Industrial Relations uproar

The recent protests opposing the federal governments changes to industrial relations laws show that many Australia's are upset with the way the Government is treating its citizens in this regard. What is even more surprising is that many people who may not normally support the Labour movement are also unsettled by the lack of legislative safety nets for workers who are in a significantly exposed position when negotiating terms and conditions with their employers. This trend is highlighted by recent comments from Australian Democrats senator Andrew Murray.

"The new federal IR regime is unfair, un-Australian and unwise, and is to the detriment of Australian fair-go values."

There are some workers whose skills are in high demand that can benefit from an individually negotiated settlement, but the vast majority of salary earners cannot. The Government points to the exceptions to try to prove the rule, they also hope that they have encouraged enough workers to set up a small businesses themselves that the constituency for Trade Unions has been undermined. The Australians Democrats have a long history of supporting the rights of workers to fair IR laws, even though they are often more well known as a party that supports small business. A measure of the broad agreement that the current IR laws go beyond a test for reasonable fairness are responses from all areas of the community that the Government is undermining Australia's egalitarian values with such legislation.

Technorati Tags: Australian politics, Australian Democrats, industrial relations

A threat to academic independence

The Australian Research Council (ARC) is a major conduit for the Australian governments expenditure on research. Proposed legislation sets out to abolish the board of the ARC and place many of the powers of the board directly in the hands of the Minister. This places in jepody the independence and autonomy of the ARC, and by implication Australia's academic community. This is part of a trend of the current government to micro-manage higher education, which has so far resulted in higher student fees, attacks on student unionism, and numerous increases in arduous accountability and bureaucratic reporting. It reveals the mistrust the current administration has in intellectuals and an unhealthy wish to meddle in the details of higher education activities where the government responds with knee jerk reactions and rhetoric. The one good outcome of this governments policy has been the increased research funding in recent years, but the governments ability to manage, rather than meddle, in the application of those funds is now going well beyond the setting of popularist National Research Priorities. At least Senator Natasha Stott Despoja aims to fight this encroachment, stating:

"The ARCs reputation, already tainted by the intervention of the previous Minister, is once again being exposed to the threat of additional intervention through the provisions of this legislation... I will be moving amendments to ameliorate the most concerning aspects of this bill when it is debated in the Senate."

Technorati Tags: politics, Australian Democrats, research