Red Leather #86

Submitted by Cathy Brown on Thu, 09/06/2011 - 5:21pm

After a marathon sitting of Parliament last week, the O'Farrell Government added to their 100 plan by:

Removing the rights of public sector workers to collectively bargain and set them up for wage cuts and loss of conditions
Backflipping on the solar bonus scheme, a welcome development that came only after pressure from the community, Opposition and cross bench in the Upper House
Looking at models of financing for the North West Rail Link possibly based on the Airport Line which could cost commuters in the NW up to $11.80 extra per trip
Continuing to oppose equal pay for community workers
Weakening the rights of workers under Occupational Health and Safety laws.
Imposed a ban on the release of all public service briefs prepared for the incoming government
Combining with the Shooters Party and Christian Democrats to take control of the Estimates Committees in parliament, in effect handing control to the Government
Gagging debate in the Legislative Council for the first time in since 1906 over the Industrial Relations Legislation.

GLORIAs Thanks to all who nominated, voted or came along to the 2011 GLORIAs!

The Golden GLORIA was won this year by Jim Wallace from the Australian Christian Lobby for his ANZAC Day tweets and his view that expelling a student from a school for being gay was a loving response. The full list of the winners can be found here.

500 people gathered to celebrate the life of Bob Gould after he died after a fall in his beloved bookshop. I made a speech in the Parliament to mark the sad passing of Bob and his legacy as seen from his friends, political comrades, political foes and of course his family.

Website of the Week: This week Sydney has played host to the Amplify Festival. Subtitled Everything Connects - there have been many talks about how business, innovation and people are connecting. Well worth a look if you are interested in how facebook and twitter are changing the way people share and interact with information and with each other.

Video of the week: This video was made by the local community of Grand Rapids when it was reported that their town was dying. This is the community response. It has been watched by almost 3million people.

Regards

Penny

PS - John Robertson spoke to Central Policy Branch of the Labor Party last week. Here is a copy of his speech. Also you may be interested in Luke Foley's response during the recent IR debate.

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What's happening in Parliament?

Inaugural speeches were made by:

Anna Watson - Member for Shell Harbour

Tanya Mihailuk - Member for Bankstown

And in the Upper House:

Adam Searle (NB scroll down to page 53 Governor's Address in Reply)

Walt Secord (NB need to go to the Governor's address in reply)

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Penny in Parliament

I have made adjournment speeches in the Parliament about the International Day Against Homophobia, and the passing of Bob Gould.

I lead for the Opposition in the:

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Take Action

Say No to NSW WorkChoices

Join the rally outside Parliament House, Wednesday June 15th at 12:15pm.

Check out this video from John Robertson to learn more.

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What is the greatest challenging in your working life?

Speak up in the Working Australia Census.

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Sign the AFTINET Trans Pacific Free Trade Agreement petition

The Trans Pacific Partnership free trade agreement is currently being negotiated by the US, Australia New Zealand, Chile, Peru, Brunei, Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam.

The petition asks the House of Representatives not to support any agreement which would undermine the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme and charge higher prices for medicines, give special rights for corporations to sue governments, remove labelling of genetically modified food, undermine local jobs and fair employment conditions for government contracts, or weaken policies for Australian content in film, television and digital media. It also asks the House of Representatives to support the inclusion of enforceable labour rights and environmental protections in the agreement, and to support publication of the text of the agreement for public and parliamentary debate before it is ratified

Quote of the week

It is rare that I feature a fellow MP twice but new Liberal Member of the Legislative Council, Dr Peter Phelps, provided this contribution in relation to climate change scientists in the past week:

We should not forget that some of the strongest supporters of totalitarian regimes in the last century have been scientists and, in return, the State lavishes praise, money and respectability on them. One writer, speaking about the rise of Nazism, said this:

Possibly we have not yet given enough attention to one feature of the intellectual development in Germany during the last hundred years which is now in an almost identical form making its appearance in the English-speaking countries: the scientists' agitating for a "scientific" organization of society. The ideal of a society organized "through and through" from the top has in Germany been considerably furthered by the quite unique influence which her scientific and technological specialists were allowed to exercise on the formation of social and political opinions ...

The influence of these scientist-politicians was of late years not often on the side of liberty: the "intolerance of reason" so frequently conspicuous in the scientific specialist, the impatience with the ways of the ordinary man so characteristic of the expert, and the contempt for anything which was not consciously organized by superior minds according to a scientific blueprint were phenomena familiar in German public life for generations ...

Hansard 30 May 2011