In the face of the latest post-budget concern by the commentariat that there will be a wages break out under Labor’s Industrial Relations regime, the Government is at pains to assure us that wages will only increase by improvements in productivity.
Productivity increases for wage increases have been a feature of Australian IR since the days of Hawke’s Wages Accord. While productivity is certainly an important factor in wage remuneration, it cannot logically be the only determinant. For example, a worker employed in the public sector would have to be twice as productive to earn the same relative amount once the cost of living has doubled. Read more »
The concept of the under-performing school is simply a tool for politicians to disguise their own unwillingness to provide appropriate resources to the education system to help lessen the impact of social inequality. 
Senior Liberals are reportedly switching their allegiance from Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson to Malcolm Turnbull. Why bother? For the foreseeable future the Liberals will remain as useless as tits on a bull. 
One of the novel characteristics of Kevin Rudd as Prime Minister is that, despite his 
I’ve never heard such unmitigated prognosticative crap spoken in the current round of budget commentary. As 
If bringing out Lord ‘Dolly’ Downer to characterise the 2020 Summit as a revival of a politically-correct Keating-esque leftist elitist love-in is any measure, then the Summit has been a great success. Detractors continue to deride the 2020 Summit as being all spin without substance — a sycophantic gathering of hand-picked mates (Bill Heffernan?) to reflect and affirm the Government’s agenda. 
Professor Peter Doherty asks in 
The Oasis: Australia’s Homeless Youth, a heart-rending documentary on homelessness filmed over two years in the life of Salvation Army Captain Paul Moulds as he helps a myriad of broken people. People whose spirits have been crushed by neglect, abandonment, and abuse. People dependent on alcohol and drugs to numb the pain as close to death as you be without being dead. 
“Australia is suffering from a pilot shortage causing the suspension of services around the country. The global demand for pilots is high and many Australian trained pilots are being lured overseas.” 