What sort of nation do you want to live in? One that realises that you have to invest today to generate revenue in the future?

Or do you want an alternative where services are cut to the bone, or even abandoned totally, in pursuit of a short term profit (surplus)? Do you want the same sort of austerity imposed on this country that has failed in other nations?

The choices we face this year have never been more stark.

Vote wisely. Vote for the future. Your future. My Future. Our future.

Watch Raising Adam Lanza on PBS. See more from FRONTLINE.

Watch Raising Adam Lanza on PBS. See more from FRONTLINE.

Watch Raising Adam Lanza on PBS. See more from FRONTLINE.

Watch Raising Adam Lanza on PBS. See more from FRONTLINE.

Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations, Eric Abetz in his office.

Sally McManus of the ASU has done an analysis of the proposed changes, and is less than happy with them. You can read her analysis here: What Tony Abbott Proposes To Take Away

One of the most salient points is:

Weaken the Award safety-net (loosen the “better off overall test” so agreements can go below even the Award minimum).

Wages apparently, cannot go low enough for the Tories. Cheap labour is their holy grail.

Cheap-labor conservatives don’t like social spending or our “safety net”. Why. Because when you’re unemployed and desperate, corporations can pay you whatever they feel like – which is inevitably next to nothing. You see, they want you “over a barrel” and in a position to “work cheap or starve”.

Cheap-labor conservatives don’t like the minimum wage, or other improvements in wages and working conditions. Why. These reforms undo all of their efforts to keep you “over a barrel”.

Cheap-labor conservatives don’t like unions. Why. Because when labor “sticks together”, wages go up. That’s why workers unionize. Seems workers don’t like being “over a barrel”.

Cheap-labor conservatives constantly bray about “morality”, “virtue”, “respect for authority”, “hard work” and other “values”. Why. So they can blame your being “over a barrel” on your own “immorality”, lack of “values” and “poor choices”. (source: Defeat the Right in Three Minutes)

Have no doubts about it, when any of the Noalition or their cheer-squads of “business advocates” talks about “flexibility”, what they mean is that workers should be more flexible and bend over backwards to enable bosses to shaft them more rigourously.

According to all on the Right, Australia is suffering from a productivity downturn, which is of course, complete crap. Bernard Keane of Crikey pointed out in his Searching For Truth On Productivity article, the only time that productivity has declined since the Fraser/Howard administration was booted out of office, was during the period that the Workchoices legislation was in force. It rose during the Hawke/Keating era, and resumed its rise with the Rudd/Swan and Gillard/Swan administrations. A Tory government causes a slump in productivity, and Labor governments cause it to increase. That, sadly for the Tories, is an inescapable FACT.

These new IR laws the LNP plan to introduce are Workchoices by stealth, designed to do nothing except smash the unions, and put all the power in an employer/employee relationship fully in the hands of employers, just as Workchoices did.

Of course when productivity slumps as it did under Workchoices, the Tories will blame unions, workers, all manner of causes other than accept the fact that treating workers like shit is bad for morale and productivity. Treat workers with respect and pay them a decent wage, and they will repay that respect and remain loyal to their employers. Why is it so hard for Tories to get their head around the bleeding obvious (rhetorical question).

To those on the Right though, workers are nothing more than a Human Resource that can be used, misused and abused until you no longer serve their purpose, at which time they can, and will be discarded.

Don’t make the same mistake that was made in 2004 by giving the Tories a majority in the House and Senate. If that happens, you can bet London to a brick that a more extreme form of Industrial Relations than Workchoices will be forced upon Australian workers.

Earth To Black Sabbath

Back in 1968, four young men from the industrial wasteland that was the city of Birmingham, England, got together and formed a band. Originally called Polka Tulk, they started playing blues based rock as a way to avoid becoming droids working their lives away in factories. Eventually they changed their name to Earth and rehearsed their sets during the day in a cinema, which by night showed horror films.

One day whilst leaving the cinema, they noticed the large crowds gathering outside to watch the film that was showing at the time. They realised that there was a large, and as yet untapped (from a musical perspective) market for scary entertainment. This inspired them to compose a “scary” song, which they named after the film that was showing at the time, a 1963 movie starring Boris Karloff called Black Sabbath.

The first time they played it to an audience the reaction from the (probably stoned) audience showed them they were onto something. Shortly thereafter they discovered there was already a band called Earth who had released a record, so they changed their name again and settled on the name of the song that was gaining them a following around the UK club circuit.

Black Sabbath was born, and unknown to them, would have a huge impact on the music world that lasts to this day.

How Black Was My Sabbath

Back in the 1970′s as a teenager, I was attracted to the hard rock stylings of bands like Sweet, Slade and Kiss, but eventually they faded into irrelevance as the punk movement took the music industry by storm. I dabbled in Punk for a while, but was largely disappointed by the fact that most of them just couldn’t actually play, and seemed more concerned with the fashion (or anti-fashion if you like).

Around this time I used to listen to a radio station in Perth called 6KY. At the time it was the only station in Perth playing what is now known as Classic Rock. Each night I used to tape songs they played and managed to amass quite a collection of the best the 60′s and 70′s had to offer.

One night, unannounced they started playing a song which I instantly recognised as being by Black Sabbath. I was mostly unfamiliar with any of their music and considered it, at the time, to be too heavy for my tastes. The fact that I immediately knew the artist without knowing the song is a testament to the unique sound and style of the band.

The song they played was this one:

Having taped the song, I then listened to it over and over again, and became hooked. On a number of occasions I used to wag school and go into 78 Records, when it was located next door to His Majesty’s Theatre in Perth, and listen to the Paranoid album. When I first started working the very first thing I bought with my first pay packet was this album, and subsequently the rest of their catalogue as well. I was now officially a “headbanger”. Most of you will remember that line from The Blues Brothers movie, “Around here we like both kinds of music, Country and Western”. I also liked both kinds of music, Heavy and Metal . I remained like this until about 1983 when Heavy Metal was taken over by “Hair-Metal” bands such as Motley Crue and their ilk. At this point I moved on to the form of music I still prefer to this day, Progressive Rock. Despite this, I maintained a soft spot for The Sabs. I was therefore excited when I found out that the original line-up was touring Australia this year, and having nothing better to do, as well as the wherewithal, I decided to go on tour with them.

No Sleep ‘Til Perth

Since the playlist was exactly the same in each city, I won’t bore you with a review of each show. The one in Perth was actually the best anyway. Also nothing of any note happened on my travels, apart with catching up with a former colleague in Brisbane, and missing an old mate on the way to Sydney (looking at you Jeffo), the actual traveling bit was as dreary as you might imagine. Airports, bus depots, train stations and the like. This Rock N Roll business ain’t as glamourous as its made out to be.

Anyway, on to the show at Perth Arena on May 4th.

Even a brief glimpse of the crowd confirmed that this was a truly all-ages audience. From people who were far older than even me, through to those who looked like they were still in high school. This was testament to a band that have withstood the test of time, despite having been written off by critics throughout their career.

On with the show. Opening with a blast of air raid sirens, the band launched into the classic anti-war anthem War Pigs. The crowd rose as one to welcome them and were singing along to every word, including the “Oh, Lord yeah” wail. From there the momentum continued with Into The Void from Master Of Reality, then Under The Sun and Snowblind from the Volume 4 album.

Then it was time for the song that started it all off, the mighty Black Sabbath itself.  Once again, the crowd were singing along with Ozzy, despite a lot of them not even being a twinkle in their parents eyes at the time the song was released.

When that was over I noticed in the mosh-pit that quite a few joints were being lit and passed around the crowd in there.  It would’ve been serendipitous if the band had launched into their paean to pot, Sweet Leaf. It wasn’t to be however. Instead we got Behind The Wall Of Sleep from their first album, followed by the acid trip that is Fairies Wear Boots from Paranoid, and then into an instrumental version of Symptom Of the Universe from Sabotage which led into what is usually the bane of any live show, the drum solo.

Despite the original announcement of the original line up doing the tour, for reasons which remain murky, drummer Bill Ward decided to withdraw from the tour and the new album due out in June. The drum stool was instead filled by Tommy Clufetos who also plays in Ozzy’s touring band. Whereas it would’ve been great to see Bill behind the kit (in my opinion he is the most under-rated drummer of all time, and was just as much a part of the Sabbath sound as Iommi’s guitar sound and Ozzy’s banshee like wailings), Clufetus did a great impersonation of him. If you shut your eyes you’d be hard pressed to tell that it wasn’t actually Ward himself playing. Anyway, his solo spot was actually quite good, mainly due to the sheer physicality with which he attacked his kit, and was well received by the crowd.

After that, the familiar doom-laden riff of Iron Man once again brought the crowd to its feet and began singing along with Ozzy. After that it was on to new song God Is Dead?

Probably due to being unfamiliar with the song, for the first time in the show, the crowd were somewhat subdued. Nevertheless, in the future this will become one of the highlights of a Sabbath show and bodes well for the upcoming “13″ album.

After that they played Dirty Women from Technical Ecstacy during which some of the women in the audience took it upon themselves to flash their breasts at anyone who cared to look, and because the act was caught on camera and shown on the screen behind the band, that meant everyone. Earlier in the set (can’t remember which song), one enterprising gal threw her bra at Ozzy who proceeded to wear the garment as a badge of honour, or perhaps dishonour . I can only assume that she was also one of the gals who exposed themselves during Dirty Women.

Anyway, back to the music. After that the show was wrapped up by a rip-roaring version of the classic Children Of The Grave from Master Of Reality.

The crowd then demanded their return, and the band obliged with the introduction to Sabbath Bloody Sabbath which segued into the legendary Paranoid, a song which has been in the UK Top 20 singles twice (#4 in 1970 and #14 in 1980). This is their signature song, and its appeal goes way beyond the Heavy Metal genre, It is highly rated by punks and goths, general rock fans, as well as headbangers. All of these sub-cultures were in attendance at the concerts as well.

Before the tour began, I had a certain amount of trepidation about how the shows would go. Would Ozzy, since falling off the wagon, be a gibbering mess? Would the absence of Bill Ward be noticeable? Are they simply too old to cut it on stage anymore?

Having attended the shows, I can state with complete confidence, the answer to these questions is a resounding NO!

Ozzy has never been in better voice, and can still get the crowd to “go fucking crazy”. As already mentioned, Ward’s absence wasn’t even noticed, and Iommi and Butler can still cut it. Age has not wearied them (yet).

Can’t wait for the new album to become available.

On March 21 the Puff Adder, as she is unaffectionately known by some (I’m looking at you BK ), issued a press statement on her website claiming that the “Carbon Tax” had had an adverse effect on the bottom line of brick manufacturer Brickworks (ASX: BKW).

It claimed:

Local manufacturer Brickworks has today released their half year report, revealing a staggering increase of $4.7 million in energy costs, including from the carbon tax.

According to the report provided by Brickworks to the ASX today:

… the first half result incorporates an increase of $4.7 million in energy costs, including the carbon tax.

Looking at the actual release made by Brickworks (download it here), they did indeed incur an increase of $4.7 million in energy costs, which are attributable, amongst other things, to the Carbon Pricing (not tax) arrangements.

However, as with everything else that flows from the pen or the corpulent cakehole of the vile Mirabella, one should always check the figures for yourself.

As you can see, from the release by Brickworks, the company increased it’s bottom line profit by 13%!

In other words, the company managed to deliver a higher profit to its shareholders despite what it describes as “a tough building products market and reduced investment earnings“!

The repulsive Mirabella however claims that the company is going to the wall due to Carbon Pricing.

If I was a shareholder in Brickworks (which I’m not), I’d be more than happy that the company managed to increase its profits by 13% in the given circumstances. I would not be happy though with the misinformation Mirabella is publishing about the company.

Mirabella reacts to being caught out telling porkies by The Derp

UPDATE:

Zuvele Leschen, a resident of Indi has provided some more information about Mirabella’s relationship with truthiness on Poll Bludger:

Dan

Years ago, Ms Mirabella sent me a three page letter about why going to war in Iraq was a Good Idea.

I was curious about some of the statements she made and tried to track them back to their sources. In some cases, she used quotes which were decades old; others were clearly out of context; and some had been discredited long ago (and anyone who had done the ‘research’ she had apparently done for that letter would have known that).

If you look at a Mirabella press release, she is very fond of quoting people without giving any references for the quote (she rarely says, for example, “in today’s Age’).

Often I’ll put one of these quotes into google. No hits whatsoever. Of course, that doesn’t mean the person quoted didn’t say what Mirabella says they did; but there’s absolutely no way of checking.

Then the other classic, as you’ve pointed out – telling only part of the story, or distorting it altogether.

So, for example, she’ll often blame ‘the carbon tax’ for the closure of a company but when you go to the company’s statement to the ASX (which I understand is meant to be 100% factual) there’s no mention of it whatsoever.

The only reason I don’t get majorly concerned about her totally blatant misleading media releases is that the media apparently knows all this, and rarely (if ever) run with them.

Margie and the kids didn’t work. The Peta Credlin gambit didn’t work. In what must be the final attempt to remove Abbott’s negative image, this weekend he kicked off his “Good Vibrations Tour” to try and woo the punters.

No sooner had he kicked off his tour though, revelations about South Australian Senator Cory Bernardi’s associations have derailed it, and look like turning it into The Tour De Farce.

Now, as much as I hate John Howard and everything he stood for, even I have to give him a gold star for what he did to control guns in this country.

Apparently though Bernardi does not support what Howard did.

It has been revealed that Bernardi is a member of a ultra-right group in America called the American Legislative Council (ALEC). This group was involved in the legal challenge to the plain packaging laws which were introduced last year. Not surprisingly, they have strong ties to the tobacco industry.

More alarmingly though, this organisation is also working with the National Rifle Association (NRA) to undermine President Obama’s attempts to control guns in America.

According to Jessica Wright, an LNP insider expressed “gross disappointment” in Bernardi:

Australia’s gun law reforms are arguably John Howard’s greatest legacy to this country and it is disgusting that a member of the Liberal Party would associate themselves with a lobby organisation that supports far right politics and is a financial partner to the NRA,’ (source).

Bernardi, it will be remembered, lost his job as Tony Abbott’s parliamentary secretary after making these remarks:

Bernardi was also instrumental in setting up the Menzies House website that promotes, amongst other things, making children work instead of going to school.

The obvious question here is why Abbott continues to defend Bernardi’s deeds when they are so far out of touch with what the overwhelming majority of Australians believe in? Surprisingly enough, the MSM have tried to ask Abbott about Bernardi, but not at all surprisingly, Abbott has run away from these questions.

Mike Secombe has shed some light on why Abbott remains faithful to Bernardi in a recent article at The Global Mail, If You Like Sarah Palin, You’ll Absolutely Love Cory Bernardi. Secombe discloses that Bernardi was a driving force in Abbott’s ascension to the leadership of the LNP over Malcolm Turnbull.

Whereas loyalty can be an admirable trait, it seems anyone who helped, or continues to help Abbott in the pursuit of power he believes is his birth right, will be “looked after”, no matter how extreme their beliefs are.

Being associated with wingnuts like Bernardi will ruin this desperate effort of Abbott’s to shake off his image. Australians have always rejected extremists at the ballot box, and will continue to do so at this year’s election.

At a Citizenship ceremony in Adelaide Abbott had the following to say:

It is a proud people that you are joining. We had inauspicious beginnings. The first lot of Australians were chosen by the finest judges in England, not always for good reasons, and from that rather inauspicious beginning we have become a rich, a free and a fair society which has contributed so much to the wider world in good times and in not so good times.

Say, what?!?!?!?!

The “first Australians” were sent here by English judges?!?!?!

The “first Australians” actually arrived here of their own free will, or at least by accident, millenia before there even was an England.

To rub salt into the wounds that he inflicted he goes on to say:

But above all else we have demonstrated to the wider world that it is possible to bring unity from diversity. It is possible to have harmony in a very diverse multicultural society. Long may that be the case.

Unless of course, you’re Aboriginal, in which case you don’t matter at all apparently.

The last time it was covered was when Margie Abbott was given blanket coverage in News Limited‘s fish-wrappers to try and convince women voters that her husband, the lying, hypocritical, cowardly Tony Abbott isn’t a misogynistic relic from the distant past (See Margie Abbott And The Streisand Effect).

The women (and men) of Australia were not fooled by the shallow attempt to raise his appeal amongst women voters however, and so all that pathetic effort did was draw attention to his obvious shortcomings.

Albert Einstein said that (words to the effect), “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting it to turn out differently”.

Obviously Abbott’s Chief Of Staff, Peta Credlin, is not aware of Mr Einstein’s quote. Once again Murdoch’s tabloids (the propaganda arm of the LNP) have across the board coverage of an “interview” with Credlin. I put the word interview in inverted commas as it is bloody obvious to even News Limited readers that this puff-piece was written by Credlin herself.

The “article” begins:

As his female chief of staff, she occasionally gets pulled aside at functions, and her inquisitors all want to know the same thing.

“What’s he like to work for as a woman? Isn’t he tough on women’s issues?”

“Isn’t he anti-abortion?”

“Isn’t he weird on contraception? What would he really do if he was the prime minister?”

But she knows all the questions already, since, not so long ago, Credlin asked them herself.

And then last year, she ended up learning more than she ever expected to about what Tony Abbott really thinks about all of these difficult, complex issues when she endured the personal heartbreak of multiple rounds of IVF treatment and no baby.

That’s when Abbott surprised even her – by offering to keep her secrets and help store her fertility drugs in his office bar fridge.

Credlin, 41, a Catholic, is also pro-choice on abortion. She’s married to Liberal Party director Brian Loughnane, who will run Abbott’s campaign for The Lodge – a true power couple in Canberra.

Intensely private, she has never given an on-the-record interview – until recently.

So we are led to believe that an “intensively private individual” has suddenly decided to spill her guts and tell us all about something intensively private.

It continues (after a lot of waffle):

“I think it is important that people, especially women, hear the truth about Tony Abbott, and not just the myths,” she says.

As the next federal election looms, Team Abbott has wheeled out a succession of women to endorse his female-friendly credentials to assure the voting public he’s not the anti-woman ogre they were led to believe.

The most powerful intervention was naturally his wife Margie Abbott and his daughters. Then there’s his sister Christine Foster, who has spoken of her brother’s supportive embrace when she came out as a lesbian.

It neglects to mention that all of these attempts have been abject failures.

Credlin’s decision to speak out publicly as his chief of staff is highly unusual.

Bit of an understatement there.

Credlin agreed to a brief question-and-answer session with the glossy Marie Claire magazine late last year. But her candid response, when asked about her toughest day at work, shocked even the press secretary from Abbott’s office sent along to chaperone the interaction.

The magazine will publish the piece on Wednesday.

There’s a warning to the women of Australia – avoid the next issue of Marie Claire like the plague.

The press release, er sorry, article, goes on to tug at our heart strings by telling us about Credlin’s attempts at having a child by the IVF method:

As she talks about the experience of doing IVF over and over again and not getting close to even the possibility of a pregnancy, the word “failure” crops up and Credlin begins to cry.

As Abbott’s Chief Of Staff, Credlin is probably more responsible for the bloody-minded viciousness of the LNP’s attacks on the Prime Minister and Labor in general. Now we’re expected to believe that she’s really a softy. Pass the tissues someone as my eyes are misting up. While you’re at it, pass a sick bag as I think I’m going to barf my breakfast all over my computer monitor.

At one point she says Abbott even cried with her one day as she “wallowed” in a pretty awful IVF experience, which would be almost impossible to believe apart from the fact that it’s hard not to feel moved by how honest Credlin is about it all.

Take note of the words used in the last part of the last paragraph. Credlin, or whoever actually authored this piece of spin, acknowledges that readers are finding this whole story “impossible to believe”, but then goes on to remove our doubts by letting us know how honest she is.

Now, I know that female readers of this blog may feel that I’m being a bit cruel towards Credlin. I have no doubt trying, and not succeeding to become pregnant by IVF can be a fairly traumatising experience, however I refer you to the closing paragraphs of the article, which make me believe the whole piece smells of aquatic lifeforms.

Credlin would still dearly love to be a mother, but doesn’t think she will try IVF again in an election year.

“It’s more the fact we are in the fight of our lives and you have to be committed. And it takes over your life,” she says.

“And that’s just the nature of it an election year.

“It consumes your life and your partner understands that, and your family understands that. I don’t want to have my attention divided. So I probably wouldn’t.

“I’ve got one job this year and that’s to change the government.

So obviously she has higher priorities than raising a family. Changing government seems to be far more important to her. If that does happen however, she’s going to be busier than ever as she will then be the C.O.S. to Prime Minister Abbott (the three most frightening words Australian’s will ever read). She’s not going to get a chance to try again to raise a family for another dozen years or so, if you believe the LNP claims that Labor will be electorally wiped out for a generation later this year, which I don’t.

So Australian voters, do your part and help Peta fulfill her ambition of becoming a mother by making sure her boss gets utterly wiped out at this year’s election.

She’ll thank you all for it.

The article entitled “Child Labour Laws May Prove Punitive For Some” written by someone who is described as “a member of the Young Liberal Movement studying law at Macquarie University”, states that repealing the child labour laws would benefit children from poorer socio-economic backgrounds.

In the fourth paragraph the author states:

If a poor child were able to work from the age of 8 to 16 years old, they would accumulate enough money to take a family out of poverty. But not only does working solve the financial problems of poor children, it engenders a work ethic that has the potential to transform them into productive members of the workforce who contribute to society as opposed to the social outcasts they would have been had they remained at school.

Let’s examine that further. Being a Tory, he undoubtedly would want these waifs to be paid minimum wage. The minimum wage for someone aged between 8 and 16 years of age is $5.87 an hour. Over a 38 hour week this equates to $223.06 a week or $11,599.12 per year. Thanks to the ALP government raising the tax free threshold to $18,200 p.a., this amount would be tax free. However if a  Coalition government is installed as per Menzies House’s wish, the tax free threshold would drop back down to $6,000 p.a. which means the child would have to have P.A.Y.G. (pay as you go) installments deducted from their wage of 15c in every dollar over $6.000¹. This equates to an amount of $16.15 being deducted from their pay. Thus they would take home $206.91 a week, or $10,759.27 a year. How this paltry amount is supposed to lift anyone from poverty is not explained. Even with the increased tax free threshold, no-one is going to live high off the hog on less than twelve grand a year.

Lets’ go back to the beginning of the article though, which actually starts out like it is in support of the Gonski reforms.

It is an unfortunate reality that our bureaucratic education system is trapping the poorest Australians into a cycle of dependency. Children born into poverty are maliciously trapped into a spider web of economic hardship and social unrest which they cannot escape because of a bureaucratic school system which fails to give them the only chance they possibly have of creating a better life for themselves.

As they have no prospects for work in an increasingly white-collar workforce, these young Australians are forced onto the welfare rolls from which they never leave, establishing a cycle of dependency that is both economically and morally irresponsible. For far too long we have neglected these Australians by saying that their futures are nothing better than a food stamp voucher. But as an egalitarian society fiercely loyal to the ideals of economic opportunity for all, all of us know that we can and must do better for these folks. They have futures, even though they don’t believe it.

In a country with a high level of economic mobility, even the poorest among us can strive for brilliant things, but unfortunately that can’t happen if one is trapped in failing schools that only entrench poverty. Whilst the need for a world-class education is paramount,…

All well and good so far, however the concluding section of the third paragraph heads off in another direction entirely:

… one should also understand that education is not for everyone. For children who are trapped in schools that entrench poverty and add no educational value, they would clearly be better served by working from a young age and earning money that might help them reach a better tomorrow.

Ah, now we’re getting to the crux of the article. We’ve already covered the first bit of the fourth paragraph, so let’s have a look at how that one finishes up.

What’s more, the nurturing of the work ethic among the young poor can help nurture the leadership qualities in them necessary to be the entrepreneurs of the future which is so vital in today’s innovation economy.

Hmmm. Tell us more:

Jim Clifton at Gallup has pointed out that the key character trait among successful entrepreneurs is not imagination or intelligence but determination to succeed. He estimates that in any given community about 10% of the people have the drive and determination to be successful. The tragedy is that whilst there are incredibly creative people who work in an entrepreneurial way in poor communities they mainly work outside the law. They make money at drugs, gambling, prostitution or a variety of other profitable but illegal functions. They represent talent we need in legal society in the workplace. By exposing poor kids to real life experiences of hard work is a positive attribution; we can build an army of young entrepreneurs that will help us compete in the global knowledge economy.

Here we have all the Tory characterisations of the poor in a nutshell. “They make money from drugs, prostitution and a variety of illegal activities” apparently. If only they’d devote that energy to working in one of the Tory’s sweatshops instead they could go on to be the next Bill Gates. What utter bollocks.

It continues:

Whilst work is clearly the answer to the poverty issue, the biggest obstacle remains the legal framework concerning child labor. The current Child Labor Laws are simply an out of date concept that, whilst having some contextual relevance in the past, does not do much good other than to trap the poor into a cycle of poverty. For that reason there is a strong case for abolishing the child labor laws and letting kids work to set themselves free.

Working for poverty levels of income apparently enables kiddies to break free of the poverty cycle, exactly the same way it has done for thousands of them in third world countries. Once again, utter bollocks. Also note the passage in bold lettering. We’ll return to that later.

In considering the case against Child Labor Laws, it should be noted that Child Labor Laws were created at a time when labor-intensive industries dominated the economy where the lack of worker protections in those days made child exploitation a serious problem. However in today’s changing world defined by a capital intensive where cheap labor is often outsourced to the third world, there is not the demand for child labor that there used to be in a labor intensive economy. Whilst the problem of child labor has gone away, the child labor laws still exist in full force as if it were still 1900. Any good that came from the child labor laws has long been exhausted, so ending the child labor laws is not only the economically rational thing to do, it is also the moral thing to do.

“It is also the moral thing to do”. F.F.S., has this clown never read Oliver Twist?

But helping poor kids to work means much more than simply ending child labor. We need to create a whole new cultural attitude towards the today’s’ youth that engenders a work ethic that make all of what I have described above possible. This can only happen through a series of policy mechanisms that make moving poor kids out of failing kids into the workforce economically rational².

One idea is to declare poor community areas opportunity/free trade zones that would waive all taxes and regulations on any businesses that decided to move into these communities. By making poor communities the centre of new commerce and business we can send the message to the economically and socially disadvantaged that Australia has not given up on you which is crucial to changing the inferiority complex of much of those in poverty. A rather interesting proposal that has recently been in discussion in this regard is the idea of providing a government subsidy for employers that employ poor children to ease any financial pressure on businesses doing the right thing.

The first half of the last paragraph seems to be advocating the conversion of poor suburbs into sweatshop zones. Great idea that one, mate.

The second half claims that “a government subsidy for employers that employ poor children to ease any financial pressure on businesses doing the right thing”. Doing the right thing?!?!?! This implies that business won’t do the “right thing” unless they get a government handout. Is he saying businesses are welfare queens? Or that doing the right thing imposes “unnecessary” pressures on businesses.

Who knows. As I’ve stated before, this was written by someone who wouldn’t have done better than “more effort required” in my English class at school.

Anyway, this idiot concludes with:

Whilst these ideas may sound radical at first, the only radical notion on offer is the idea that we continue to let our poor spiral into a cycle of never ending poverty. It is a moral and economic catastrophe that needs to stop now. Its time for a serious discussion on poverty and that should start with the child labor laws.

No, bonehead, a discussion on poverty has to start and end with the growing inequality of the different socio-economic groups, and how we can best implement the recommendations of the Gronski Report to provide all Australian kids with a better education, and not just the well off.

Now, back to the “work to set themselves free” comment. Interestingly, the actual URL if the article is http://www.menzieshouse.com.au/2012/11/-repealing-the-child-labor-laws-work-will-set-you-free.html .

Hmmm. Work will set you free. Where have we heard that before? Isn’t that the English translation for the German phrase “Arbecht Macht Frei”? It is indeed, and that exact phrase was located above this gateway:

Arbeit Macht Frei, or Work Will Set You Free over the the gates at Auschwitz.

How could anyone could be so stupid as to use this phrase, and especially in an article advocating the abolition of child labour laws is well and truly beyond me, however it does give an interesting insight into the mindset of both the Young Liberals³ and Menzies House.

I and many others have added a comment onto this article, and I encourage you all to do likewise and let these bozos know how seriously out of touch with reality they are. Add your comment here: Child Labour laws may prove punitive for some.

1 Based on the tax rates applicable during the 2011-2012 financial year. The Medicare levy of 1.5% is not included in the calculations. If it was that would reduce the take home pay (under the proposed Coalition rates) to $203.56 a weeks, or $10,585.33. Source: Australian Tax Office.
2 What an incredibly bad piece of writing that is. I don’t know how this buffoon has managed to get out of high school, let alone into university with English skills like that.
3 Remember it was at an event held for the Young Liberals that Alan “The Parrot” Jones made his infamous “died of shame” comment.

The embattled Abbott’s popularity has been tanking for a long time now causing him to try ever more desperate stunts to try and revive his flagging fortunes.

His carbon tax scare campaign has utterly failed.

His constant attacks on the Prime Minister have made him appear to the voters as a misogynistic, sexist bully.

He’s even dragged his wife and kids out to spruik for him, which again, has been an utter failure.

The only thing keeping him in his job has been the sycophantic musings of his fans in the Fourth Estate.

However, the worm has finally turned, and now even the Fourth Estate can see the writing on the wall.

This morning on the low-brow, tabloid TV show, Weekend Sunrise there was a fairly in depth discussion about who could replace the embattled Tony Abbott as alternative Prime Minister. On the panel were Crikey‘s Bernard Keane along with Derp reader Samantha Maiden.

ABBOTT IS GONE!!!

LIBSPILL IS ON!!!

On Friday November 16 he tweeted this:

Pleased to see research on the positive impacts of Gardasil being on the PBS; a decision I made as health minister This tweet pretty much sums up the incident: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/life-saving-vaccine-is-blitzing-cervical-cancer-virus/story-e6frf7kx-1226517718064

This is a blatant lie. The truth is he had to be overruled by his boss (then Prime Minister John Howard) to include Gardasil on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) (source: Howard overrules Abbott on cancer drug).

Prior to that Abbott had bizarrely claimed that using Gardasil may actually result in an increase in cancer rates.

Corinne Grant was all over this:

Indeed Corinne, indeed.

So just why would Abbott make such a blatantly untrue comment on social media?

Did he think it would boost his woman-friendly credentials?

Did he think no-one would bother to fact-check his claim?

Greg Jericho sums it up: