Goffer posted:

Don't mean to be a downer but are kids really any safer from molestation inside a church?

quote:

The union representing low-paid workers at Coles stores knew some might be financially worse off under an agreement it struck with the supermarket giant but did not tell its members, the Fair Work Commission has been told.

An industrial officer for the Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Association also told the commission that the union knew some workers could be financially worse off under the agreement than under the award when it signed a statutory declaration saying the agreement should be approved.

An executive director of consultancy firm Ernst and Young was also accused of "cutting and pasting" portions of an expert report tendered by Coles to support its contention that the deal would leave workers better off.

The deal, which would affect 77,000 Coles workers Australia-wide, is under scrutiny after a Coles worker in Queensland claimed it would leave many employees out of pocket. By law, no enterprise bargaining agreement can leave workers worse off than they would be under the award, the basic wages safety net.

The employee, Duncan Hart, is now fighting both the powerful union and the giant supermarket chain in the commission, with the help of a Melbourne unionist Josh Cullinan, who is working on the case in a personal capacity.

Although the deal was originally approved by the commission, the process was halted last year after Mr Cullinan and Mr Hart provided evidence that a substantial proportion of Coles' workforce might be worse off under the agreement.

At a hearing this week, union industrial officer Matthew Galbraith was cross-examined by Siobhan Kelly, acting for Mr Hart, about the negotiation process for the agreement.

Mr Galbraith admitted that some workers would be financially worse off under the agreement, that the union did not provide workers with a copy of the award so they could compare the two, and that it would be impossible for workers to determine whether they were worse off without having the award.

He admitted that Coles employees, who voted to accept the agreement, might not have done so if they had known they could be financially worse off.

Ms Kelly asked Mr Galbraith: "Did you explain to the employees that some of them would earn less than the statutory award minimum?" to which Mr Galbraith replied: "I don't believe that was explained, no."

Ms Kelly then asked whether union representatives did not believe that detail was relevant.

"I don't think it's that they considered that it wasn't relevant. I think they considered that it was a deal that was generally beneficial to the majority of employees that worked for Coles," Mr Galbraith said.

"If they had that information, they may have voted differently."

Ms Kelly asked: "Was the SDA aware at the time the agreement went out to vote that some employees would earn less than the award minimum?"

Mr Galbraith replied: "The SDA's aware that the employees who work predominantly penalty rate times without the compensation of higher base rates of those hours during the week could potentially be worse off."

Earlier in the hearing, an executive director of Ernst and Young was accused of "cutting and pasting" portions of an expert report she prepared for Coles from other sources.

Louise Rolland was unable to explain why parts of the reports were identical to material in other studies.

"You represented this as your own work, while in fact it had been cut and pasted," Ms Kelly said while cross examining Ms Rolland.

Ms Rolland replied: "No, that wasn't my intention."

Ms Rolland blamed "researchers" at the firm for the alleged copying of other material. At the start of the hearing, lawyers for Coles tendered a list of corrections to Ms Rolland's references.

In another exchange, Ms Kelly questioned Ms Rolland about references in her report to the fact that 27 per cent of domestic violence victims lose their jobs, a high figure that would make the domestic violence leave provision in the agreement more valuable to Coles workers.

Ms Rolland admitted that the actual figure in the research she cited — the Swanburg report — was between five and 27 per cent, that she did not know where the study was conducted, what the socio-economic background of the participants was, what their health status was, their racial background or what their employment status was.

"Where, in your report, can I find an explanation of the lack of available Australia data and the assumptions that you used to apply the American report of Swanburg, to generate the statistic in the absence of having read the Swanburg report? I won't find that in your report, will I?" Ms Kelly asked.

Ms Rolland replied: "No."

Ernst and Young refused to comment as the matter is still before the commission.

In response to the evidence given by Mr Galbraith, the SDA's national secretary Gerard Dwyer said he disagreed with his own industrial officer, and that the union stood by its claim that all Coles employees would be better off under the agreement than under the award.

"It's an agreement that's built on almost two decades of negotiations inside this company, it was a negotiation process across some six months, over 20 meetings, three unions involved and we negotiated in good faith, we arrived at an outcome where we were satisfied that the employees in Coles would be better off overall when you're looking at the package in its entirety," Mr Dwyer told the ABC today.

Mr Dwyer said the entitlements in the agreement, which apart from longer breaks and paid meal breaks include blood donor leave, sporting leave, study leave, natural disaster leave and emergency services leave, make up for any financial shortfall.

"The Coles proposal has to be looked at in its entirety, not cheap shots in terms of headlines in articles ... of course this is complex and that's why the Fair Work Commission is examining the Coles agreement, there are complexities with bargaining, we've conducted ourselves through that bargaining process in good faith," he said.

Earlier in the hearing, Mr Cullinan's analysis of the agreement was questioned by lawyers acting for Coles and the SDA.

During his evidence Mr Cullinan was queried by Commissioner Julius Roe over not including undertakings that Coles had made, during an earlier hearing before the commission, to increase the loading paid to casual workers to 25 per cent.

Mr Cullinan's calculations about the losses that casual Coles workers endured under the new agreement was based on a casual loading of 20 per cent.

Mr Cullinan said he had never put himself forward as an expert and had conducted his analysis in an effort to raise concerns about the fairness of the deal with the Fair Work Commission.

In response to the evidence given this week, a Coles spokesperson said more than 90 per cent of employees voted to accept the agreement.

"Our Store Team Agreement delivers an average 3 per cent increase in annual base wage rates for more than 75,000 team members — that's well ahead of inflation," she said.

"Already our store team members have received two pay rises since July 2015 and two further increases are scheduled in 2016 under the Agreement. Coles maintains the view that this is a good Agreement for our team, and we will continue to make that case very strongly to the Commission."

gay picnic defence posted:

Is there a reason the ALP tolerates the SDA? Surely a party that aims to improve the lot of workers would've cut ties with such a poo poo union by now.

gay picnic defence posted:

Recognising same-sex marriages that took place overseas would challenge Australia’s sovereignty by making the country “beholden” to foreign laws, Liberal backbencher Cory Bernardi said.

gay picnic defence posted:

Is there a reason the ALP tolerates the SDA? Surely a party that aims to improve the lot of workers would've cut ties with such a poo poo union by now.

turdbucket posted:

The party hasn't aimed to improve the lot of workers for years, look at what happened with FairWork. Why would they cut ties? the SDA is the ALP and the ALP is the SDA, they're the same people with the same goals and mindset.

gay picnic defence posted:

Recognising same-sex marriages that took place overseas would challenge Australia’s sovereignty by making the country “beholden” to foreign laws, Liberal backbencher Cory Bernardi said.

gay picnic defence posted:

Recognising same-sex marriages that took place overseas would challenge Australia’s sovereignty by making the country “beholden” to foreign laws, Liberal backbencher Cory Bernardi said.

starkebn posted:

I ate 468 Iced Vovos on Australia Day

get on my level

starkebn posted:

I ate 468 Iced Vovos on Australia Day

get on my level

Mattjpwns posted:

Hi Auspol,

Long time no shitpost.

http://www.watoday.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/malcolm-turnbulls-financial-stake-in-7eleven-under-scrutiny-20160204-gmlikw.html



See you in another six months or so.

Birb Katter posted:

Your talent is wasted here, I hope the next 6 months are spent posting somewhere healthier.

Mattjpwns posted:

The SC games thread is pretty amazing, I love rubbernecking a trainwreck.

Come election time you won't be able to get rid of me. Misery loves company.

Anidav posted:

Pictured: Clive Palmer counting all the money he saved after the scrapping of the carbon tax, sources say it was put in a vending machine. The can of cola got stuck, Mr. Palmer then bought the vending machine itself.

Vladimir Poutine posted:

Leaked government document outlines tougher migration program, increased monitoring of refugees posted:

A leaked Cabinet document suggests Immigration Minister Peter Dutton is planning to make sweeping changes to the Government's humanitarian resettlement program, making it harder to get permanent residency and increasing monitoring of migrants.

The document obtained by Lateline reveals the extent of the Government's concerns about terrorism and the lengths it is prepared to go to keep radicals out of Australia.

Marked "protected", "sensitive" and "cabinet", the document is believed to contain recommendations for Mr Dutton to present to Cabinet's National Security Committee.

The document points to the recent attacks in Paris and unrest in Germany as it outlines "a package of reforms to simplify Australia's visa framework and create stronger controls over access to permanent residence and citizenship". Those changes include:

• An enforceable integration framework to assess aspiring migrants' suitability for life in Australia
  
• A revamped citizenship test and citizenship pledge
  
• Enhanced access, use and protection of sensitive information to strengthen intelligence-led, risk-based decision making, from pre-visa stage through to post-citizenship conferral.

Presumably, that would mean refugees brought to Australia under its humanitarian program would be closely monitored, even after they become Australian citizens.

The document says Mr Dutton will bring forward the proposals in the first half of 2016 "to reform the visa framework and remove direct access to permanent residence to better align visa and citizenship decision-making with national security and community protection outcomes".

Removing direct access to permanent residence would see bona fide refugees accepted by Australia no longer given the certainty of a life in Australia.

Links between terrorist attacks and humanitarian intake

The document cites links between terrorist attacks on Australian soil and its humanitarian intake, pointing to the Martin Place gunman Man Haron Monis, Parramatta police shooter Farhad Jabar and the Melbourne knife attack by Abdul Haider.

Leaked document posted:

It is expected some refugees from [the Syria] conflict will bring issues, beliefs or associations that lead them to advocate or engage in politically motivated or communal violence.

It points out that all were either refugees or dependents of recent migrants.

There are also specific concerns raised about the 12,000 additional Syrian refugees the Federal Government announced it would take in September last year.

The document says "it is expected some refugees from this conflict will bring issues, beliefs or associations that lead them to advocate or engage in politically motivated or communal violence".

Since September, the expected surge of migrants from Syria has been a trickle of just over 20 people.

The document says the Department of Immigration will "apply additional screening criteria to the 12,000 Syrian intake and extend this, where possible on a risk basis, to the humanitarian program".

'Lessons learned' from Lebanese migrants

Meanwhile, the Lebanese community is singled out in the document as the "most prominent ethnic group amongst Australian Sunni extremists".

The document points to "lessons learned" after a wave of migration to Australia as a result of the Lebanese civil war between 1975 and 1990.

"Australia's historical experience with the Sunni Lebanese community illustrate potential community safety and national security risks associated with unsuccessful integration," it said.

The document says Australia's intake from the Lebanese conflict "was largely from the poorer and uneducated Lebanese Muslim population", introducing a new element to the largely Christian Lebanese community in Australia.

"This led to the transportation to Australia of a Sunni community which included elements who already held extremist beliefs or who were more highly receptive to extremist messages," it said.

Earlier this week Mr Dutton told Lateline the Government had strict measures in place to assess those wanting to come to Australia.

"We look through each of those cases to make sure that the bona fides are established and as I say, very importantly, we conduct biometric tests and conduct those tests in a very rigorous way and we work with our US, UK and Canadian partners to make sure that we can mitigate any threat that might come from people that would pose themselves as refugees but aren't true refugees," he said.

But the document also outlines another way refugees are being selected.

"Australia is prioritising family groups who have been registered with UNHCR for lengthy periods to further reduce the potential for deliberate extremist infiltration," it said.

That would mean those fleeing some of the most deadly conflicts in recent months are unlikely to make to Australian shores.

Lateline requested an interview with Mr Dutton but he was unavailable for comment. A spokesman from the Immigration Department said draft proposals often came before Government but were not adopted.

thatfatkid posted:

The recent wave of Pavel spamming is the stupidest thing to happen to the auspol thread since anidav liveblogging on his career or lack thereof.

Birdstrike posted:

and yet still has more value than your combined posting history

Jonah Galtberg posted:

It points out that all were either refugees or dependents of recent migrants.

There are also specific concerns raised about the 12,000 additional Syrian refugees the Federal Government announced it would take in September last year.

The document says "it is expected some refugees from this conflict will bring issues, beliefs or associations that lead them to advocate or engage in politically motivated or communal violence".[/b]

Since September, the expected surge of migrants from Syria has been a trickle of just over 20 people.

The document says the Department of Immigration will "apply additional screening criteria to the 12,000 Syrian intake and extend this, where possible on a risk basis, to the humanitarian program".

'Lessons learned' from Lebanese migrants

Meanwhile, the Lebanese community is singled out in the document as the "most prominent ethnic group amongst Australian Sunni extremists".

The document points to "lessons learned" after a wave of migration to Australia as a result of the Lebanese civil war between 1975 and 1990.

"Australia's historical experience with the Sunni Lebanese community illustrate potential community safety and national security risks associated with unsuccessful integration," it said.

The document says Australia's intake from the Lebanese conflict "was largely from the poorer and uneducated Lebanese Muslim population", introducing a new element to the largely Christian Lebanese community in Australia.

"This led to the transportation to Australia of a Sunni community which included elements who already held extremist beliefs or who were more highly receptive to extremist messages," it said.

Earlier this week Mr Dutton told Lateline the Government had strict measures in place to assess those wanting to come to Australia.

"We look through each of those cases to make sure that the bona fides are established and as I say, very importantly, we conduct biometric tests and conduct those tests in a very rigorous way and we work with our US, UK and Canadian partners to make sure that we can mitigate any threat that might come from people that would pose themselves as refugees but aren't true refugees," he said.

But the document also outlines another way refugees are being selected.

"Australia is prioritising family groups who have been registered with UNHCR for lengthy periods to further reduce the potential for deliberate extremist infiltration," it said.

That would mean those fleeing some of the most deadly conflicts in recent months are unlikely to make to Australian shores.

Lateline requested an interview with Mr Dutton but he was unavailable for comment. A spokesman from the Immigration Department said draft proposals often came before Government but were not adopted.

Could have bolded it all really

Laserface posted:

Wait, are you telling me we are still bad at refugees? jee whiz what a week. so much has changed!

Laserface posted:

Wait, are you telling me we are still bad at refugees? jee whiz what a week. so much has changed!

Birdstrike posted:

and yet still has more value than your combined posting history

WhiskeyWhiskers posted:

What would you like to talk about?

quote:

An infamous far-right, anti-Islam campaigner who helped lead a boycott against halal certification has been caught out ordering from a kebab store which locals claim is halal certified.
Blair Cottrell has been aligned with both United Patriots Front and Reclaim Australia, groups known for 'outing' restaurants and suppliers with halal certified products, believing the practise funds Islamic terrorism.
But on Wednesday, the Victorian nationalist was spotted at Karingal Kebabs in Frankston, south-east Melbourne - a kebab store which locals claim is halal certified.

Anidav posted:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tu1QwdiK5rk

adamantium|wang posted: