Don't Rann-Sack WorkCover

The State Labor Government has introduced legislation to cut the WorkCover entitlements of South Australian workers. The proposed cuts will increase the burden on families who are already struggling due to low wages and the high costs of housing and essential services.

CFMEU Secretary Martin O'Malley speaking to the ABC:

"It's hard enough today struggling with the sort of income they get and then to then be told they're going to be punished so the profits of the employers can go up," he said.

"What sort of bloody system are we running, what sort of person is Mike Rann to allow that to happen?"

Much has been made of WorkCover's 'unfunded liability' which is said to be close to $1 billion. However, this is not an amount that needs to be paid out at any particular point in time as it is only an estimate of the ongoing costs into the future. As it stands at the moment WorkCover is more than able to cover it's current costs. There has been little mention of the fact that WorkCover's assets are nearly double that of the so-called 'unfunded liability'.

Rather than acting to preserve the rights of working people, which is supposedly a core value of the ALP, Mike Rann and his cronies would prefer to cut entitlements to workers in order to appease their bean counters and the business community.

This position of the State Government will no doubt force workers to return to work before making a full recovery or force them to return to workplaces where conditions are unsafe. Clearly this is not desirable for the worker, the employer or the long-term performance of the WorkCover scheme.

The CPA condemns this attack on working people and invites you to sign our petition in defence of the rights of injured workers.

Click here to sign the petition

BAE Drops A Bomb On Human Rights

You may have heard about Adelaide based Defence contractor BAE Systems and it's request for exemption from the Racial Discrimination Act. This outrageous request was granted in the Equal Opportunity commission today, giving BAE the right to refuse employment to applicants based on race, and to prevent current employees from working on some 'top secret' contracts. Workers from countries such as China, Iran, Cuba, Sudan, North Korea, Syria (and no doubt many others), will be denied the chance to work on lucrative U.S contracts despite holding Australian Citizenship.

As one might expect, BAE are seeking to take full advantage of this ruling by pursuing it's extension to the other Australian States.

True to form the Rann Labor Government, along with Attorney-General Michael Atkinson has welcomed the decision. It's clearly their position that the universal application of basic human rights shouldn't stand in the way of capitalist greed.

The Attorney-General made no apologies for supporting the ruling. "Billions of dollars in defence contracts for SA are now assured and I think more will come to SA now that this difficulty has been removed".

The CPA would like to congratulate our pro-business Labor Premier for placing South Australia in a position of subservience to the world's most dangerous imperialist power.

Citizens from one of the countries on the blacklist, Cuba, are about to go to the polls to elect new representatives to government. If those elected fail to represent their constituents as promised they can be quickly removed from their position at the will of the people. A similar system here would have seen Mike Rann packing his bags a long time ago.

When reflecting on this country's recent record on Human Rights, today's disgraceful decision in the Equal Opportunity Commission comes as little surprise. Here in South Australia the State Government has supported the building of illegal detention centres, it has aggressively pursued the construction of uranium mines on traditional lands (Arkaroola being the latest example), and it hasn't taken a single backward step in promoting S.A as the 'head office' of Australia's military industrial complex.

The question must be asked: Is this what Australian democracy delivers to its people?