years gone ?

Your remarks concerning the Greens, and the Unions. I have very little respect for most Trade Unions, for a number of reasons ? I've been told that some Unions failed to assist those who were engaging the enemy, by either going on strike, or failing to load vital stores and other munitions destined to go to the front to help stop the advance of the enemy.

Certainly in the Vietnam War days, Unions wouldn't load one particular ship, the (HMAS 'Jeparit') with mail and other vital supplies, destined for those Aussie troops, serving in Vietnam ? So as you can imagine, Trade Unions are not very popular with many Veterans.

Personally, that type of conduct is something I just can't understand ? If your country is at war, the last thing you'd want to do, is 'punish or deny' those who are doing it hard at the front ? Whether your politics is left or right, it's of little significance, it doesn't really matter. The safety and welfare of your troops, is always of paramount importance. Above and beyond anything else.

o sung wu,

Unions - get a hold of Perth lawyer Hal Colebatch's book, Australia’s Secret War, that details the sorry behaviour by unions during WW2. The city council libraries should have copies. The book was selected by a panel and jointly won the Prime Minister's Literary Prize for history.

Facts that need to be known - not according to the leftists though. Although they cannot deny the documented facts that strikes etc did happen.

ANZAC commemoration is an occasion where people with strong civic spirit congregate. It is good to catch up too.

G'day there ONTHEBEACH...

I wonder if it's not a too greater stretch of our imagination to infer those particular Unionist guilty of 'aiding the enemy' ? I would imagine the government of the day would've explored all avenues available to it, in order to mount a successful prosecution ?

Still during wartime, the last thing any government would wish for, would be a series of industrial disputation particularly when manpower was short, and all wartime necessities even shorter ? Even if a successful plaint worked, it could backfire down the track, making things even worse on our Docks, than existed previously ?

From a moral point of view, even if I didn't agree with the war or anything to do with the war, I don't think I could ever do, or omit to do, something that may place my country in even greater peril. Still that's me, and I guess we all think and morally assess things quite differently ?

Even during the Vietnam War, when the Unions refused to load the HMAS Jeparit, I don't think even PM Harold HOLT (a PM who was always prepared to 'take on' the Labour left) considered launching or attempted to launch a prosecution of the Wharfies even then, possibly for fear of escalating the dispute ? I guess we'll never know eh ?

Still, I do have grave fears for our Nation, if we're ever again involved in a conflict of similar dimensions of the two World Wars ? I don't believe we'll ever be able to raise the requisite strength necessary, from the available pool of (patriotic) young people, similar to those they had available for; WW l, WW ll, Korea and South Vietnam ?

Certainly conscription played a significant part, in augmenting numbers, and these conscripts proved magnificent soldiers, without a doubt ! But in future, I just can't see, that we could raise a sizable Army now, when one examines the pool available of acceptable young men and women, when we consider the burgeoning drug scene within our community ?