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Issue No. 289 11 November 2005  
E D I T O R I A L

The Great Repression
In a rare outbreak of candour in Federal Parliament this week we have seen the Prime Minister admit the five-day week is going out the door and his leader of business, Tony Abbott, blow kisses across the House.

F E A T U R E S

Interview: Public Defender
The CPSU's Stephen Jones has confronted the Howard Government's IR agenda at close quarters.

Legal: Craig's Story
An inquest in western NSW is a cautionary tale of the use of AWAs, writes Ian Latham

Unions: Wrong Way, Go Back
The WorkChoice legislation sends Australia down the wrong economic road by smashing the instittutions that have made it strong, argues Greg Combet.

Industrial: WhatChoice?
The Howard Government has shown itself to be the master of illusion, writes Dr Anthony Forsyth

Politics: Queue Jumping
The changes to industrial laws, betray a new vision of Australian society, writes James Gallaway.

History: Iron Heel
Conservative governments using laws to take away basic civil rights. It's nothing new, writes Rowan Cahill

Economics: Waging War
When was the last time you heard an Australian politician talk about incomes policy, asks Matt Thistlethwaite

International: Under Pressure
The push for UN intervention in Burma is intensifying, following a report by Vaclav Havel and Bishop Desmond Tutu into slave labour.

Poetry: Billy Negotiates An AWA
More and more people are meeting Billy, the hero of page 15 of the WorkChoices booklet, including our resident bard, David Peetz

Review: A Pertinent Proposition
Nick Cave's "Australian western" touches on some themes still relevant today, Julianne Taverner writes.

N E W S

 Nobody Expects the Construction Inquisition

 Howard in Redundancy Raid

 States Sidestep Wage Hurdle

 Catholics Bless Day of Action

 PacNat Bids to Railroad Future

 Feds Authorise Invasion

 Howard Censors Workers

 Sol Plays Dumb Card

 Boycott Hangs Over Hardie

 Directile Dysfunction

 Pirates Face Kofi Break

 Miners Don�t Dig Safety Levy

 Keep the Spirit Alive

 Activist's What's On!

C O L U M N S

The Soapbox
Men and Women of Australia
What makes a perfect speech? Michael Fullilove has scoured Australian history to find out.

The Locker Room
The Hungry Years
Phil Doyle gets the feeling we�ve been here before

Culture
From Little Things
Paul Kelly's song about the battle for land rights misses one important character, writes Graham Ring

Parliament
The Westie Wing
Ian West takes a look at Public Private Partnerships, and wonders if we should all just drink rum�

L E T T E R S
 Just AWBul
 Convict Costello
 We're Just Serfin'
 Take Warning
 Smells Familiar
 Howard's Gas
 Andrews' Operandi
 To the Shredder
 Stop Violence
WHAT YOU CAN DO
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News

Howard Censors Workers


Thousands of Australians will be denied chances to address the breakneck Senate inquiry into workplace reforms, after the Government signalled it would prefer to hear from �experts�.

Liberal Senator Judith Troeth, chairwoman of the committee that will inquire into the changes, has proposed that "experts" be appointed to debate the legislation during the five days allocated for public hearings.

This means workers who responded to calls for submission will not be able address senators.

Wellington Mum, Narelle Rich, who made one of the 5,000 submissions, said more time was needed for a proper debate, as the legislation affected future generations of Australians.

"How could anybody think that it's sufficient time," the executive assistant at a NSW local council said.

ACTU President Sharan Burrow hit out at the short amount of time allocated to the inquiry.

"Even if it takes just five minutes to read each submission from a concerned member of the public, this means each Senator will be reading 24 hours a day for 17 days to get through them all," Burrow said.

Burrow also criticised the Coalition's gag on debate in the House of Representatives.

"These new laws are the biggest changes to Australian workplaces ever and yet the Government is refusing to allow Parliament adequate time to debate their merits."

Last week, the Coalition used its numbers to shorten debate in the House of Representatives to four days, silencing 20 MPs.

"I put it to you Mr Speaker how much debate, how much more debate could this bill possibly require?" the Government's Leader in the House, Tony Abbott said.


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