THE LUCKY COUNTRY

Thousands of union members and Labor supporters protested against the Howard government in Melbourne today.

Protested against the changes to industrial relations laws in the country. And the fact that the Howard Government will get control of the Senate next month.

Today’s march started at the Trades Hall and thousands of unionists and Labor supporters voted with their feet and heard speeches by Kim Beazley and the the new Trades Hall Council secretary, Brian Boyd, and the boss of the ACTU, Greg Combet. And Rob Hulls. And, for some obscure reason, the radical pastor, Father Peter Norden. Talk about the separation of church and state.

Their target was the Howard Government, which last year was elected to its fourth term in office, and the changes to our industrial relations system. It was also motivated by the fear that when Parliament reopens next month John Howard will have complete control of the Senate. The Labor Party, the Dems, the Greens, will be political eunuchs in the upstairs chamber.

Dozens of bills that have been blocked in the Senate can now be rammed through by the Government -- including things like cross-media ownership legislation and the final sale of the last pieces of Telstra. (IPersonally, I believe Telstra should be out there competing in the real world without Government involvement. And I acknowledge that I am a Telstra shareholder although I sold some of those shares recently).

I saw the TV news footage of the Labor demo and thought: You guys don’t know how good we have got it.

Maybe it is because I have just returned from a trip to Greece, France and Athens, and my credit card is still in meltdown.

On my return I saw a newspaper headline that said: rude shock. Get ready for $1.20 a litre. It was a story about Prime Minister Howard and his admission that petrol prices could go up yet again, with crude oil hitting $60 a barrel, and he can’t do anything about it.

Tell that to people in Europe. They would love to be paying ONLY the Euro equivalent of $1.20.

I have said, and I know it sounds corny, even perhaps, naïve. And maybe it is because I have just returned from a wallet-busting trip to Europe. But: there is no place like home. I truly believe that this IS the lucky country. Some of us, including some of those protesting marchers today don’t know how good we have got it.

As I wrote in a column from Greece for the Sunday Herald Sun, the Euro has crippled people in so many countries. How these people survive I do not know. No wonder the Italians have launched a campaign to bring back the lira and the British stubbornly, even truculently, stuck with the pound. Although that’s not much help to Australians where the three-to-one ratio means a single section on The Underground costs you six Aussie dollars.

On the Champs Elysee in Paris two croissants and a bottle of water and a Heineken beer – at an ordinary café – cost me the equivalent of 32 Australian dollars.

A cab ride from Heathrow Airport in London to Kensington cost the equivalent of $A140.

I sound like I am harping on the issue of wages but I don’t think Australians know how good we have got it. There was a court-ordered increase in the basic wage of $17 a week the other day and people bitched about it.

Ask an American worker on the basic wage there what they would think of that. I know waiters and bar tenders who earn a pittance and get up each day and go to work and pray they get good tips.

I seriously wonder if the people protesting today really know how good things are here.

Thursday, June 30, 2005

©Copyright Derryn Hinch 2005