Comments on: When dead workers weren’t quite so important

By: Keith is not my real name

Keith is not my real name — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 01:14:13 +0000

@JOHN RYAN*

It was a joke :sigh: and Bernard knows that, as would would anybody who follows him on Twitter.

Here’s a handy tip for you, when somebody puts the emoticon at the end of a comment it usually means they’re taking the piss.

Did you know that you can learn all this and more on the Internet these days.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emoticon

By: David Sanderson

David Sanderson — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 23:11:17 +0000

Blind Freddy is certainly living up to his nom de guerre. He asks for “better investigative assessment of causality” of increased deaths in the building industry but is happy to attribute insulation deaths to Garrett with absolutely no causal link established.

That is just wilful blindness and a self-inflicted ideological injury.

By: oldskool

oldskool — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 23:05:18 +0000

So if bernard provides the references you requested, you will accept his point on the hypocrisy of the Media and the coalition?

Or will you pick another line of attack…

By: blind freddy

blind freddy — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 13:46:50 +0000

A glib , superficial overview of ministerial responsibility, for policy , which directly resulted in unnecessary deaths Rudd admitted as much Garret was the fall guy for the cabinet
Your claim of “massive increases” , in deaths , in the building industry needs 1. appropriate reference , or link for verification2 . better investigative assessment of causality
eg the Patel incident ,in Queensland , was a direct result of poor management , by the Beattie , Labour , government AND not as any consequence of the then Federal Minister Abbott

By: david

david — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 11:16:41 +0000

It appears the takeover by the Liberal religious right, of the media in this country is almost complete. The total ignore of Abbotts disgraceful 12 years as a Minister in the disgraced Howard Govt, as he was supported, applauded, congratulated at every turn, during his assault on Garrett and the Govt, by nearly every section of the media, was a sickening episode in this countries media responsibilities. More appalling is the weekly discourse between Abbott and Pell, which of course would also include the ongoing absolution for the non Christian bullshit Abbott lived in, while being the great pretender.
When the crap hits the fan, with Abbott, as it will the reaction of the media will be enthralling.

By: SBH

SBH — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 10:42:18 +0000

of course the real scandal in the building industy isn’t union thuggery or even infiltration by criminals. That stuff is small potatoes. It’s the cost of litigation and the screwing of subcontractors by head contractors. Last time I looked litigation added 45% to the cost of a major CBD development. The behaviour towards sub-contractors drives a short-cutting culture where ordinary workers have to fight with their boss who is being bitten every bit as hard as they are. None of this gets reported.

By: davidk

davidk — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 07:35:37 +0000

Excellent work Bernard. I also worked as a labourer in a previous life and remember all too well the dangers and the valuable role of unions. That all seemed to be conveniently overlooked during the Howard years with Peter Reith et al. I don’t remember the media being as virulent during the Hawke or Keating years, but they certainly were during Gough’s reign. The hypocrisy of the coalition never changes though. It has served them so well in the past that it never will, especially while they have Murdoch’s backing.

By: John Ryan

John Ryan — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 07:30:02 +0000

But what would you know Keith is not my real name,the reason this does not get raised is it does not suit Murdock’s papers to raise it,he was Howards chief backer,now he’s Abbotts.

By: Mack the Knife

Mack the Knife — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 06:20:10 +0000

Well done Bernard, I’d forgotten many of the issues you mentioned.

Certainly highlights the hypocrisy of the Coalition and the MSM for the average punter.

The Labor bashing has risen to such an intensity, I wonder if we will ever see a stepping back from the Foxtel style of smear and innuendo we see in the USA.

The last bastion of honesty in reporting (the ABC) also seems a thing of the past.

Thank god for Crikey.

By: michael crook

michael crook — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 06:13:32 +0000

Good article Bernard. I became radicalised to the left by spending 30 years in the construction and mining industry and seeing the complete absence of any interest in construction safety from employers in that time. I started as an administrator, then became a labourer (more money) and gradually worked myself up to project management roles on major construction projects, mainly mining and process plants.
The point I would like to make though, is that it is the states that have been responsible for the regulation and enforcement of construction safety, not the feds. The states have never taken this role seriously and it is just as bad under Labor, especially in Queensland, as it ever was under the conservatives. This is why the role of visiting union organisers was so important for safety and why when those visits were stopped the accident and fatality rates increased. Ideologies can and do kill.

By: Vincent Matthews

Vincent Matthews — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 06:07:05 +0000

Why didn’t Rudd, Garrett, Combet and others in government and Labor and unions point out this distortion and deceit in the outburst of Abbott and Team? Why was Abbott pantomime allowed to run full time by media and pollies without being demolished by Bernard’s evidence freely available?

By: Kristian Karamfiles

Kristian Karamfiles — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 05:37:09 +0000

Hi Bernard. Love your writing. Seriously.

However, when did “confected” become your word-of-the-week? I lost count, in Monday’s piece on Rudd’s self-flagellation and it popped up again today.

What were you reading on the weekend?

By: Cuppa

Cuppa — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 03:39:10 +0000

We will never know how many people lost pay, conditions, even their jobs under the Coalition’s SerfChoices, and how many of them took their own lives out of desperation.

The Coalition and their cheerleaders should hang their heads in shame.

Good article, Bernard. Your work is a refreshing breeze of difference to the dumbed-down groupthink drivel of the mainstream media.

By: Tom McLoughlin

Tom McLoughlin — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 03:38:46 +0000

Delivery work driving down George St mid morning Sydney CBD. Must have been about 2007. Behind wire gate and wood panel facade an industrial bin was being lowered to ground from a serious height on heavy wire lines, in a confined sort of work site. It had metal scaffolding poles in it. The bin somehow started spining around maybe once every 2 seconds or so, too fast. A worker was standing mere feet from it’s trajectory - presumably to settle it when it landed. Only it landed with a thump and a skid and the scaffolding rods rattled around.

I kept on driving, shaking my head. Not that queasy. Done a bit of mountaineering. Trekking up Kokoda on my own and stuff. To me that situation looked way dangerous and avoidable.

Another time, driving down Bellevue Hill, with scaffolding 4 levels high on a residential flat building renovation. Strong fit tradesman/builder is swinging level 3 to 4 with bare hands, no harness, like on a monkey bar. That’s what’s known as easy grade but high exposure 80 feet over concrete in climbing parlance. Where was the harness, steps, rail, anything? It might be easy start of day. What about some moisture gets on the rail. Tired at end of session? Dangerous? Ought to be a law about it. Drive on shaking my head.

By: Silver BB's

Silver BB's — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 03:29:10 +0000

Abbott was Minister for Health 2003 - 2007 under which an ‘area for need’ program bought us this warning in 2004 :

Hiring foreign doctors a worrying proposition, study finds
By Mark Metherell, Political Correspondent
October 4, 2004
“The Federal Government’s “Strengthening Medicare” scheme to recruit foreign doctors may be weakening Australia’s medical standards, according to new research.”

And through this program we got someone by the name of Jayant Patel, where Abbott managed to avoid scrutiny for a Federal program his department was responsible for.
“Overall, Patel is linked to at least 87 deaths out of the 1,202 patients he treated between 2003 to early 2005, 30 of whom died while under his care in Bundaberg.”

Well done to Australia’s media for a fair and balanced witch hunt politically motivated by News Corp. There is a pattern with this outfit :
Van Jones, the US environment minister responsible for similar efficiency initiatives was smeared and vilified over trumped up and subsequently withdrawn charges by Fox News in September of 2009 which led to his resignation.
http://mediamatters.org/research/200909090051

By: Keith is not my real name

Keith is not my real name — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 03:12:00 +0000

But what would you know Bernard? you’re just an ex Public Servant. You are NOT a journalist remember? and don’t forget that the fact you have never filed a news story = lack insight process.

By: klewso

klewso — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 03:05:41 +0000

Yes it does seem a recently noticed novelty to the media, and it’s during a Labor tenure of government too.
Just how “recent” can be judged by running a time-line of events over the last 12 months on this “hot (taking “8(?)” months from tepid to boiling) issue”, and the last 6 weeks in particular.
The first of “those deaths” didn’t rate much “media” notice, nor the second, third or fourth, for a few days anyway, and in that meantime between that poor kid’s death and when Abbott and co; did take up their “righteous cause”, about the only thing of note happening politically was Barnaby Joyce, “Alternate Finance Minister”, running around drawing flak and embarrassing questions about the “economic management skills” of the Coal-ition - for so long “a given” in much of their media PR machine, coupled with the added embarrrassment of the way the country had actually fared in the GFC under Rudd Labor - if his mob got in again!

By: SBH

SBH — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 03:02:17 +0000

And who gave us the Cole Commission? that would be Tony Abbott, the bloke bellowing about industrial manslaughter.

By: Jim Reiher

Jim Reiher — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 02:49:13 +0000

Our current leader of the Opposition was the Minister for Health under Howard. There were numerous unnecessary deaths in hospitals during that time. Did he think he was responsible? Should he have resigned?

I don’t like Garrett. I don’t like his environmental compromises. (Maybe he is hamstrung by the Labor party… maybe he is just a shallow hypocrite). But on this insulation issue? He has been made a scape goat in a ridiculous argument that Labor should NEVER have entertained.

When have ministers ever accepted responsibility and resigned because of deaths down the ladder of their portfolios? Maybe they all should. Or all shouldn’t. But to say some should and others don’t? Please….