The purpose of this diary is to give a relatively brief round-up of some of what is one of the most momentous weeks in Australian politics. The Howard Government is pushing through radical pieces of legislation at a terrifyingly fast pace, and the implications are enormous.
I cannot remember a bleaker time in Australian history. With control of both houses of parliament, the Howard government is ramming through a raft of extreme legislation that will alter my country for the forseeable future. It is an assault on virtually all fronts.
This week the legislation in Australian parliament
1. The Industrial Relations `reform’ bill
“Workchoices” was passed, by the government gagging the opposition and guillotining the debate. I have previously written about the changes here.
But at 1,300 pages, the legislation is worse than anyone had even conceived. The government spent $55 million dollars on a propaganda campaign to sell this legislation, and it still remains massively unpopular – and no wonder. According to experts, this legislation goes far further than even Reagan’s destruction of workers rights and the American industrial relations system. See, you’re not exceptional.
The bill will now be debated in the Senate, and the Senate inquiry fot this bill was given just TWO DAYS to collect submissions on what is one of the longest and most complex bills in Australian history. This is beyond horrific. There will be a national day of action and protest on November 15. If there is any way for you to urge others to participate, or participate yourself, please do. This is life or death for the millions of part-time, casual, minimum-wage Australian workers, especially women and youth.
2. The “Anti-terror” bill.
These laws are so far-reaching in their powers, they may well be unconstitutional. I never thought we would see such a profound attack on human rights in this country. Highlights of the laws are –
~~Unprecedented executive powers in the hands of police
~~ Preventative detention – you can be detained for up to 14 or even 28 days without charge, and during that time, you can only talk to a lawyer who is cleared by ASIO and the conversations can be monitored; you can only call a single family member to tell them you are ok, and you are not allowed to tell them where you are or what has happened. This family member can be jailed for up to 5 years if they tell anyone else – including for example, your father (if you told your mother)
~~`control orders’, which allow for you to be electronically tagged and/or placed under house arrest, and your methods of communication such as telephone or internet can be blocked. These orders last up to a year but can be indefinitely renewed. The process for obtaining a control order has no protections similar to a criminal trial, and may well breach the Australian constitution
~~ Shoot-to-kill orders: in certain circumstances, police trying to take someone in for preventative detention (ie suspicion of suspicion of a crime) can shoot to kill
~~New Sedition laws – these directly threaten free speech in Australia; organisations or individuals who advocate a position contrary to the government position or that can be in any way interpreted as support for, for example, the Iraqi forces currently fighting the “Coalition of the Willing” can be jailed under these new laws for 7 years. Similarly, organisations that advocate change to Australian laws via civil disobedience can be declared unlawful associations, and members jailed for up to 10 years.
~~Police powers to randomly search or demand access to private information are increased markedly, far beyond normal bounds.
Perhaps the most disturbing elements of this despicable legislation is the overt targeting of, you guessed it, Muslims.
3. “Welfare to Work” legislation.
In a nuthsell, this bill targets two of the most vulnerable groups in Australian society, people with disabilities, and single mothers. Basically, this government “believes” that the best way to get people with a disability and single mothers off welfare is to cut their welfare payments, introduce a harsh means test for their assets as a way of further reducing their payment, and forces people in already precarious situations to look for work and take unsuitable work to get them off welfare.
Among the highlights are that disabled people no longer qualify for any, or qualify for significantly lowered welfare if they are capable of working just 15 hours a week; and single mothers have a deadline of 8 years after the birth of their child to get back in the workforce or lose all benefits. Under pressure, the government has acceded to changes that mean that single mothers will no longer have to take a job if they can’t find suitable childcare, or if they can ‘prove’ there is no suitable work available where they live.
When you combine the impact of this bill with the Industrial Relations changes, the implications for the most vulnerable in Australian society are horrifying.
The ongoing destruction of the Australian democratic process
Underlying all of these rushed, major pieces of legislation is the Howard government’s abuse of the parliamentary system. The government-appointed (by majority) Speaker of the House of Representatives has displayed such breathtaking bias in recent parliamentary debates it has been sickening. Opposition members are silenced of ejected from the Chamber. Government members are allowed to evade questions, name-call and jeer, and are not censured. Debate is repeatedly cut short or obstructed. Obscure parliamentary code of conduct laws are deliberately misapplied to stifle debate and lead media and public attention away from the original questioning of the government. It is a burning shame.
Perhaps even more crucially, the House of Review, the Senate has been gagged, gutted and spat upon. Senate committee inquiries into some of the most radical legislative changes in Australian history has been deliberately cut short, sometimes to as little as a day. In one instance, Senators were faced with over 4,000 pages of reading for a 24 hour inquiry. The Inquiries themselves are government controlled and watered down. Question time has been butchered to nothing. And public Senate inquiries into 6 of the most important pieces of legislation are being deliberately run simultaneously and for unbelievably short periods, to deliberately ham-string the ability of citizens and organisations to prepare submissions.
At the same time as these major pieces of legislation are being rammed through, the government has indicated that it will raise the limit for declaring donations to political parties to $10,000 (because of the federated nature of political parties, this means you would be able to give $990,000 to a political party without declaring it).
It is also pushing for voluntary voting, and to change the laws around Senate voting to significantly weaken the democratic process.
Still to come are “cross-media ownership” law reforms aimed at making it possible for major corporations to gain complete control of Australia’s press, already ranked a mere 44 in the world for press freedom.
Just passed was the law to sell the remaining majority in last major public utility, Telstra the telcommunications company, guaranteeing the loss of a major public asset and a rapid decline in already below-par communication services in regional Australia – only 10% of Australia geographicaly has access to Broadband.
I grieve for my country.
[update] – this week I’ve been so angry and stressed, watching these pieces of shit I mean legislation being forced through, and all the opposition, both in parliament and public ignored or dismissed, not to mention the just absolutely crap reporting of much of it (yes you guessed it, the MSM parrots much of the government’s line). I seriously needed to ‘let it all out’ and this diary was as much about that, so thank you for your support and well-wishes. I want to go to my conference (see my last post) with a clear head.
Secondly there might be those who will wonder why I (and others) would bother with a minor party like the Greens, rather than tuck in to trying to ‘fix’ the main left party, Labor. well, lots of reasons, and I’ll cover them next diary – I think it’s something that Americans need to think about, because your current system so impedes the growth of third or more parties. Perhaps seeing how it is happening and why it is so important – and feasible – in Australia will shed some new light.
thanks again.