The Australian political economy has the equivalent of a collective personality disorder. Check out today’s line up from the exceptional broadsheet coverage at The Australian:
Now, let’s unpack these “exclusives” and see what we have.
First, I’ve said my piece on the media laws but note that this line up of scorn tackles none of the substantive issues beyond Rupert telling Australia to get on with paying him dough. I’ll only note in passing the atrocious stories that run blow the complaint about media regulation aiming to raise standards.
Second, “457 visas are a form of slavery” is an hysterical outburst from ALP vice-President Tony Sheldon:
Addressing the ALP national organisers forum in Canberra yesterday, Mr Sheldon urged party activists to campaign “strong and hard” in support of the government’s proposed changes to 457 visas, insisting abuse of foreign employees was “harming the community”.
“457 visa holders have no right to criticise their employers when they are being ripped off or sweated, and no real right to join a union without the employer sacking them,” he said.
“And once sacked, they can be deported within 28 days unless they can find another job.
“That’s why it’s actually no exaggeration to say that for some workers, the 457 visa is a form of slavery.
“No Aussie would accept that, and we shouldn’t accept it for visitors to this country either.”
Can we please have some evidence Mr Sheldon? I have no issue with 457 visas so long as the local jobs market is exhausted and inevitable abuses are addressed. I want to know why I should change my mind. Some trade unionist crying “slavery” isn’t going to do it. Perhaps The Australian could have consulted some independent experts for comment on the issue.
Meanwhile, swinging across the page, we find another “exclusive”, which is in reality is a press release available to all, accepting at face value a new study into “fly-in, fly-out” (FIFO) work practices, paid for by Australia’s privately held government and expert in all things tax-related, The Minerals Council of Australia, via KPMG:
Less than a quarter of Australia’s Fly in Fly Out (FIFO) and Drive in Drive Out (DIDO) workforce is directly employed in the mining industry, the first ever study of long distance commuting has revealed.
Despite claims that FIFO and DIDO is a “cancer” in Australia, a study of the 2011 Census by KPMG shows that only 2.1 per cent of the national workforce Long Distance Commutes (LDC) to work. Miners represent 21 per cent of the total LDC workforce.
The KPMG study for the Minerals Council of Australia, the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association and SkillsDMC, shows that more people LDC to Australia’s capital cities than to work in Australia’s nine mining regions.
A total of 64,056 people LDC to Australia’s capitals compared with 55,962 to the nine sampled mining regions. 44,610 people identified as mining industry employees.
Overall, the KPMG study shows that at the time of the 2011 Census, 213,773 Australians were long distance commuting.
This overall total includes more than 28,000 construction workers, about 14,000 public servants, more than 15,000* manufacturing industry employees, 13,000* healthcare workers and more than 12,000 people engaged in scientific research, architecture, engineering, IT, veterinary science and other professional services.
Obviously this is intended as a riposte to the recent House of Representatives study that pointed to many nasty shortcomings in the practice of FIFO. Perhaps The Australian could have consulted some independent experts for comment on the issue.
So, two interest groups get a free run with their drivel (our contemporary notion of balance?), while a third interest group, the paper itself, focuses all of its efforts on retarding any move to restrict its oligopoly power.
Goooooooo debate!
