Saturday, 30 April 2016
Back Where it Belongs
Today I marched with my union for the first time in thirty years.
The reason for this was the reinstatement in Queensland of the May day celebration back where it belongs.
This victory over political spite (which was the only reason for shifting it) was worth celebrating.
There was a great rollup, and it was good to reconnect with people I had worked with over the years in a variety of schools and situations. Songs were sung, speeches made, and a good time was had by all.
We were reminded of the origins of the Labor movement in the 1891 shearers' strike. The harsh suppression of this strike (including the use of the military) was largely responsible for the formation of the Australian Labor Party.
In order to do a bit of stirring, I wore my unit reunion shirt to the parade. Large numbers of ex-military are anti-union, so I thought that it might be instructive to remind them that the right to organise was one of the values that Australians had always fought for.
Scattered amongst the crowd were ex-public servants sacked in Newman's purge in 2012. It was interesting listening to them explain how that action had motivated many to become very politically active.
The surprise defeat of his government was in no small measure an outcome of his broken promise about public service redundancies. People (and their families) don't forget these things.
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8 comments:
So comrade you love to bang on about the Joh era and his governments general bastardry, you must be very proud of our union directed governments latest effort to change the electoral legislation without any due process. Even your poster boy Fitzgerald is out of sorts over it, your silence on the matter speaks volumes of your singular view of the world.
to change the electoral legislation without any due process
So a vote on the floor of parliament is not "due process"?
Now I've heard everything.
By the way, the process was the same used by Newman when he sacked 13000 public servants - after saying prior to the election that Public Servants had "nothing to fear" from the LNP.
18 minutes to review the legislation, even you can't be so stupid to think these are reasonable actions for a government to take....on the other hand you think Newman needed to pass legislation to reduce the number of public servants so maybe you still believe in the tooth fairy as well. Poor Bob you clearly have no idea of anything other than your very narrow polarised beliefs and you clearly can't evaluate the actions of a government on their merit.......just like most union and labor muppets.
Sigh....my (two) points sailed right over your head.
The first - feigning outrage over the actions of the government which outmaneuvered the LNP is rank hypocrisy. On the basis of their record in government, Springborg's mob would do exactly the same given the opportunity (and the smarts which they obviously lack).
The second is that politics in Queensland, in the absence of an upper house, will always be a numbers game.
As for merit - you could argue that the preference change enhances the democratic process providing, as it does, a clearer expression of voter choice.
Bob you are just trying to bullshit your way out of what you said
Really?
Point out what aspect of my post is "bullshit"?
You know what they are Bob but because you do dumb so well start with you Newman point, and you seem to be Teflon coated when it comes to Fitzgeralds opinion, so what about Beaty not agreeing with the tactic or action? Please enlighten your readers?
you (sic) Newman point
It would help your argument if you wrote English.
Because I don't agree with everything Tony Fitzgerald and Peter Beattie (not Beaty) write my opinion is "bullshit"?
What a strange little binary world you inhabit.
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