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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

Directile Dysfunction


As the Federal Government seeks to lower real wages for Australia�s lowest paid, company directors are snaffling increases of up to 85 percent.

According to executive remuneration specialists, RPC, pay for directors in miscellaneous industrial and transport industries increased, between 2003 and 2004, by 85 per cent, while those in alcohol and tobacco made do with 65 per cent hikes.

On average, pay for non-executive directors, over the same period, increased by 22 per cent, while chief executives jumped from 1.35 million per annum, to 1.7 million dollars, according to The Australian Financial Review.

Don Argus, Chairman of BHP Billiton and Brambles, defended higher fees for directors by saying that directors at BHP Billiton, "have to attend seven meetings a year here".

"If they're from the US, they have potentially seven long trips. They are not going to do that unless it's worthwhile," he said.

As news of the increases was released, Michael Chaney, who became a director on the board of Australia's largest bank the National Australian Bank, in December last year, and who is also president of the Business Council of Australia, told The Australian Financial Review that public uproar over the Federal Government's Work Choices legislation would subside.

"I think, in a year's time, people in the workforce will look back and say what was all the fuss about because life continued as we knew it," he said.

The Business Council of Australia, made up of Australia's highest-paid chief executives, is an outspoken backer of the government's workplace agenda.


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