Missing from the picture may be Kofi Annan, Robert Mugabe, Kim Jong il or any of many corrupt, inept or bloodthirsty tyrants.
Perhaps the Iranian one will help out in Burma. I know that Burmese are not generally Muslim, but then neither are the terrorists which Iran supports.
In Burma, today, people died for freedom, opposed by socalist dictators, which may be why so many socialist apologists are silent on the issue.
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On another issue, Workchoices legislation works. It is far more effective than the ALP trash it supercedes that the fact that it works is being labeled by ALP supporters as an example of malfunction.
AWA rejection 'proves confusion'
ReplyDeleteBy Susanna Dunkerley and Nikki Todd
THE rejection of 25,000 wage agreements by the workplace watchdog shows Work Choices is unfair, Federal Labor said today as the Government argued the figures demonstrate its fairness test is working.
Workplace Authority director Barbara Bennett today confirmed 45,000 agreements awaiting approval by the watchdog had required more information from employers before they could be passed.
She said 25,000 of those remained outstanding because up to 4000 employers had not resubmitted them for approval.
Opposition treasury spokesman Wayne Swan said the figures showed the Government's Work Choices laws were unfair to working Australians.
“The fact is Work Choices is fundamentally unfair, it takes away penalty rates, overtime and other basic conditions,” Mr Swan said.
He said the Government's new fairness test was “a political fix” that was confusing to both employers and employees.
“Small business is appalled by the red tape and complexity involved in Work Choices and working Australian families know how unfair this is,” Mr Swan said.
“It is an extreme piece of legislation which should be replaced and these figures prove it.”
ACTU President Sharan Burrow described the government's industrial relations laws as a “bureaucratic nightmare” that was frustrating employers.
“You've got a bureaucracy who is simply not coping with the number of applications,” she said.
“You have employers who are frustrated because there's no certainty, workers can still be ripped off and business can now face claims for back pay, all of that adds up to a bureaucratic nightmare.”
Workplace Relations Minister Joe Hockey rejected claims the number of failed applications reflected confusion among employers.
“We don't accept the numbers represent confusion,” a spokesman for Mr Hockey said.
He said the system is “very clear” and was protecting workers' rights.
“We acknowledge some employers would have agreements that were negotiated before all details of the fairness test were available but the system is very clear.”
“The Workplace Authority is defending workers by making sure they get the right money.
“If employers refuse to provide the information the authority will come down on the side of the worker and demand the agreement be scrapped and that back pay be paid.”
UN envoy heading to Burma
ReplyDeletefrom news.com.au
UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari heads to Burma today carrying worldwide hopes he can persuade its ruling generals to use negotiations instead of guns to end mass protests against 45 years of military rule.
“He's the best hope we have. He is trusted on both sides,” Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo said.
“If he fails, then the situation can become quite dreadful.”
Mr Gambari said today he was looking forward to “a very fruitful visit” to Myanmar.
Mr Gambari spoke briefly with reporters as he left his hotel in Singapore before heading to the airport to catch his flight to Burma's main city of Rangoon.
He said he was going “to deliver a message from the secretary-general to the leadership, a message that is very much by the Security Council and ASEAN, and I look forward to a very fruitful visit so that I can report progress on all fronts”.
Mr Gambari spent last night in Singapore, hotel sources said, having stopped over and met with officials after being dispatched to Burma by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday, when Burma's junta began a crackdown on anti-government protesters.
Mr Ban dispatched him to broker talks between the military and its pro-democracy opponents, who have mounted two weeks of mass nationwide rallies.
Members of the protest movement vowed to come out on the streets again today, despite a three-day offensive by security forces that has left at least 13 dead and hundreds more jailed.
“We are ready to go to town again. We will start it all over again and we are very hopeful that things will become much more intense as the hours go by,” one pro-democracy campaigner involved in the protests said.
“I expect quite a lot of people to be on the streets again today also,” he said.
US President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown yesterday led international condemnation of the violence, and renewed pleas to the Burma junta to make a “peaceful transition to democracy”.
Mr Gambari's itinerary has not been released, but on previous visits he has met with regime leader Senior General Than Shwe, and once with Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest for most of the past 18 years.
“We have called on the Burmese to allow him to be able to meet with anyone he wants to meet – the military leaders, the religious leaders and Aung San Suu Kyi,” White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said yesterday.
Rangoon, the focus of the protests which represent the strongest challenge to military rule in nearly two decades, was under extremely tight security this morning, with troops numbers visibly higher.
The two Rangoon-based army divisions which have spearheaded the crackdown have now been joined by 66 Division from Pago which lies northeast of the city.
The former capital's main pagodas, which have been rallying points for the protests, remained off-limits and 20 military trucks were stationed at Sule Pagoda in downtown Yangon.
Only a few people ventured onto the streets, marketplaces were closed, and a handful of private cars and taxis were on the roads.
The only people in sight were some householders rushing to buy essential food items before trouble breaks out again.
The Buddhist monks who initially led the protests, turning out on the streets in their thousands, were nowhere to be seen after a brutal campaign of arrests, bashings and monastery raids which has shocked the country.
Troops have blockaded many big monasteries, including those in the religious capital of Mandalay in central Burma, and monks are only allowed to move around in small groups.
Global pressure on the Burma regime has mounted in recent days as images of gunfire, baton charges and tear gas used against demonstrators has galvanised world opinion.
The US State Department announced more than three dozen additional government and military officials and their families would be barred from travelling to the United States.
Public protesters have shown their anger outside Burma embassies across the globe, including Canberra and the New Zealand city of Auckland.
The UN Human Rights Council called a special meeting on the Burma unrest for Tuesday in Geneva.
Burma's main internet connection was cut yesterday, severely reducing the flow of video, photos and first-hand reports of the violence which helped inform the world of the crisis in the isolated nation.
With Reuters