The federal government has suffered its first major defeat in the Senate, with the Greens and Coalition uniting to reject Labor's centrepiece housing policy.
Some other thoughts on the equal pay for equal work legislation in Australia that means that contractors and temporary staff (there is a difference which I'll get to) will be paid the same amount as employees for the company they're contracting/temping for.
Contractors are people who are paid above the award. Temporary staff are paid the award.
Employers and employer groups are saying that this means that contractors won't be paid above and beyond the staff they're working with anymore. This happens sometimes, but generally is for incredibly specialised positions. In these cases, there won't be equivalents in the company, because they've hired a contractor especially. So those contractors will be paid what they are worth.
What LOTS of companies actually do (and I managed temporary labour as a procurement category for one of Australia's telcos, so I know), is have a bunch of people being paid at award level, that can be let go at zero hours notice "to manage a flexible workforce", and their permanent staff who are paid as per the EBA (substantially more than the award.
This legislation will fix point number 3. For point number 2, where contractors are being engaged at higher rates than the same staff doing the same work, it'll reduce some of the runaway contracting rates for some jobs, but mostly isn't going to be a problem.
Worth pointing out, yet again, that Australia "mainstream" media, published openly, are about as bad the vilest trolls on social media, hiding behind pseudonyms. Given their audience, influence, and legal immunities from breach of privacy, MSM worse than #trolls. #auspol
“The sheer scale of the task, I pointed out to Kathleen, is why we’d barely made a dent in reducing global emissions despite three decades of effort and concern.”
(Yes, and also the decades of deception, denial, and delay, led by fossil fuel rentiers and the political systems they’ve essentially bought to subsidize and reinforce their power.)
“I am an engineer. I’ve been trained to solve problems. And I’ve spent more than a decade thinking about the climate problem.”
(Ah, okay. Could it be that assuming energy transition is solely or even mainly an engineering problem is an obstacle here? It is absolutely a cultural, social, and political problem - we’re dealing with disagreements about what constitutes a good life, the relative value of current and future lives and quality of life, and the relative value of the planetary biosphere in relation to humanity. None of those are remotely so narrow and simple as “engineering problems”)
Megacorprations should be fined $10 bn everytime they suggest poor people should give up or reduce their need for basic necessities of life.
Here's an idea, how about megacorps go without their fucking tax loopholes for a year or two? Use that money to pay for heating and cooling every single home in Australia for a decade.
Lidia Thorpe in the Senate accuses Liberal David Van of sexual assault, but later withdraws comments https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-06-14/lidia-thorpe-senate-accuses-david-van-sexual-assault/102480086
Senator Lidia Thorpe has used parliamentary privilege to accuse a Liberal senator of sexual assault, but later withdrew the remarks.
Lidia Thorpe said then Prime Minister Scott Morrison relocated Liberal David Van’s office after he allegedly sexually assaulted her.
We should listen to women if they make a claim of sexual assault, and we should believe them.
I'm not going to speculate on why Lidia Thorpe withdrew her comment from parliament, but think it's safe to say there will be more news to come.
I know Anika Wells personally. Before I transitioned and before she was the Federal Sports minister, we were volunteers together for several years at parkrun.
She got to see me coming out, and she got to see my transition, all in the context of community sports. parkrun even did a campaign about my transition to highlight the importance of inclusion.
So even though it's unsurprising, it hurts to see her so dedicated to sitting on the fence on this issue. I had (perhaps foolishly) thought that her personal connection with my own journey might be a boon given her current role as Sports Minister
Labor are not good people. This is straight out of the "trans people aren't people" playbook.
Imagine if the question was on Indigenous women competing in sport, the answer would be clear, but for Labor, whether trans women are women is up to a sporting code.
The answer to the question of whether transgender bans in sport is either "bans on trans women in sport are discrimination" or you're a terrible person #auspol
Hearings for the potentially groundbreaking Australian Climate Case will take place On Country in the Torres Strait (Zenadth Kes), 5-19 June 2023. Guda Maluyligal plaintiffs Uncle Pabai Pabai and Uncle Paul Kabai from the islands of Boigu and Saibai will give evidence of the climate harms experienced by these communities on the frontline of Australia’s impending climate disaster. #auslaw#auspol#climate#torresstraitislands#IndigenousIP#UNDRIP
“our principal motivation in this paper is concern that IPCC has underestimated climate sensitivity and understated the threat of large sea level rise and shutdown of ocean overturning circulations” #auspol#climate#environment#gas#oil#fossilfuel #Australia
I notice the phrase "Right-leaning" more often recently.
Personally I am OF the Left, not leaning towards it & I have been since I thought things through 60 years odd ago, of the people, of society & civilisation & decency in general. Still in the same political place I was then watching government leaning further & further away to the right so far they fell flat on their faces. #politics#auspol
Australian racism is a special kind of racism. It's racism by denial. If you ask most Australians if they are racist, they will reply with a definite NO, all the while spewing microaggressions and claiming an indigenous voice to parliament would be racist. Dave Milner sums things up pretty well.
Federal government a step closer to early election trigger as Senate rejects housing bill (www.abc.net.au)
The federal government has suffered its first major defeat in the Senate, with the Greens and Coalition uniting to reject Labor's centrepiece housing policy.
Labor talks up possible aged care levy as minister says Australians willing to pay for more ‘choice’ (www.theguardian.com)
Anika Wells says taskforce will include consideration of levies but government ‘still not advocating any particular proposal’