Anti-terror laws fail

Howard and Ruddock must be busy consoling eachother tonight. Far from capturing them raghead A-rabs, the first person caught was Joseph Terrence Thomas. Who is about as lily-white as you can get. I guess THAT backfired!
Article here

New Tourism Australia Ad

This is Australia... (spoof on "where the bloody hell are you?" Ad).

And another goody:
National Muslim Hotline

Live - The River

Live has just released the first single from their new album Songs from Black Mountain - called The River. Its from a similar vein to Heaven from Birds of Prey. And on first (and second, and third) listening, I love it. Ok, admittedly, its a little "poppy", even for Live, but its what I look for in a good pop/rock song.

What I love about Live, is the way they weave feelgood spirituality into their music, but not overtly. There are no sectarian religious rants - just an honest and open celebration of the human spirit. I love the use of imagery - in lyrics and in their video clips, that juxtapose profound metaphors with the simplicity of everyday imagery (... I think I just did my yr12 English teacher proud!). If God gave rock and roll to you, then Live are truly his disciples.

Live is one of those bands that marries thoughful, poetic lyrics with just the right musical style. The River, much like Heaven, Run to the Water, Stood up for Love and Dolphins Cry, is an uplifting and positive song, typifying the more mature Opus of LIVE.

IR Details

The new IR reform details were released today. They have a few nasties (worse than previously thought). A couple of points:

-It will be illegal to have unfair dismissal protection written into a contract.
-It will be illegal to have Union Representatives visiting the worksite as part of an agreement.
-It will be illegal to have Union fees deducted from salary.
- Kevin Andrews will be notified of any industrial dispute and can rule on how the dispute is to be resolved.

I can live with these points, except for the first! Not only have they removed protections, but they've made it illegal to bargain to protect yourself against unfair dismissal even if you employer agrees to have that protection! Why are Executive salaries protected against early termination, such that you can run a company into the ground and still walk away with a few million? It makes much more sense to illegalise that surely?

In terms of the regulations, they appear to be very dense and tricky to understand - tough luck for the small-business owner who has to wade their way through this new legislation before employing anyone!

So our new "fairer and simpler" system fines you for trying to protect your job, and makes it much harder to implement and adjudicate industrial relations at a workplace level. Fan-bloody-tatic.

Cross-media ownerships

Helen Coonan (Media and Communication Minister) released the new Government policy on cross media ownerships. With the exception of the provision that there must be at least 5 media providers, the "medial moguls" will be able to buy up a newspaper, radio station and TV station in each state.

I don't think this is a good idea. As it is, there is a significant bias in the media. This can only get worse. Plus the cross-promotions will further degrade the quality of news and current affairs reporting (if that is at all possible).

Also, the deadline for digital TV (switch-off of Analogue) is shifted back to 2010. However, the government regulations prevent any decent material from being shown on Digital channels. But we only have 4 years of free-to-air analogue. Go figure!

Perhaps we should do what the UK has done (and has the fastest takeup of Digital TV in the world). They used the public BBC to pioneer Digital content, to the point where it was broadcasting prime-time shows on Digital BEFORE they came on Analogue. THey now have 30 channels available in free-to-air Digital. Rather than threatening us with a deadline to convert, perhaps the Government should fund the ABC properly (god forbid!) and use them to drive Digital. The media controllers at the moment have no incentive to push digital content - they are quite happy with the status quo and recieve little returns on investment in the digital spectrum. Some support for the public broadcaster could unleash the POWER OF A FULLY OPERATIONAL BATTLE-STA...errrr... the ABC.

Besides, I get tingles down my spine thinking of Kerry O'Brien in high definition!

Ozjet collapses

Rising fuel costs, fewer companies flying economy (particulary for short bris-syd-melb trips). Stiff competition between Qantas and Virgin. And they launch a business-class only service!

And they're surprised it didn't work??!?

Don't mess with the geek

This is fantastic news for the IT profession.

Remember:
Your IT Administrator can see exactly what you've been surfing on the company LAN. They can disable your accounts. Accidentally bulk-erase all backup tapes. Edit the company website. Send emails from your account....

Don't mess with your IT Department.

MASH and IBM

This is an amazing blast from the past. God bless 'em both!

Abolishment of Industrial Arbitration.

Well, its out. Finance Minister and Leader of the Government in the Senate, Nick Minchin gave a speech to the Right-Wing think-tank the H.R. Nicolls Society. Unbeknownst to him, one of the audience members from the "Workplace Express" website, was taping his speech. It was leaked to the ABC's AM Program this morning (God bless 'em).

Essentially, he profusely apologised for not having stronger IR changes - for notabolishing the Industrial Relations Commission and other arbitration bodies all together. He said much more needs to be done - and essentially said the final outcome should be individual contracts between employers and employee's governed only by Contract laws. This would mean that the normal court system would rule on whether a contract has been fulfilled (not on its content). So if the contract was to work for free and donate your first born to the company, the courts would rule in favour of the employer, should the employee have a greivance.

In a surprisingly candid admission, he said the vast majority of the Australian public disagreed with the IR changes... that they were "violently opposed". Nonetheless, he believes they should try and get a mandate for further IR changes in the next election.

... and the current laws aren't even enacted fully yet. This is indeed a worrying trend considering the likelihood of Labor winning the next election.

Speaking of, this would normally have been a golden opportunity - a free kick for Labor. But unfortunately, they had their heads TOO FAR UP THEIR BACKSIDES to be effective. If you can't sort out this factional rubbish... take it from me - the easiest way to work this out is to lock each faction in a room, each with a half-brick. Last man standing stays. Guys - SHUT THE HELL UP, AND GET ON WITH THE DAMN JOB!

Oh... and this would be a good slogan for the new Liberal IR plans:

Quotable Quote

Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the Universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning.

Howard Haters

This article by Gerard Henderson, is quite ironic...
He is doing to left-leaning people with a political conscience, exactly what he accuses them of doing to Howard. They are apparently all cocooned away in their little "academia" world and completely out of touch with reality. He accuses them of never having mixed with "mainstream" or "right-leaning" political views. Well, sir, how much time have you spent with people on the minimum wage? How many times have you visited mentally ill people? And how much thought do you give to the future of Australian society (and i don't mean society = economy, as many would have you believe?) If the left "academia" are seperated from the real world, than the right are equally cocooned. I resent this article....

particularly because he pretty well describes my day in news...

except I have absolutely nothing to do with any humanities department.

10 Years under Howard

Well, its been 10 years. A whole generation of voters who wouldn't remember politics before 1996. Are we all relaxed and comfortable? How has our society changed - if at all?

Many commentators believe (as I do) that Australian society is more selfish, less tolerant and less caring than before. However, it surprises me that quite a few social researchers say that we are MORE caring, empathetic and tolerant than before. And that Howard has resolved the angst surrounding national identity (rather than inflammed it, as I would have thought). Perhaps there is a grain of truth in this - although I suspect the greater tolerance has more to do with the wider experience of "white" Australia mixing with the every-growing ethnic subcultures, than it does with any particular Government direction.

Any thoughts?