'LOVE WILL ALWAYS WIN': GAY A-LEAGUE STAR HITS OUT AT HOMOPHOBIC ABUSE

‘Love will always win’: Gay A-League star hits out at homophobic abuse

By Vince Rugari
9 January 2022

Adelaide United defender Josh Cavallo has called out homophobic abuse he says was targeted at him during Saturday night’s A-League draw with Melbourne Victory, saying he could not find the words to describe how disappointed he was.

Cavallo also criticised Instagram and Twitter for doing little to stop further “hateful and hurtful messages” he received after the match.

Josh Cavallo has hit out at homophobic abuse he says was targeted at him in person on Saturday night and on social media afterwards.

Josh Cavallo has hit out at homophobic abuse he says was targeted at him in person on Saturday night and on social media afterwards.Credit:Getty

The 22-year-old became the first active top-flight male professional footballer in the world to come out as gay in October.

Little more than two months later, he is suffering from the sort of homophobic slurs he said he knew would inevitably be used against him after his historic announcement, which triggered a global outpouring of support from some of football’s biggest clubs and personalities.

Cavallo played 36 minutes off the bench in Adelaide’s dramatic 1-1 draw against Victory at Melbourne’s AAMI Park, but came off during injury time with a suspected concussion after an accidental elbow to the head from Lleyton Brooks.

Club sources indicate Cavallo also complained of similar homophobic abuse during United’s FFA Cup quarter-final loss to Victory on Wednesday night, which was played at Coopers Stadium in Adelaide.

Both clubs have condemned Saturday night’s events, which are now the subject of an investigation by the Australian Professional Leagues, with any perpetrators to be banned from attending matches.

“I’m not going to pretend that I didn’t see or hear the homophobic abuse at the game last night. There are no words to tell you how disappointed I was,” Cavallo wrote on Instagram.

“As a society this it shows we still face these problems in 2022. This shouldn’t be acceptable and we need to do more to hold this people accountable. Hate never will win. I will never apologise for living my truth and most recently who I am outside of football.

“To all the young people who have received homophobic abuse, hold your heads up high and keep chasing your dreams. Know that there is no place in the game for this. Football is a game for everyone no matter of who you are, what colour your skin is or where you come from.

“To @instagram I don’t want any child or adult to have to receive the hateful and hurtful messages that I’ve received. I knew truely being who I am that I was going to come across this. It’s a sad reality that your platforms are not doing enough to stop these messages.”

Cavallo finished his post by thanking those who had sent him messages of love and support, saying they outweighed the negativity, and praised people who “reached out after making a stand at the game. I commend you. Thank you to those fans, you had me emotional. Love will always win.”

Melbourne Victory said in a statement that the club was working with Adelaide, the APL and AAMI Park to identify those responsible.

“The club is committed to celebrating diversity in football, and strongly condemns this behaviour which has no place at our club or in our game,” the statement read. “Melbourne Victory sees football as a platform to unite fans no matter what background.

Spectators found to have breached these standards will be banned from future matches.”

APL chief executive Danny Townsend said: “Our players, staff and fans have the right to feel safe on and off the pitch. There is no place for bullying, harassment or abuse in Australian football and we have zero tolerance for this harmful behaviour.

“We are working with both clubs to investigate the incident and will issue sanctions to any people found to be involved. We fully support Josh Cavallo and want to ensure he can focus on his football performance, rather than on vile abuse. We will continue to concentrate our efforts on creating safe and welcoming A-Leagues for all.”

Adelaide United CEO Nathan Kosmina said the club was “appalled” by the abuse Cavallo received.

“Adelaide United is proud to be an inclusive and diverse football club, and to see one of our players subjected to homophobic abuse is disappointing and upsetting,” he said. “Josh continues to show immense courage and we join him in calling out abuse, which has no place in society, and it will not be tolerated by our club.”

Beau Busch and Kate Gill, the joint chief executives of Professional Footballers Australia, said Cavallo’s abusers had “illustrated their cowardice.”

“There is no place in our game, our society, for those who seek to direct abhorrent abuse at others,” they said in a statement. “Josh will continue to have the full support of the PFA and his peers and we will work with the APL, and the authorities, to ensure that those who sought to subject Josh to vile abuse are dealt with and that as a game we live up to our zero tolerance commitment.”

Two world wars, but no land: Herbert’s skin was the wrong colour

By Tony Wright

11 November 2021

Herbert Lovett had to wait for the Australian Imperial Force to reduce the minimum height for volunteers before he could sign up for World War I.

The AIF, which initially ruled its soldiers had to be at least five feet, six inches tall (167.6 centimetres), soon enough found itself running out of volunteers willing to face the slaughter on the bloodied fields of France and Belgium. Herbert Lovett, who served in two world wars.

Herbert Lovett, who served in two world wars.

It decided in April 1917 that men who were at least five feet (152.4 centimetres) would be accepted.

'I CAN BE MY WHOLE SELF': AUSTRALIA'S ONLY LGBTIQ PRIDE CENTRE OPENS

Sumeyya Ilanbey
By Sumeyya Ilanbey
11 July 2021

Hang was seven years old when she arrived in Australia with her family in 1978, part of the first wave of Vietnamese boat people seeking asylum.

For much of her life, she said, she worked hard to fit in. She perfected her English, lest her accent gave her away as a refugee.

Premier Daniel Andrews with Hang Vo at St Kilda at the Victorian Pride Centre raising the flag on Sunday. Credit:Luis Enrique Ascui

She spun yarns of family summer camping trips, even though her parents and the three eldest children had in fact been working seven days a week to make ends meets.

She concocted elaborate stories about her Christmas celebrations, despite being Buddhi,n a board in an executive team,” Ms Vo said.

Melbourne's LGBTIQ community will take part in the annual Midsumma pride march on Sunday

“I became really good at fitting in ... [but] I also learnt fitting in eroded the sense of who I am. Here, at the Pride Centre, I can be my whole self: all the parts of me are valued, celebrated, embraced.

“The whole of me is needed here.”

Ms Vo is chair of the Victorian Pride Centre on Fitzroy Street in St Kilda, which was officially opened on Sunday afternoon, making Victoria the home of Australia’s first purpose-built community hub for lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and gender diverse, intersex and queer communities.

Premier Daniel Andrews marked the event by announcing $1.9 million to deliver Melbourne Pride 2021 – a one-day street party in the city’s inner north, to be held annually thereafter.

This year’s celebration will take place on December 5 to mark the 40-year anniversary of the decriminalisation of sex between men in Victoria.

Equality Minister Martin Foley and Mr Andrews at an event to officially open the Victorian Pride Centre. Credit:Luis Ascui

“We can’t have enough of these events in our state – somewhat cheeky to announce a northern-suburbs event in the south, but we built the place and we can get away with it,” Mr Andrews said, tongue in cheek.

“To everyone who has had to hide, to everyone who has had to fear, to everyone who’s had to be not quite themselves, this is your space. Every space in Victoria is your space, because equality is not negotiable in this, the most progressive part of our nation.”

A range of LGBTIQ organisations, including Transgender Victoria, bookshop Hares and Hyenas and the Melbourne Queer Film Festival, as well as the Australian Queer Archives, will be based at the Victorian Pride Centre.

Port Philip City Council donated the land on which the centre is built, while the Victorian government spent more than $25 million on the facility.

INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT FOR PALESTINE AFTER 100 YEARS

ICC clears way for war crimes probe of Israeli actions in Palestinian territories

By Josef Federman
6 February 2021

Jerusalem: Judges at the International Criminal Court in The Hague have decided the court has jurisdiction over war crimes committed in the Palestinian territories, paving the way for a possible a war crimes probe into Israeli military actions.

The decision prompted swift reactions from both Israel, which is not a member of the court and rejects its jurisdiction, and the Palestinian Authority, which welcomed the ruling.

ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said her office was studying the finding and would decide what to do next “guided strictly by its independent and impartial mandate” to prosecute grave war crimes and atrocities when countries are unable or unwilling to do so themselves.

Palestinian children wait in line while holding pots to receive free meals of green pea stew cooked by Samera Abu Amra, unseen, for distribution to poor residents in Gaza City on Thursday.

The ICC judges said their decision was based on the fact that Palestine has been granted membership to the tribunal’s founding treaty, and had referred the situation to the court. The judges said the jurisdiction decision does not imply any attempt to determine Palestinian statehood, which is uncertain, or national borders.

“The court’s territorial jurisdiction in the situation in Palestine ... extends to the territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem,” they said.

Bensouda had found in December 2019 that there was a “reasonable basis” to open a probe into potential war crimes “in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip”. But she asked the court to determine whether she had territorial jurisdiction before proceeding.

Chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands.Credit:AP

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decried the decision and vowed to fight “this perversion of justice."

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry said the ruling meant it was “historic day for [the] principle of accountability”. Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said it was a “victory for justice and humanity.”

The Palestinians, who joined the court in 2015, have pushed for an investigation. Israel has said the court has no jurisdiction because the Palestinians do not have statehood and because the borders of any future state are to be decided in peace talks. It also accuses the court of inappropriately wading into political issues.

Related Article A battle of wills is under way in the occupied West Bank, where Israel has demolished the village of Khirbet Humsu three times in as many months.

Israeli-Palestinian conflict
How a remote West Bank village became the focus of a battle of wills

The Palestinians have asked the court to look into Israeli actions during its 2014 war against Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip, as well as construction of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank and annexed east Jerusalem.

The international community widely considers the settlements to be illegal under international law and an obstacle to peace but has done little to pressure Israel to freeze or reverse their growth.

Israel’s military has mechanisms to investigate alleged wrongdoing by its troops, and despite criticism that the system is insufficient, experts say it has a good chance of fending off ICC investigation into its wartime practices.

When it comes to settlements, however, experts say Israel could have a difficult time defending its actions. International law forbids the transfer of a civilian population into occupied territory.

Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem in the 1967 war, territories the Palestinians want for their future state. Some 700,000 Israelis live in settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem.

A boy holds a Palestinian flag after Israeli troops demolished tents and other structures of the Khirbet Humsu hamlet in the Jordan Valley in the West Bank on Wednesday.

A boy holds a Palestinian flag after Israeli troops demolished tents and other structures of the Khirbet Humsu hamlet in the Jordan Valley in the West Bank on Wednesday.Credit:AP

Israel says east Jerusalem is an indivisible part of its capital and that the West Bank is “disputed” territory whose fate should be resolved in negotiations.

While the court would have a hard time prosecuting Israelis, it could issue arrest warrants that would make it difficult for Israeli officials to travel abroad. A case in the ICC would also be deeply embarrassing to the government. Netanyahu led the 2014 war in Gaza, while current Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz was the military chief of staff at the time.

In a videotaped statement released after midnight, Netanyahu accused the court of “pure anti-Semitism” and having a double standard.

“The ICC refuses to investigate brutal dictatorships like Iran and Syria, who commit horrific atrocities almost daily,” he said. “We will fight this perversion of justice with all our might!”

Nabil Shaath, a senior aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, welcomed the decision and said it proved the Palestinians were right to go to the ICC. “This is good news, and the next step is to launch an official investigation into Israel’s crimes against our people,” he said.

The ICC could also potentially investigate crimes committed by Palestinians militants. Bensouda has said her probe would look into the actions of Hamas, which fired rockets indiscriminately into Israel during the 2014 war.

In Washington, US State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters that the Biden administration was “taking a close look” at the decision.

“However, we have serious concerns about the ICC’s attempts to exercise jurisdiction over Israeli personnel,” Price said. “We have always taken the position that the court’s jurisdiction should be reserved for those who consent to it or are referred by the UN Security Council.”

The decision, detailed in a 60-page legal brief, was released late on Friday (Saturday AEDT), after Israel had shut down for the weekly Jewish Sabbath.

Human Rights Watch welcomed the decision, saying it “finally offers victims of serious crimes some real hope for justice after a half century of impunity.”

“It’s high time that Israeli and Palestinian perpetrators of the gravest abuses — whether war crimes committed during hostilities or the expansion of unlawful settlements — face justice,” said Balkees Jarrah, associate international justice director at the New York-based group.

The three-judge pretrial chamber ruled that Palestine is a state party to the Rome Statute establishing the ICC. With one judge dissenting, it ruled that Palestine qualifies as the state on the territory in which the “conduct in question” occurred and that the court’s jurisdiction extends to east Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza.

Last year, the Trump administration imposed sanctions against ICC officials, after earlier revoking Bensouda’s entry visa, in response to the court’s attempts to prosecute American troops for actions in Afghanistan.

The US, like Israel, does not recognise the court’s jurisdiction. At the time, then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the steps were meant as retribution for investigations into the United States and its allies, a reference to Israel.

The Biden administration has said it will review those sanctions.

AP, Reuters

REFUGEE ACTIVISTS OCCUPY PRESTON HOTEL HOUSING MEDEVAC DETAINEES

The following article is from The Age online, and is more than about time that the non-Murdoch media acted like they say on the top of their paper - Independent - always.

It now remains to be seen whether they will try and build up a campaign to force this pathetic government and its loyal opposition to get the asylum seekers out of the concentration camps on Manus, Nauru and places like the Mantra hotel in Preston, Melbourne.

Australians who have not supported those trying to get these human rights abuses ended need to reconsider how they have felt being in "lock down" because of COVID-19, and now need to have some understanding of the cruelty to which asylum seekers have been exposed for all these years and DO SOMETHING!!

Refugee activists occupy Preston hotel housing medevac detainees

By Rachel Eddie

From The Age 12 May 2020

Activists barricaded themselves in rooms at the Mantra hotel in Preston for about seven hours on Tuesday, in solidarity with asylum seekers detained there after being medically evacuated from Manus Island and Nauru.

Healthcare workers have previously described the makeshift detention centre housing more than 60 men as a "very high-risk environment" for transmitting the coronavirus.

Refugee activists protest on the rooftop of the Preston hotel

Medevac detainees are being housed at the hotel where activists are protesting on the rooftop.

Eight activists checked into three rooms at the Bell Street hotel on Monday, and barricaded themselves into at least one of the rooms from 7.30am Tuesday.

The protesters have also occupied the roof of the hotel and locked themselves on as part of the demonstration. Banners have been draped from the roof saying: "let them out" and "seven years lock-down freedom now".

Footage from the scene shows police escorting all eight activists off the property mid-afternoon.


A statement from the Whistleblowers, Activists and Communities Alliance (WACA) said the demonstration aimed to draw attention to the need for detainees to be provided with the medical care they were brought to Australia for under the now-repealed "medevac laws".

Banners are on the roof of the hotel, saying, "let them out".Credit:WACA

"Over the last two months of this pandemic the federal and state government message has been 'we are all in this together'. Clearly some of us of are more in this together than others. We are not truly together until all, including detained asylum seekers and refugees, have their freedom," spokesperson Gaye Demanuele said.

Last month, more than 1180 healthcare professionals signed a joint letter to the government calling for the men to be released.

Related Article

Coronavirus pandemic

Doctors warn of deadly coronavirus risks for refugees, guests at Melbourne hotel

"Failure to take action to release people seeking asylum and refugees from detention will not only put them at greater risk of infection (and possibly death), it also risks placing a greater burden on wider Australian society and the health care system," said the letter, drafted by infectious diseases expert Professor David Isaacs.

More than 60 men are confined to a secure floor of the motel, which is off limits to other guests and staffed by armed guards. While Australian Border Force, which operates the motel's secure wing, has cancelled all outside visits, guards come and go throughout the day.

No detainee in immigration has tested positive to COVID-19, and a spokesperson said the Australian Border Force was focussed on health and safety during the pandemic.

The protesters began the demonstration about 7.30am on Tuesday.Credit:WACA

"A range of measures have been introduced to actively manage health, hygiene and cleaning requirements in all detention facilities. These measures are continually reviewed in line with the current health advice," the spokesperson said.

"All detainees continue to have ongoing access to the medical professionals located within facilities, including after hours."

Refugee activists on the roof of the Mantra hotel in Preston on Tuesday.Credit:WACA

Any detainee with flu-like symptoms are tested and quarantined, according to Border Force.

Kurdish man Farhad Bandesh was medically evacuated from Manus Island and then moved from the Mantra to the Melbourne Immigration and Transit Accommodation centre (MITA).

A refugee activist barricaded in a Mantra hotel room on Tuesday.Credit:WACA

"My friends [at Mantra] are really sick, mentally and physically, and the situation there is really stressful," Mr Bandesh said.

"At the moment I think they've got good energy because of the people that are supporting them, and we are still asking for our rights after so many years."

He thanked the protesters, "they show we are not alone".

"All the detention centres are all the same, everyone is panicking and they are scared. They don't want to catch the COVID-19."

The roof of the Mantra in Preston.Credit:WACA

Activists have bypassed lockdown restrictions during the pandemic by walking past Mantra and the MITA centre in protest of detention.

Walking is considered exercise and is allowable under Victoria's lockdown rules though protests themselves are a breach of the restrictions.

Last month, 30 people were also fined for protesting in support of refugees and asylum seekers outside the Preston hotel.

Mantra declined to comment.

COVID-19 AND NBN

Kendall Lovett submitted this letter to The Age - INDEPENDENT - ALWAYS - under the heading "NBN needs to help us working from home" and The Age letters editor decided that he/she knew best. The Age letter appears below the original letter.

To: Letters Editor, The Age,

From: Kendall Lovett, (address and phone number provided)

The COVID-19 (Coronavirus) has highlighted the need for an NBN that is adequately equipped to facilitate telehealth, tele-education and teleworking.

We need a better digital network for the current crisis --the pandemic as well as the floods and bush fires which preceded it.

According to Laurie Patton, former Internet Australia executive director, the federal government should immediately fund the NBN company to employ suitably qualified people being retrenched, train them and deploy them to start upgrading the FTTN (copper wire) connections so that everyone has access to fast broadband.

That would be a step in the right direction now and help working people at home during the pandemic while fixing an underlying flaw that limits the effectiveness of the NBN.

Signed: Kendall Lovett.

-----------------------------------

Better network priority

COVID-19 has highlighted the need for an NBN that is adequately equipped to facilitate telehealth, tele-education and teleworking.

We need a better digital network for the crisis – the pandemic as well as the floods and bushfires which preceded it.

According to Laurie Patton, former Internet Australia executive director, the federal government should immediately fund the NBN company to employ suitably qualified people being retrenched, train them and deploy them to start upgrading the FTTN (copper wire) connections so that everyone has access to fast broadband.

Kendall Lovett, Preston

ELECTRIC VEHICLE CHARGER SYSTEM - STARTUP GOES GLOBAL

Electric vehicle charging startup takes on world first, Australia second

By Cara Waters The Age

May 20, 2019 — 12.00am

Labor's ambitions to ramp up electric vehicles may be in tatters but some small Australian startups are amongst world leaders in the sector.
Brisbane-based Tritium manufactures the fastest electrical vehicle charging stations in the world with 95 per cent of its production exported.

Dr Michael Hajesch, chief executive of IONITY and Dr David Finn, chief executive and co-founder of Tritium with a charging station in Germany.

"This is a critical piece of infrastructure that allows electric vehicles to make sense," co-founder and chief executive David Finn says.

Mr Finn started Tritium in 2001 with his former university class mates Paul Sernia and James Kennedy after they met as part of a university solar car racing team.

"Back in '99 we were driving across Australia on the power of a toaster and it made you think 'there must be a better way of doing this'," Finn says.

Production of electric bowsers at Tritium. Credit:Robert Shakespeare

Focus on charging

The trio turned their attention to electric cars but decided to focus on charging stations after identifying it as the key component enabling easy uptake of electric vehicles.

"It is high power to make it convenient," Finn says. "We really focused on what we thought the driver wanted and brought that to the market place."

For the first 10 years Tritium was in business the co-founders funded the startup themselves and once they pivoted to focus on charging stations a Commercialisation Australia grant took Tritium "from a bench top project to something commercially viable".
"From there it has been the story of a growth company, we have had multiple funding rounds," Finn says.

"We launched in European and the North American market and have been riding a wave ever since."

We were driving across Australia on the power of a toaster and it made you think 'there must be a better way of doing this'.
David Finn

Its biggest single customer to date is Ionity, a startup funded by Volkswagan, BMW, Ford and Daimler which operates a charging network across Europe.

"The car companies have spent billions developing vehicle technology and don't want to run the risk of people making a buying decision to stay with a petrol car because they can't charge," Finn says.

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Australian-made electric car leads way

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The company involved hopes to build one hundred more by the end of the year but says Australia could miss an important window to the potentially lucrative industry.

Heading for unicorn status

Over the past three years the startup's revenue has doubled every year and it employs 250 people.

Tritium turned over $13.4 million in 2017, $34 million in 2018 and is on track for turnover of $65 million this financial year.

"Even if you just extrapolate that through for six years that is a billion dollar company," says Finn. "We think it is going to accelerate because the market place is changing. More vehicles to the marketplace will accelerate adoption," he says.

Tritium is a Brisbane company that produces electric vehicle chargersCredit:Ruth McCosker

Australia is among the top 20 nations for new car purchases but electric vehicles represent only 1.2 per cent of sales.

That is set to change with only 11 models of electric car available in Australia at the moment and 60 different models set to be available in the next few years.

"Another factor is the price of batteries dropping, they will reach parity with internal combustion energy in the next few years," Finn says. "For us our focus is on making sure that the petrol station equivalent is there."

Australian 'laggards'

While Tritium's chargers are being snapped up overseas, its products have not got the same traction in the Australian market.
Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon Brookes questioned why there was not more support for Tritium on Twitter last month.

"Fastest chargers in the world," he tweeted. "Made in Australia. Manufacturer. Exporter. Absolutely massive growth industry. And 20 per cent of the jobs of Adani construction phase (not running the mine). From one Aussie tech startup. Imagine if we leaned in?"

Tritium's technology is being used in Australia on a small scale through startup ChargeFox's network.
ChargeFox won $6 million in funding from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency to roll out an ultra-rapid charging network along the major driving routes from Brisbane to Adelaide, including around Sydney and Melbourne, and separately in Western Australia.

Marty Andrews is the co-founder of ChargeFox.

ChargeFox co-founder Marty Andrews says the startup has raised $17 million and is building 22 sites across the country.

"We use a couple of different charging station manufacturers including Tritium," Mr Andrews says. "It's an Australian-based company and they create chargers as good as any in the world, there are only a handful of companies that make these products. It's ironic to have them in our backyard in a country which, frankly, has been a global laggard in the industry."

Mr Andrews says it is hard for car manufacturers to bring cars to Australia if there is nowhere to charge them.
"We are helping to break the chicken egg cycle and to give manufacturers confidence to bring cars to Australia," he says. "We have the tech and ability to do it here in Australia."

ALDI WILL LOSE SUPPORT IN AUSTRALIA BECAUSE OF ITS ANTI-UNION ACTIVITIES

The Age 6 June  2017

Retail giant Aldi faces claims of wage theft and breaking the law

• Andrew Taylor

When Nichole McLaughlin asks her partner Paul Joyner what time he will be home from work, he often cannot answer.

With no finish time on his roster, Mr Joyner - a permanent part-time worker, not a casual - does not know what time he will leave work at Aldi's Stapylton distribution centre.



Paul Joyner said Aldi's work arrangements causes disruption to family life: "The school pick-up time would be the hardest thing." Photo: Bradley Kanaris
 

The father-of-three also said he had worked for free for the retail giant to pay off "negative hours" accumulated because he was not given enough shifts to complete the hours he is contracted to work.
"I was at minus-78, and now I work extra to pay back those hours," Mr Joyner said. "And I don't get paid."

His claim is "categorically rejected" by Aldi, which said in a statement: "The enterprise agreement provides for an averaging arrangement of hours and employees receive payment for every hour worked."

Mr Joyner, who used to coach his son's soccer team, said the uncertainty caused disruption to his family life. He said it also made it difficult to make commitments such as taking his children to sporting events and leisure activities.

"The school pick-up time would be the hardest thing," Mr Joyner said. "We get it drummed into us 'You don't have a finish time'."

This lack of certainty created other worries for workers with children, he said. "Childcare's until 6 o'clock and then you start paying $2 every minute. So 10 minutes – there's 20 bucks. You do that a couple of times a week and it soon adds up."

 

Aldi is celebrating its one year anniversary this year.

  Tim Gunstone, an organiser for the National Union of Workers, said Aldi's "peculiar employment arrangements" were stressful for workers.

"Workers are sent home early when it suits Aldi, but when the work is busier, or poorly planned by management, workers are told they have to stay at work until everything is finished," Mr Gunstone said.

"The lack of any finish time on rosters makes it impossible for workers to refuse the overtime they are being required to do."

Mr Gunstone said the NUW believed Aldi's employment practices were against the law because permanent part-time workers should be provided with the hours described in their employment contract in each pay period.

When a worker is required to work without pay to work off "negative hours" this is in effect wage theft.
Tim Gunstone, an organiser for the National Union of Workers.

"The second is that Aldi are requiring employees to work without payment when they are "paying off" the negative hours," he said. "The third is that permanent workers must be provided with a start and a finish time for their rostered shifts."

Mr Gunstone added: "When a worker is required to work without pay to work off "negative hours" this is in effect wage theft."

However, an Aldi spokeswoman said: "The suggestion that employees work unpaid overtime is categorically rejected."

She said workers received payment for their "contract hours" even if they do not work the required amount of time.

"They are then rostered to work additional hours above their contract in subsequent fortnights, to complete the hours for which they have already been paid," she said. "The Fair Work Commission has examined and approved this work arrangement as being lawful and suitable."

But the NUW is vowing to renew the fight and lodge a dispute with the Fair Work Commission if Mr Joyner's concerns cannot be resolved with Aldi.

"We would expect that such a dispute would be resolved by arbitration, and expect that a Commissioner would find that Paul was owed money for every hour he worked without payment while 'paying off negative hours'," Mr Gunstone said. "This could create a substantial underpayment affecting thousands of Aldi workers."

Associate Professor Angela Knox, from the University of Sydney Business School, questioned whether the arrangement was "good practice"
.
"There is a difference between a practice being legal and it being good, especially for workers," she said.

"This type of practice has been used in large chain hotels for over a decade but there are more 'checks and balances' in place, normally."

But Associate Professor Knox said caps were usually imposed to prevent workers accruing a debt as large as 78 hours.

She questioned whether Aldi's workers understood the ramifications of the provision, which created large "negative hours" balances.

"The specific details that would explain how the system operates are not outlined, hence managerial prerogative is maximised," she said.

​Aldi's spokeswoman said salaries were above market rates, while staff turnover was low: "Our working conditions are also considered to be some of the best in the industry, with independent employee satisfaction surveys returning consistently high scores."

​Mr Gunstone said he had spoken to more than 100 Aldi workers who had concerns about the company's practices but "they felt they had no choice but to accept it".

He said Aldi also tried to prevent its workers engaging with the union - a claim contested by the company.

"Aldi routinely place managers in lunchrooms when union organisers visit sites – for the explicit purpose of monitoring the unions engagements with workers," he said. "At Paul's workplace managers have repeatedly interrupted organiser conversations with employees."

Mr Joyner, who is a union delegate, said many of his colleagues shared his concerns about Aldi's work practices but feared the consequences of speaking out.

"They'd like to say stuff too but they're scared," he said.

With the impending arrival of retailers such as Amazon, Mr Gunstone said the conditions for warehouse workers were at risk.

"Aldi's work practices are one example of the ways in which these jobs are increasingly becoming insecure, and how many major retailers are increasingly involved in a race to the bottom when it comes to job security and casualisation," he said.

"Amazon – which is setting up in Australia – are known for their low wages and anti-union attitude."
Larissa Andelman, a barrister who practices in industrial law, said the Australian labour market had a very high level of casualisation, and the line between casual and permanent employment was often blurred.

"However the rise of 'zero hour' contracts in England has caused a significant financial hardship to those affected and there has been political and legal action to limit and cease these kind of arrangements," she said.

"It would be most unfortunate if these kind of arrangements were found lawful in Australia as they impact adversely on the most low paid and marginalised workers who are often young people and women."

NO PROTECTION FOR SACKED ANTI-ANZAC TWEETER

May 1 2015

Right to freedom of speech cannot breach employment contract

• Gillian Triggs

"Whoever knew Truth put to the worse, in a free and open encounter"?
So asked John Milton in his Areopagitica in 1644, crystallising why freedom of speech is a foundation for modern democracy. However, today's near universal access to social media challenges the idea that freedom of expression ensures truth will be victorious over falsehood.

Sacked SBS presenter Scott McIntyre. 

The disciplining or sacking of employees whose emails breach industry codes of conduct - most recently of Scott McIntyre, who alleged crimes by the Anzacs - raise the vexed question of the proper constraints on freedom of speech.  Does an employer have the right to sack, demote or otherwise sanction an employee for speech that both breaches its code of conduct and may be substantially inaccurate, in bad faith and deeply hurtful to most Australians?

The Federal Circuit Court has recently provided a categorical answer to this question. In Banerji​ v Bowles(2013), a case similar to the McIntyre sacking, an employee of the Department of Immigration asked the court to stop disciplinary action after she "tweeted" trenchant criticism of the guards at immigration detention centres, and of the Prime Minister and the Minister for Immigration, among others. She argued that her comments are constitutionally protected by her right to freedom of political communication as an indispensable incident of representative government. The Federal Court rejected this view as a flawed understanding of Australian law.

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One of the tweets posted by Scott McIntyre. 

Ask any citizen if they have a right to freedom of speech and they will robustly assert "yes, of course" . However, under Australian law, there is no such formal legal right. While, in practice, everyone is free to say and write whatever they like, this freedom is significantly qualified by exceptions. Prohibitions abound in respect of statements that are libellous or slanderous, in contempt of court, a breach of copyright, obscene or seditious, or that incite mutiny, commission a crime or disclose official secrets.
Unlike all other common law countries, Australia has no bill of rights and few laws to protect the right to freedom of speech. In the absence of express protection under the Australian Constitution, the High Court has recognised an implied right to freedom of political communication as a necessary element of representative democracy. So far so good. But, the right of political communication is not a personal right for citizens. Rather it is a constitutional limit on the legislative powers of Parliament. In short, a right of political communication constrains governments, but it is not the right of an individual citizen.
In the Banerji case, the Federal Court confirmed the general law that rights are "not unbridled or unfettered". The court was cautious in the extreme, saying that: "even if there be a constitutional right [to freedom of political communication], it does not provide a licence to breach a contract of employment".
The court concluded that the political comments tweeted while Banerji was employed by the Department of Immigration are not protected by the asserted implied right to freedom of political expression. Influencing the court's decision were provisions of the Public Service Act 1999 to the effect that an employee "must at all times behave in a way that upholds the good reputation of Australia", and must behave honestly and with integrity and avoid any conflict of interest. In addition to the contract of employment are the Australian Public Service Code of Conduct and departmental social media guidelines. It did not help Banerji's case that her tweets occurred while she was working for another employer, without the permission of the Department.

It is probable that the Banerji decision reflects Australian law in the absence of any legislation confirming the common law right to freedom of speech. While we may say what we please, subject to defined prohibitions, a practical, chilling outcome of freedom of speech is that we must suffer the consequences if that speech is also a breach of an employment contract.

In principle, it seems a reasonable constraint on our freedoms that we should abide by the ethics, values and standards of our employers.  But what if the employer is breaking the law or just plain wrong? Whistleblowers are now protected under the Public Interest Disclosure Act (2013) (Cth). Public officials, government agencies and contracted service providers will be guaranteed anonymity and immunity if they disclose an abuse of public trust, corruption, acts that endanger the environment, or unjust, oppressive or negligent conduct, among other wrongs. However, the act is significantly limited and does not cover judicial conduct, ASIO or ASIS, politicians or the private sector.

Scott McIntyre may not have the benefit of the "whistleblower's" law, but it is at least arguable that to be peremptorily sacked is disproportionate to the reasonable interests of his employer. These are matters of judgment in light of all the circumstances.

The free use of social media - as exemplified by the McIntyre tweets - suggests that it cannot guarantee the triumph of truth over falsehood.

Gillian Triggs is president of the Human Rights Commission.

WHISTLEBLOWERS, THE AGE NEWSPAPER AND ITS "EXCLUSIVE" REPORT BY NICK McKENZIE, MICHAEL BACHELARD AND RICHARD BAKER

 The following letter appeared in The Age newspaper on 31 AUGUST 2016, two days after a front page article in The Age (29 AUGUST 2016) under the heading  
$5m whistleblower bounty.

This is the letter I would have liked to have sent to The Age, but because it has not published any of my letters for so long, I would have done it on my blog anyway.

The letter-writer gives the names of 4 whistleblowers and what the US government has done to them, but there are so many others to add to the list, a few being Edward Snowden and Julian Assange as examples.

The US government under Barack Obama has done more to harm US citizens than any other president since the earliest days of the formation of the United States after its genocide on native Americans after European invasion.

And other so-called western democracies have all been just as vicious and cruel to whistleblowers.

Under no circumstances are whistleblowers protected by their governments and we shouldn't anticipate any favourable changes any day soon. (Mannie De Saxe)

 

One-way protection

The BHP Billiton case does indeed expose "the weakness of Australia's whistleblower regime" (The Age, 29/8). However, the US is hardly a beacon for appropriate protection of whistleblowers. In the US, one may only blow the whistle one way – to help government bodies. After the spectacular global financial crisis, the US were oh so magnanimous to whistleblowers, treating them to legislation bestowing up to 30 per cent of fines resulting from their disclosure.

But blow that whistle the other way, and look out.
Four names will illustrate my point:

1. William Binney disclosed that NSA collected mass data on its own citizens. The result was a raid on his home, loss of employment and a financial deficit to the tune of $300,000.

2. Thomas Drake disclosed NSA warrantless mass surveillance of US citizens. He was indicted and sentenced to one year probation and community service.

3. John Kyriakou disclosed CIA waterboarding detainees. He was indicted and sentenced to 30 months' jail.

 4. Chelsea Manning disclosed the infamous "collateral murder" footage of an Apache helicopter slaughter of at least eight people in Baghdad, including two journalists and a young father. He was indicted and sentenced to 35 years' jail.

Aliki Pavlou, Albert Park

THE AGE JOINS THE LOCAL ANTI-SEMITES - CARTOONISTS OF THE WORLD REJOICE!

I know anti-semitism when I see it.

I am 89 years old and Jewish, have lived and worked in South Africa, the UK and Australia, and been confronted by anti-semitism in all 3 countries.

I do not know about the background story of the cartoon in The Age newspaper on Wednesday 3 February 2016, copy at end of this paragraph, but it smacks of the sort of stereotype of Jews from the 19th and 20th century and on into the 21st century.

This should have been edited out by the newspaper editor.

Anti-semitism is alive and well and living in a city near you.

MEDIA MATTERS AND MEDIA NON-MATTERS

This has been written as a letter to the editors of the Sunday Age and the Sydney Morning Herald in response to their editorial on Sunday 30 December 2012 headed “Show some resolve and give us the politics we deserve”, (link: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/editorial/show-some-resolve-and-give-us-the-politics-we-deserve-20121229-2c0hl.html?skin=text-only) and what it DIDN’T say!

The letter will doubtless be ignored and so, apart from being published in the blog, it will also be posted on my web page which has letters the media will not publish.

The editorial in the Sunday Age mentions many items about which people in this country have concerns.

These include politicians, equality of opportunity, care for the most vulnerable and marginalised, Peter Slipper, Craig Thomson, asylum seekers, carbon tax, Kevin Rudd, policy, voters, education, health, infrastructure, drugs, and the indigenous population, managing to squeeze them into the second-last paragraph.

I looked in vain through the article and read it and re-read it to see mention of the media for a record of what has been playing out in newspapers, radio, television and on the web where all or some of the above issues have or have not been discussed.

Not a word!

The fact that the media reports what it wants to, how it wants to, when it wants to, and if at all, would give some measure of the responsibility of the media in distortions of the news in Australia.

What about the wars in which Australia is and has been involved, the dollar expenditure on these wars, the loss of lives and damage to the lives of survivors and all their families? To say nothing of what has been inflicted on the countries in which these wars have occurred.

Israel and Palestine don’t get a mention, but then Palestine doesn’t even exist as far as the main stream media (MSM) are concerned. And on that topic, Greens and members of that party have been vilified and denigrated for their stand on the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement which was instrumental in helping to end apartheid in South Africa.

And what about Australia’s own closet apartheid issue – or are the Aborigines no longer to even be talked about?

Why is it that investigative journalists on the web have been able to uncover stories relating to the Health Services Union, the Ashby/Slipper/Brough affair but the MSM hasn’t been able to do it themselves with their vastly superior resources?

The MSM are controlled by their owners who are for the most part right-wing reactionary bigots who hire people to do as they are told, toady to their bosses, and generally carry out the discriminatory and biased reporting required by their bosses who want to put in place governments of their political persuasions who will do as they are told, not some wishy-washy pseudo-liberals who work around the fringes and who, themselves are guilty of discrimination in fields which suit their own policies and also accord with the business people whose interests they are protecting.

The editorial mentions voters and says they are more sophisticated than they are generally credited with being and then goes on to simplify the major issues of the day by under-reporting them, distorting their real meanings and also at the same time not reporting on issues that matter and become urgent over time.

The main-stream-media have been guilty of demonising asylum seekers in keeping with the requirements of both major political parties and we are all the poorer for the reactionary outcomes from these reports.

Not mentioned at all in the editorial is a group of people in the community who continue to be discriminated against and are vilified whenever possible. This group of people is part of the gay, lesbian, transgender and HIV (GLTH) communities and homophobia continues to be a major disease in our society, aided and abetted by the MSM.

A society which is ageing and those parts of it which are part of the GLTH group, continue to be treated as if they should shuffle off this mortal coil and stop costing society so much as they age.

Religion and paedophilia which has become so “main-stream” for the moment because of the announcement of a Royal Commission, abortion rights, equality for women, GLTH people, euthanasia, suicide and youth suicide, the main stream media occasionally broaches these topics and then conveniently forgets about them when it suits, and they never get resolved, but continue to fester just below the surface.

The media have shown an unprecedented bias in attacking the government and many members of the cabinet and shown how this bias relates to silences when it comes to the opposition and its ongoing denigration of the government in the opposition leader’s grim determination to bring down the government and become the prime minister. The polls have shown their support for these tactics.

Dorian Gray is seen as never ageing as his hidden portrait shows the ugliness of his deeds. The media’s deeds are hidden as they murder truth, honesty and integrity. Those who want to know what is happening here and around the world, and rely on the media to inform them are short-changed all the time by MSM but now fortunately have alternative means of finding the truth.

Bradley Manning and Julian Assange exposed the truths we have all been denied for so many years and, like most whistle-blowers who are trying to right the wrongs of the societies they live in, they are being pilloried and hounded and prosecuted for exposing crimes which they have not committed, but governments around the world have, aided and abetted by the media who do an excellent job of cover-up!

Talk about censorship and self-censorship!

Welcome to 2013!

ZIONISTS CALL ALL OPPOSITION ANTI-SEMITIC BUT "SOME OF THEIR BEST FRIENDS ARE JEWS!"

The latest attack by Israel on Gaza and the United Nations approval of Palestine to have observer status at the UN has produced some dramatic results which the zionists seem not to have anticipated.

The facts on the ground are that there is more and more opposition to Israel and the zionists than there has ever been before, and there are signs that young people in the United States are no longer following their elders blindly into unthinking support for the US support of the state of Israel and the loud cries of AIPAC to make them toe the "party line"!.

In Australia the latest outcry from the zionists and the rabid religious right fundamentalist rabbis and their supporters such as the Australian Jewish News aka the Israeli zionist times is because of some recent cartoonists such as Leunig and Petty.

They are now labelled with that catch-all cry "ANTI-SEMITES!".

Here are the three cartoons at the centre of the argument and here are some Jewish commentators:

From the Australian jewish news aka Israel Zionist times:

The Age defends cartoons

November 30, 2012

THE editor-in-chief of The Age has defended a series of cartoons published over the last week, one of which the B’nai B’rith Anti-Defamation Commission (ADC) labelled as “virulent hate-speech”, that have outraged the Melbourne Jewish community.

A cartoon by Michael Leunig last Wednesday (see the first cartoon above) adapted German pastor Martin Niemoeller’s famous “First they came for the Jews” statement about the apathy of German intellectuals following the Nazi rise to power, changing it to “First they came for the Palestinians”.

The cartoon then states: “I did not speak out because if I did, doors would close to me, hateful mail would arrive, bitterness and spiteful condemnations would follow.”

ADC chairperson Dvir Abramovich said the cartoon “crossed the line”, using anti-Semitic words and themes.

“‘They’ of course referred to the Nazis. In Leunig’s cartoon, however, it is the Israelis who are the Nazis,” he said. “Leunig’s second anti-Semitic theme [is] that anyone who supports the Palestinians will immediately be besieged by the all-powerful Jewish lobby. This is the kind of hateful rhetoric you would expect on anti-Semitic websites, not The Age.”

A second Leunig cartoon on Saturday (see second cartoon above)portrayed a character – presumably Jewish – at Mount Sinai receiving the commandment “Thou shalt not kill” before shooting both Moses and God dead, then standing on the mountain wearing God’s crown. Then a Bruce Petty cartoon on Monday, November 26, (third cartoon above)showed a boat of Palestinians with the banner “The Right of Return – UN” approaching a heavily fortified and armed Israel flying the banner “The Right to be Here – Bible”.

“This not only ignores the unquestionable fact that the UN created the modern Jewish State, but also overlooks thousands of years of Jewish history in the Land of Israel,” Abramovich said.

Defending the cartoons, Age editor-in-chief Andrew Holden said the cartoonists were all “very experienced, and well aware of the sensitivities around Middle East politics”.

“However, they are also entitled to express their personal opinions, even if these are challenging.”

But Abramovich said there was a “clear moral difference” between something that was challenging and something that was racist. “The same applies to something that is a lie. I strongly suggest that editors have a responsibility to their readers to prevent both of the foregoing,” he added.

By GARETH NARUNSKY
----------------------------------------------------------------

From the age newspaper 301112

Leunig's cartoon deserves a more thoughtful Jewish response

November 30, 2012
By Harold Zwier

The power of a cartoon lies in the many ways it can be interpreted.

ON NOVEMBER 21, The Age published a cartoon by Michael Leunig which commented on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The device Leunig used was a parody of the famous poem by Lutheran pastor Martin Niemoller about the need to be vocal when one sees a wrong - even if not directly affected by it.

First they came for the communists, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew.
Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak for me.

There are variations to the poem and it seems it was first used in speeches Niemoller gave in 1946. In Leunig's cartoon there are four frames to match the four stanzas of the original poem. There is an almost universal view in the leadership of the Victorian Jewish community that Leunig's cartoon is anti-Semitic. The media release from the B'nai B'rith Anti-Defamation Commission quoted chairman Dr Dvir Abramovich presenting the following arguments to support that claim.

'''First they came …' introduces a celebrated statement attributed to German pastor Martin Niemoller about the apathy of German intellectuals following the Nazi rise to power and their gradual elimination of certain groups. 'They' of course referred to the Nazis. In Leunig's cartoon, however, it is the Israelis who are the Nazis.

''And Leunig's second anti-Semitic theme? That anyone who supports the Palestinians will immediately be besieged by the all-powerful Jewish lobby, similarly jackbooted, treading on all who oppose them, closing doors in their faces, spiteful, hateful and bitter. In Leunig's black-and-white world, Palestinian/Arab/Muslim lobby groups are muzzled and The Age would never dare to publish an article (or cartoon) critical of Israel.''

My reaction to the cartoon was very different. The power of a cartoon is in the many ways in which it can be interpreted. Once the cartoon is in the public domain it lives its own life - as indeed does Niemoller's poem. My comments should therefore be understood to reflect a personal view.

That Leunig comes to his cartoon with the perspective of a Palestinian supporter merely sets the scene. The baseline of the cartoon is that Palestinians are always the victims. We know this isn't a universal truth, but the cartoon isn't a balanced dissertation on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict - it's a cartoon. It uses exaggeration to tell us something.

The parody of Niemoller's language is playful: ''First they came for the Palestinians … Then they came for more … '' And in this respect Leunig can be criticised - or maybe he is being self-critical. Is he being too playful about the plight of the Palestinians in complaining overtly about silence as a form of tacit acceptance and covertly that publicly criticising Israeli treatment of Palestinians will be met with anger - from ''the all-powerful Jewish lobby'', to quote Dr Abramovich?

However the cartoon is also clever, because the reaction of the Jewish community as articulated in the Anti-Defamation Commission media release is in fact encapsulated within the cartoon. As Leunig said, ''bitterness and spiteful condemnations would follow'', duly obliged by Dr Abramovich in his comments. And so the Jewish community has been wedged. A more thoughtful response might have been to silently reflect on the sometimes appalling and disgraceful level of the debate about the conflict - and not just from one side. However, the genuinely held perception of anti-Semitism mandated a public response.

The Jewish community is a wonderful community, but sometimes I wish it was a little less weighed down by its collective memory and a little more informed by it. Sigh.

Perhaps, in the end, we might ask whether the cartoon is really about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, or in fact about the conflict between the Jewish community and Leunig. It's all a question of perception and interpretation - the power of the cartoon.

Harold Zwier is on the executive of the Australian Jewish Democratic Society.