Sept 2005 #5 - Gerard's Little Knitting Circle

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DATE : Thu, 29 Sep 2005 11:00:00 EST
Entered in Database : 2005-09-28 09:00:05
length : 4700000
Link to the Show / Show Notes

Back in July John Howard was kissing the arse of Gerard Henderson and the corporate highfliers who frequent Gerard's quaint littleknitting circle, the Sydney Institute. Firmly nailing his colours to the mast, Howard declared that no commentator "possessed a sharpereye or pen" than the great GH. Howard was attending Gerard's little shebang to spout one of the neoliberal mantras, this time what isloosely referred to as "industrial relations reform".Howard was in full flight a little more that one paragraph into his speech and by half way through his second paragraph almost choked inpleasure as he pronounced "we [being his government and the assembled corporate profiteers] must unleash a new burst of productivitygrowth to secure our future prosperity". I can almost hear the resounding cheers and table thumping as the sycophants expressed theirthanks to the great leader who had just told them to set the dogs loose on anyone who dissents from their world view.Howard went on to state, with a straight face I assume, that the current so called "reforms" were not the product of ideology but were"grounded … in economic reality". These "reforms" would "strengthen our economy but do it the Australian way – by way of advancingprosperity and fairness together". In my mind's eye I can see the little beads of sweat on his brow as he gathers pace and passion andfeels the love in the room.As he gets to the core of his message to Gerard and the boys, Howard outlines his theory of the "enterprise worker". These enterpriseworkers are just about anyone you care to imagine. They are white and blue collar workers. They are small business owners andtradesmen. They are unskilled labourers and those who work in ‘human services'. These enterprise workersare in touch with realityaccording to Howard. This reality means the enterprise worker has "a long term focus, knowing that short-term gains without regard toproductivity are illusory if the result is inflation and jobs at risk". So we say Amen to that, choruses the choir of corporate cigarchompers.After telling the assembled grovellers that under his government wages have risen by 14 percent Howard forgets to include the figuresthat show that the actual spending power of the extra 14 percent has been stripped away by ever increasing prices, taxes and charges.John goes on to say that without his government's reforms over the last ten years the average Australian household would have been$7000 a year worse off than they already are. Imagine that. The ever increasing numbers of working poor can thank the government thatthey aren't more in debt and far worse off than they would be if not for John and Peter being at the helm. Let's join the clinking champagneglasses of the rich and powerful as they thank John for increasing their incomes by an order of magnitude more than the average workers.Hurrah!Calling on a study by the Business Council – the real policy makers of the government – Howard declares that workers under individualcontracts are better off personally and far more productive. He then hammers home his key message. That message was that when itcomes to industrial relations, "the job is never done". Howard crowed to the Sydney Institute diners that a central plank of his reformprocess was to reduce the ability for third parties to "interfere in agreement making … to the detriment of cooperation between employersand employees." Achieving this aim, according to John, will liberate workers and elevate them to the same bargaining level as theirbosses.Howard declared to the enthralled mob gathered in Gerard's little knitting den that, "the most reliable road out of poverty is a job". Theonly way to encourage the bosses to hire more people, says Howard, is to get rid of those bothersome unfair dismissal laws. Once gone,he bellows, the door to a gazzilion jobs will open and poverty will be eliminated. Well, no he didn't say that, I made it up but it's what hemeant if not exactly what he said. Not content with saying all will be well if we trash unfair dismissal laws, Howard blamed Hawke, Keatingand the Beazer for all our current woes. 'It's them wot got us inta tis mess, fella's, it's me wot goin' to get you out,' said John.Beginning to wind up John returned to a favourite chestnut and declared that his government's reforms will lead to "prosperity withfairness". The only way to achieve that prosperity, he reminded his audience, was "to go the extra mile". John had already dropped aveiled threat that bosses should not treat their workers poorly, but I suggest it was said with little of his tongue planted firmly in a cheek– whose cheek, I can't say.To understand what John Howard was saying at the Sydney Institute shindig in July one must study the man. Without any recourse toFreudian psychoanalysis or Jungian psychological tools a quick visit to our national leader's webpage will have to do. Howard's spindoctors and a compliant and lazy media are attempting to construct a popular image of the man as some sort of world statesman. Someoneto whom comes naturally the intellect and wisdom to stand on the world stage and transform this little blob of dirt we call 'Strailia' into aglobal force. But what does his website reveal?A visit to the PM's personal 'links' page shows the top six links are five sporting websites (two rugby, two cricket and one Aussie rules)and one where you can register to have a message sent on your special birthdays or anniversaries. On his more general links page the toplink is the Australian War Memorial. Howard classes these links as "my personal favourites". There are no links to intellectual sites. Thereare no links to international journals or papers of repute. There are no links to sites which examine human rights or discussion boardswhere people chat about the effects of poverty or disability. There are no links to history buff sites. There are no links which direct one toworkers sites or sites that review the literature on industrial reform. In short, when it comes time to gather important information, whodoes Howard turn to? Well according to his speech, Gerard Henderson, Quadrant magazine, the Sydney Institute, the Business Counciland Martin Wolf – who argues that globalisation as we know it hasn't yet gone far enough.Howard crows that his system will do away with some 4,000 awards but what he doesn't say is that it will create ten million awards as eachemployee accepts an individual contract. Surely an AWA is not some form of an award system? Isn't that what Howard wants to do awaywith? His "enterprise worker" is a rugged individual, someone who can stand the cut and thrust of the real workplace. This worker needsno protection because employers would never "treat their workers poorly". This worker, according to Howard and his acolytes, has thesame agency as the employer and when it comes to bargaining can muster the same resources therefore rendering him or her equal at thebargaining table. Howard's enterprise worker is master of his or her own destiny. Full stop!Howard's language, his interests and his sources of information are far to limiting for any right minded person to think he understands oreven cares about the destruction his leadership has wrought on our brothers and sisters. Howard sees the world through a prism inwhichhis own reflection is magnified and accordingly, everything else is diminished. The world according to Howard is one in which a Mondayevening knitting circle is as about as cosy as it gets. For the rest of the workers, including those serving the over priced tables at the club,well, we should cut them loose and let the invisible hand of the market recast the pattern of our society at it sees fit. Anything else wouldbe unAustralian.

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