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Recorder: March 2010 – Issue No. 265. p. 1
March 2010 – Issue No. 265
In this edi.on: 2nd Fisher Government Centenary, By Peter Love, pp. 1-‐2John Ellis’ Birthday CelebraJon, by Peter Love, pp. 2-‐4 Event, Abolishing Poverty, p. 4DicJonary of Australian PoliJcs, p. 4
New Commissioners for FWA, by Peter Love, p. 5NoJces, p. 5Events of Interest, pp. 5-‐6Melbourne branch ASSLH contacts & meeJng place, p.6
The end of next month is the centenary of the 2nd Fisher government’s swearing-‐in. As David Day showed in his recent biography of Andrew Fisher, that government le@ a remarkable legislaBve legacy of naBon-‐building projects, many of which are with us today as enduring insBtuBons in naBonal life. [1]
As many other Labor governments have known, a solid electoral majority is a necessary precondiBon to a successful legislaBve program. The 13 April 1910 federal elecBon delivered a healthy majority for the ALP in both Houses of the Parliament, as well as a clear mandate for its policies. When it was sworn in on 29 April the Fisher government commanded 41 votes in the House of RepresentaBves. The recent Liberal Fusion held 31 seats, and was sBll uneasy about its differences over free trade or protecBon. There were three Independents. The Senate, which was elected under a different system to the one we have used since 1949, had 22 Labor senators to the Fusion’s 14. In short, Fisher faced none of the ALP’s usual legislaBve impediments. In its three year tenure the 2nd Fisher government put 113 Acts on the statute book.[2] It set a brisk pace in its first year. Among some apparently minor maUers were the transfer of the Northern Territory from South Australian control
to the Commonwealth, amendment to the ArbitraBon Act to cover domesBc servants and rural workers, the introducBon of ‘compulsory conferences’ to help resolve disputes, preference to unionists and the power to set minimum wages. It established a Naval Board, as a precursor to the formaBon of an Australian Navy. Some of the immediately important maUers introduced in 1910 were the Australian Notes Act, which set up an Australian currency for the first Bme and began to displace bank notes from circulaBon and the land tax acts which imposed a tax levy on unimproved land valued at over £5,000. The following two years however were especially producBve in laying legislaBve foundaBons for naBon building.
The Commonwealth Bank Act 1911 established a government owned savings and trading bank which, over Bme, became not only the Commonwealth government’s own banker, but a de facto reserve bank, as the Scullin government learned to its cost in 1929-‐31. It became a commanding insBtuBon in the Australian financial system and, although now privaBsed and less interested in its original civic purposes, served its core funcBons since it began operaBons in 1913 to generaBons of Australians.
RecorderOfficial organ of the Melbourne Branch of the Australian Society for the Study of Labour History
** If you have not yet renewed your membership for 2010 please see attached form **
1910-1913 FISHER GOVERNMENT CENTENARY
By Peter Love
Registered by Australia Post PRINT POST 306-181-0004-ISSN-0155-8722
Recorder: March 2010 – Issue No. 265. p. 2
The Kalgoorlie to Port Augusta Railway Act 1911 mandated the construcBon of a transconBnental railway line. This was both a pracBcal and symbolic link between the eastern states and the west, affirming that WA really did belong in a FederaBon it had iniBally been reluctant to join. An Act to commence on a north-‐south line came to nothing.
In a series of minor measures, the Fisher government set out the future direcBon of Commonwealth-‐State financial relaBons when in 1910 it passed the Surplus Revenue Act which changed the formula by which surplus funds were transferred to the states to a per capita basis. While this might have favoured the more populous states, the Tasmania Grant Act 1912 began the use of special purpose grants to the States under SecBon 96 of the ConsBtuBon. Such grants are now the normal means by which the Commonwealth Bes its policy strings to money that the States spend on maUers normally their responsibility.
The Fisher cabinet also iniBated improvements to the welfare of ordinary Australians. In 1912 it added maternity allowances by way of a ‘baby bonus’ to the aged pension in the naBonal social services system. The Commonwealth Workmen’s CompensaBon Act of 1912 established compulsory insurance to fund a
compensaBon system for federal employees who suffered from industrial accidents or diseases.
It was a government that saw an acBve role for agencies of the state to establish and maintain civic infrastructure, to provide services to ciBzens in genuine need, to strengthen the financial system, extend arbitraBon to more workers and stabilise the FederaBon with a benign Federal hand at the Bller. The 2nd Fisher government was one of the more successful governments in the early years of the 20th century, but its substanBal achievements have been overshadowed by the drama surrounding some and the claims made for later governments by virtue of louder advocacy rather than more substanBal achievements. A closer examinaBon of the historical record will show that this was truly a naBon building government whose record might only be surpassed by the CurBn-‐Chifley governments with their warBme leadership and post-‐war reconstrucBon.
1. David Day, Andrew Fisher, Sydney, Harper Collins Australia, 2009. For a shorter bio, see D. J. Murphy, ‘Fisher, Andrew (1862-‐1928)’, Australian Dic2onary of Biography, volume 8, Melbourne University Press, 1981.
2. For a precise summary of the government’s record see, Geoffrey Sawer, Australian Federal Poli2cs and Law, 1901-‐1929, Melbourne University Press, 1956, chapter 6.
Many Recorder readers will know John as a typeseUer at the Herald and Weekly Times where he was a shop steward for the PKIU, as a keen musician and chorister with the Victorian Trade Union Choir, and an indefaBgable poliBcal acBvist. Most of us, however, know him as the man behind the camera at radical and working class events since the late 1960s. Over some forty years he has taken more than 15,000 photos of labour and social movement acBvity. His remarkable collecBon is now held in the University of Melbourne Archives. To celebrate his unsBnBng devoBon to industrial agitaBon, poliBcal radicalism and documentary photography, his partner Dianne Jones and a devoted band of comrades arranged a
JOHN ELLIS80th BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION
By Peter Love
Recorder: March 2010 – Issue No. 265. p. 3
birthday party for him at Trades Hall on Sunday 29 November 2009. More than one hundred of his friends, young and old, joined in the cheerful, occasionally piss-‐taking, jollificaBon.
John Brant Ellis was born on 3 December 1929 in Port Melbourne where, as a child, he revelled in the wharf as his playground and absorbed the culture of waterfront working class life. Music was also an important part of his boyhood. He joined the South Melbourne City Band as a cornet player and when he went on May Day marches added the Interna5onale to his growing repertoire. Over Bme, he also learned to play string and woodwind instruments. In later years he has indulged his passion for music in choral singing.
In 1945 he began an apprenBceship as a hand and machine compositor, including six years training as a linotype operator. Like many skilled, curious tradesmen of his generaBon, he was swept along on the Bde of technological change and became very interested in the new phototypesehng process. He worked on aspects of that at the Herald and Weekly Times from 1955 unBl his reBrement in 1990. During those years he made a number of overseas trips, which o@en combined his professional, poliBcal and cultural interests.
As an acBve union member, he o@en crossed swords with HWT management who, before Rupert, were a liUle more benign in their ahtude to shop floor militancy. In an inspired move, they simultaneously promoted and moved him sideways out to Hawthorn
in 1960 where he joined Herald Gravure Printers, and threw in a travelling scholarship to the United States and Europe for good measure.
Around the same Bme he became involved with the Congress for InternaBonal Co-‐operaBon and Disarmament, the first of many social movement engagements. He has not, however, been a member of a poliBcal party. Irritated by the security agents who took photographs of CICD demonstraBons, he began to take pictures of them as a Bt-‐for-‐tat response. This all fiUed rather nicely with his less arduous workload at Hawthorn. He used the HWT equipment to develop his photographs and to print leaflets as ‘foreigners’ for his acBvist comrades’ campaigns. This rather cosy arrangement was too good to last. With Rupert new at the helm, the workplace culture changed. Management tried to sack him during a strike over technological change in the mid-‐1970s, but he survived in the job unBl reBrement in 1990, just months short of the plant’s closure. It was made redundant by the introducBon of offset prinBng technology in the industry.
All the while, John developed his skills as a documentary photographer of radical causes, assembling a huge collecBon of images that recorded almost every movement that campaigned for peace, equality and jusBce. His eye, and the resulBng photographs, are disBnguished by an empatheBc engagement with his subjects. As an acBvist, he parBcipates in the events and so sees things that more detached observers might miss. Knowing the issues and the people, he is o@en beUer prepared for that decisive moment in a rally or demonstraBon when fleeBng but significant events are likely to occur. The Ellis collecBon at the University of Melbourne Archives
Recorder: March 2010 – Issue No. 265. p. 4
gives eloquent tesBmony to the historical significance of his work as a photographic parBcipant observer.
At his birthday celebraBon his old PKIU comrade, historian Val Noone paid a warm and gently ironic tribute to John’s remarkable contribuBon to the progressive, humanist impulses in Australian poliBcal culture, and to his role as a very effecBve ‘troublemaker’ at work. Sarah Brown spoke with loving sincerity about his remarkable commitment to the preservaBon of our shared radical heritage and his devoBon to music through the Victorian Trade Union Choir. At one point in the proceedings a sequence of photographs were projected onto the wall showing John being wheeled out of Trades Hall on an ambulance gurney. It captured a moment a@er he had collapsed during a VTUC performance and as paramedics were hoisBng him onto the gurney, he thrust his camera into the hand of his unofficial apprenBce, suggesBng that the incident might make a good shot. Everyone in the room understood how typical that was.
The a@ernoon ended with a right old nosh-‐up in the Victoria Street foyer of Trades Hall, with an appropriately decorated birthday cake as an aide memoir to many fond and wry reminiscences.
Although John’s photographic collecBon remains the single best visual collecBon of Australian radicalism over the last fi@y years, more work needs to be done on its cataloguing and conservaBon. If any Recorder readers would like to offer material support for that, they can contact Peter Love, whose address appears at the back of this ediBon, to discuss possible ways they can help.
We are also pleased to report that this is far from a premature obituary. John is sBll very acBve and has
just bought a new camera! If you see him, look natural but don’t stare at the lens.
AddiJonal informaJon for this piece was drawn from Barbara Godlewski, 'John Ellis', Queenscliffe Herald, August 2002. Photographs by Peter Love.
Tuesday 9 March 2010
Abolishing poverty: the human rights priority
A discussion about creaBng opportuniBes for the poor to lead decent lives to their fullest potenBal.
SPEAKERS
Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus – Economist and Banker, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Tim Costello AO – CEO World Vision Australia, Melbourne
Dr Helen Szoke – Commissioner, Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission,
Melbourne (Moderator)
Right Hon. Robert Doyle – Lord Mayor of the City of Melbourne (Welcome)
VENUE
Melbourne Recital Centre Cnr Southbank Boulevard & Sturt Street, Southbank – behind the NGV St Kilda
Rd and opposite ABC studios.
TIME
5pm to 6.15pm (Entry from 4.30pm)
Robert Corcoran and Jackie Dickenson have released A Dic5onary of Australian Poli5cs. At the launch Bob introduced the book (published by Allen & Unwin) with a quote ‘you can ignore poliBcs, but poliBcs will not ignore you’. A fuller report will appear in the next ediBon.
Abolishing poverty:
The human rights priority
A Dictionary of Australian Politics
Recorder: March 2010 – Issue No. 265. p. 5
Your Recorder correspondent aUended the ceremonial sihng of Fair Work Australia on Friday 26 February that was held to formally welcome the four new Commissioners appointed since the new Act came into operaBon. As many readers will know Commissioners BisseU, Gooley, Roe and Ryan came from trade union backgrounds. In addiBon to their merits as fair-‐minded, independent people with wide experience of managing conflict in the workplace, they were chosen by the Commonwealth Government in parBal redress of the Commissioners appointed by the previous government who all came from employer backgrounds.
The proceedings were interesBng in at least two respects. There were short, formal welcome speeches from a representaBve of the Commonwealth Department, an employer and ACTU advocate. Each reviewed the new appointees’ qualificaBons and experience in a generous manner and highlighted the qualiBes that each Commissioner would bring to resolving difficulBes in the workplace and the labour marke t . I t was remarkab le to hea r how enthusiasBcally the three speakers welcomed a return to the triparBte principles that informed the new Act and was signified by the new Commissioners.
It was also very interesBng to hear how each of the new Commissioners responded to these welcome speeches. They too were enthusiasBc about triparBte industrial relaBons and the possibility of resolving conflict in the Commission rather than by direct industrial biffo. It is almost certain that a full record of the proceedings has been kept. Recorder readers who access that might find the speeches of Ryan and Roe interesBng as examples of where each had come from and how they see their task.
The new Commission is an interesBng story in itself and many of us will be watching developments closely.
By Peter Love
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The Branch records with regret the deaths of Michael Freeman, Alma Morton and Sarah Neave. All of whom, in their own way, spent much of their lives fighBng for social jusBce. Our condolences go out to their families.
Geoff Strong’s obituary for Michael Freeman (16-‐03-‐1938 – 06-‐02-‐2010) appeared in The Age on 9 February 2010. It can be read online at:
hUp://www.theage.com.au/naBonal/a-‐fixture-‐on-‐the-‐age-‐leUers-‐page-‐20100208-‐nnb0.html
Dr Joseph Toscano’s obituary for Alma Morton (22-‐09-‐1915 – 13-‐12-‐2009) appeared in The Age, 5 January 2010. It can be read online at:
hUp://www.theage.com.au/naBonal/stalwart-‐community-‐fighter-‐20100104-‐lq69.html
Bethia Stevenson’s obituary for Sarah Neave (06-‐09-‐1922 – 17-‐10-‐2009) appeared in The Age, 23 December 2009. It can be read online at:
http://www.theage.com.au/national/obituaries/frontline-‐fighter-‐for-‐womens-‐rights-‐20091222-‐lbr6.html
Saturday 13 & Saturday 20 March 2010POLITICAL SKILLS FOR YOUNG ACTIVISTS
InspirAcBvism is a youth acBvist training program run by the SEARCH FoundaBon. The program aims to network and support young acBvists, and connect them with ‘veteran’ acBvists who have parBcipated in significant Australian campaigns and movements. The program is parBcipatory and includes campaign case studies and skills sessions. Speakers: Jack Mundey on BLF, Boris Frankel on PoliBcal Ideas, Janet Rice on Forests Vic, Pat Healy & Darcel Russell on Freedom Rides. AMWU training room, 251 Queensberry St Carlton. $10 each day covers lunch. To get involved please contact: Leila Barreto, [email protected]. www.search.org.au
Events of interest
NoticesFAIR WORK AUSTRALIANEW COMMISSIONERS
March 2010 – Issue No. 265
Sunday 14 March
EQUAL AT HOME, EQUAL AT WORK: AN INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY COMMUNITY BRUNCH
Speakers include Julie Kun (Australian Services Union lead organiser) on pay equity, Elife Mat (Anatolian Cultural Centre) on migrant's women's experience of domesBc violence and Kimberly Yu (Socialist Alliance) on women's reproducBve rights. Brunch from 11am, speakers at 12 noon. Anatolian Cultural Centre, 195 Sydney Rd, Coburg. All women and men welcome. Organised by Socialist Alliance & the Anatolian Cultural Centre. Contact Anthea on 0422 497 753 for more informaBon.
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Saturday 13 March
RALLY FOR SAME-‐SEX MARRIAGE
1pm. State Library, cnr Latrobe & Swanston Sts, City. Organised by Equal Love. For more info ph Ali 0403 019 430.
*****
Wednesday 17 March
LA FRONTERA: A JOURNEY INTO THE BORDERLANDS OF MEXICO AND THE UNITED STATES
Award-‐winning radio documentary producer Colm McNaughton @ Underground Talk. He will be discussing his experiences and invesBgaBons that inform his forthcoming piece La Frontera: a journey into the borderlands of Mexico and the United States. This doco will be played on Saturday 3 April in the 360 slot on ABC Radio NaBonal. La Frontera aUempts to grasp and at some level explain the complexity of what is going on in Mexican society. 6:30pm, New InternaBonal Book Shop, Trades Hall, Victoria St, Carlton. Entry: $5/ $2 concession. More info: 9662 3744, [email protected]
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Wednesday 24 March
DEAD MEN WALKING: VISITING DEATH ROW IN THE DEEP SOUTH
Lizzie O'Shea @ Underground Talk. Lizzie spent four months working on behalf of prisoners facing execuBon without legal representaBon in Louisiana. Capital punishment represents a indictment of a society which has a decimated social welfare system, where it is poliBcally advantageous to throw poor people in the social rubbish heap which is the prison system. The human rights implicaBons of the policy are damning, but establishing a campaign around the issue from a human rights perspecBve is nonetheless difficult. 6:30pm, New InternaBonal Book Shop, Trades Hall, Victoria St, Carlton. Entry: $5/ $2 concession. More info: 9662 3744, [email protected]
President Peter Love
51 Blanche Street St Kilda 3182 Tel: 9534 2445
Secretary Brian Smiddy 7 The Crest
Watsonia 3087 Tel: 9435 5145
Treasurer Phillip Deery
85 Little Page Street Albert Park 3206 Tel: 9690 2184
Website: http://www.asslh.org.au/melbourne
Recorder is published four Bmes a year. The opinions of the contributors are their own and not necessarily those of the Editor or ExecuBve of the ASSLH, Melbourne Branch. Send all contribuBons and queries to the editor, Julie Kimber ([email protected])
Meetings of the society are held either in Meeting Room 1 in the Trades Hall or in the New International Bookshop. The NIB is now situated downstairs as you enter Trades Hall from the Victoria Street entrance.
Events of interest
MELBOURNE BRANCH CONTACTS