What better way to sum up HoWARd’s government and the things that really have had their time, than his sexist reaction to the ALP’s IR policy.

On 28/04/07, Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard announced Federal Labor’s Fair And Balanced Industrial Relations Policy.

The policy was not gender specific with regard to the Parental leave and Flexible work for parents provisions.

2. Parental leave – Federal Labor recognises that many families want to have a parent provide all or most of the care for a child during the first two years of the child’s life. A Rudd Labor Government will guarantee that both parents have the right to separate periods of up to 12 months of unpaid leave associated with the birth of a baby. Where families prefer one parent to take a longer period of leave, that parent will be entitled to request up to an additional 12 months of unpaid parental leave from their employer. The employer may only refuse the request for the additional 12 months leave on reasonable business grounds. This will guarantee that Australian working families have the flexibility of up to 24 months unpaid leave to provide care for their child.

3. Flexible work for parents – A Rudd Labor Government will guarantee a right for parents to request flexible work arrangements until their child reaches school age. Employers will only be able to refuse any request on reasonable business grounds.

John HoWARd, occupying redundant thinking on a redundant time line instantly came out with this assumptive howler-

“You run the risk that some employers will avoid employing women, in particular, with young children.” – John HoWARd.

What’s incredible is that HoWARd demanded an apology from the buffoon for this, but did not for a second consider the offensiveness of his own remark.

It must be time to be rid of the pre-Copernican obscurantist.

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Why might it be that the practice of terminating a pregnancy would be an ethical issue for more and more doctors in Britain? Some doctors have been anti-abortion for their entire career, but in recent times an increase towards anti-abortion doctors is being observed.

Is this because more and more doctors are Christian or pro-life, or is it because they see performing an abortion as menial and unglamorous work?

A recent article reports:

“There has been a big rise in young medics with ‘conscientious objections’ to abortion. The increase has been revealed by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. It says there is evidence of a ‘slow, but growing problem’ of young doctors opting out of abortion training on moral grounds.” -Source

“Medically, abortion really isn’t a popular thing to do, it is not a very technical or demanding operation and it’s actually quite disheartening. There’s no handshakes or slaps on the backs afterwards, or the sense that you’ve done something great for someone. The best you can hope for is a sense of relief that it is over.” -Dr. James Gerrard.

This potential shortage of doctors qualified, experienced and willing to perform abortions has prompted abortion advocates to call for a change in the current British law which would allow nurses to carry out early surgical and medical abortions. Trained nurses and paramedics in Vietnam and South Africa perform early abortions extremely successfully and have done so for some time.

I would welcome having the option of having an abortion performed by a suitably trained nurse or paramedic. It makes sense to be cared for by a professional who is often female, always available and genuinely pro-choice.

Moreover, we should resist doctors who pathologise our bodies and our desires, AND abrogate our rights . Boycott these doctors in favour of the ones who will treat your elbow with the same care and attention as your vulva.

As for the Hospital of St John and St Elizabeth in North London, I would not recommend it as a place for a woman expecting a holistic service.

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Violence towards another is surely to be condemned.

Research now shows that a woman’s partner and that person’s behaviour can play a predictive role on whether a woman continues with, or terminates, a pregnancy.

The secondary analysis of data from the Australian Longitudinal Study of Women’s Health, by Dr. Angela Taft and Ms. Lyndsey Watson, of Mother and Child Health Research, La Trobe University, was published on 03/04/07 in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health.

“The study of 9,683 young Australian women aged 22 to 27 found that those reporting either teenage abortions or abortions later in their 20s, were more than three times as likely to have been abused by a partner as those who didn’t terminate.”

I’m hoping that two things happen out of this data analysis.

1. The need to stop violence against women takes on broader community appeal.
2. People who insist on making comments such as abortions are the result of selfish women making lifestyle choices can have their assumptions challenged.

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In the US, the Maine National Guard is using a unique method to help families connect to their loved ones deployed in Iraq. They’re life-sized cardboard cutouts. If your father (or mother) is deployed in Iraq, you can get a Flat Daddy to help keep the absent parent involved in family life.

“Many military units can provide families with a life-size cardboard cutout of their overseas warrior. The family can then take that figure to parties, put it in the passenger seat of their car, take it to bed or do whatever it is that families want to with a replica of their loved one. Named after Flat Stanley, a children’s book character who was squashed flat, the cutouts have been a surprise hit since they were introduced. In Maine alone, the state’s National Guard has given out more than 200 Flat Soldiers since January. Experts believe the cutouts are a useful psychological device, especially for children, that helps cope with the stress of long absences. It allows the family to genuinely feel the missing person is still involved in day-to-day life.”- Source.

In NSW, we have just had a state election where the winning Labor party Premier Morris Iemma, amongst other things, stated that the Coalition government’s WorkChoices campaign was a factor in their loss.

I want the federal Labor party to start giving out Flat Daddies and Flat Mummies to any children that tell a caregiver, teacher, Nanna, Pop, or friends that they miss their working parent, be they in or out of the military, and they don’t get to see enough of them. I want this done to highlight just how little work/life balance WorkChoices legislation affords the working parents of Australian children.

It would also remind Australians, in an election year, that we are still in an illegal war in Iraq!

All last week it’s been it goes to his character from the government, when we ask why we should take an interest in the character assassination on Kevin Rudd and who he has dinner with.

Then came news of Ian Campbell and his meeting with Rudd’s dinner man. Then we heard of Santo Santoro’s shares in a biotechnology company.

Our PM had earlier this week sacked Campbell and defended Santoro over news he had failed to disclose a share deal which had a conflict of interest with his portfolio responsibilities for the aged.

“I do not believe that the failure to get rid of these shares was… and other matters relating to them was anything other than inadvertent. Once the failure to expose them entered his (Senator Santoro’s) consciousness and he became aware of it, he took immediate steps, and he was quite open. And he got rid of them and profit was made, but it was not retained and he donated the profit to a charity. And I think that was the right thing to do.” – John HoWARd.

“There is no excuse for somebody not complying with the rules. I can accept you can overlook one, but you can’t overlook a score or more, no-one is going to believe that and he (Senator Santoro) doesn’t claim that.” – John HoWARd.

So, as I understand it, and analysing HoWARd’s logic and behaviour, he does not actually value rules, or codes of conduct. He operates on a Can I/we get away with it’ mentality. If that falls over there exists an arbitrary, unknown number where the ‘no excuses’ rule has to kick in.

Your behaviour is fundamentally dishonest- honest John.

Well it’s either that or John HoWARd is a poor judge of character.

Either way, I have seen enough of John HoWARd’s character to say no thank you.

Update: 1,2,3 and 4 remain an oversight

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