Not happy, Mr. Shorten!

In 2003 The Howard Government introduced the Business Services Wage Assessment Tool (BSWAT) which determines the level of wages paid to people with disabilities who are employed in Commonwealth-funded Australian Disability Enterprises [ADEs].

On 21 December 2012 the Full Federal Court found that the test of competency in the BSWAT discriminated against people with an intellectual disability.

In September 2013 the Dept. of Social Security sought an exemption from the Australian Human Rights Commission to continue to use the BSWAT. A limited  exemption for a twelve month period was granted, subject to provisions.

According to the Commission an estimated 10,000 individuals with an intellectual disability have their wages assessed under the BSWAT scheme.

In January 2014 ABC News reported that the Abbott Government announced that it would make a one-off payment to intellectually disabled workers who had been unfairly paid - but only if they were not involved in the discrimination class action which was scheduled for a first directions hearing in February.

On 10 May 2014 the Abbott Government was refused leave to appeal the Federal Court judgment.

On 17 June 2014 the Abbott Government’s Business Services Wage Assessment Tool Payment Scheme (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2014 was passed in the House of Representatives with the support of the Opposition. This bill offers for a limited period to enter into individual agreements to pay half of the lost wages owed to any affected ADE worker with an intellectual disability.

Lawyers running a class action on behalf of supported employees with intellectual disabilities have described this legislation as "an outrageous abuse of power".

Given that ADEs pay workers with an intellectual disability as little as $0.33 per hour and given that it appears the government bill locks out any of 10,000 workers taking part in the class action from receiving the half of lost wages ‘offer’ and, will see the future wages of those workers (who receive compensation for past wage discrimination if the class action is successful) cut by about half, I am amazed that Federal Labor would endorse this legislation.

The ACCC had addressed Coles misleading advertising about its in-house baked bread and rolls - now it's time for someone to look into product quality

 Two slices from a Coles loaf in which approx. one quarter of the slices had hollow middles, July 2013
A problem which exists to varying degrees to this day

AdNews 18 Jun 2014:

Coles has been cooked by the Federal Court and found guilty of misleading consumers with claims its bread and rolls were baked in-house despite being shipped frozen from overseas.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission launched action against the supermarket giant last year after consumers – led by former Victorian Premier Jeff Kennett – began to question the veracity of the claims.

Coles had claimed that because the baking process had been completed in ovens in store, the promotions of being baked fresh in store were acceptable.

The bread and roll ranges were promoted at Coles’ supermarkets with in-house bakeries as ‘Baked Today, Sold Today’ and in some cases ‘Freshly Baked In-Store’.

Federal Court Chief Justice James Allsop handed down his judgement this afternoon and the retailer now faces potential substantial fines for each of the breaches of the Trade Practices Act.

In his judgment, Chief Justice Allsop said “It is not the place of the court to provide an advice … as to how Coles might sell bread that has been par-baked from frozen product … A start would, however, be to make it tolerably clear to the public that the recent baking was the completion of a baking process that had taken place sometime before, off site, and that 'freshly baked' actually meant the completion of the baking process of frozen product prepared and frozen off site by suppliers.”

ACCC chairman Rob Sims said that Coles behaviour not only mislead consumers placed smaller businesses that baked their bread on the premises at a competitive disadvantage.

Déjà vu ... The Daily Examiner

Question: What do economics exams and the weekend quiz in The Daily Examiner have in common?

Answer: Both use questions previously asked but change the answers.

The weekend quiz in Saturday's Daily Examiner was a re-run of the same questions asked last week (see below).

However, some bright spark had the answers associated with the quiz questions that should have been printed appear below the questions asked again this week.

Last week's (and this week's) quiz questions (part only)

Last week's answers

This week's answers

Digital images from DEX 14/6/14 and 21/6/14

'Three Mobs One River Learning Kit' won the promoting indigenous recognition category at the National Awards for Local Government

Clarence Valley Council CVC News media release*:

18 June 2014

Aboriginal Education project wins national award

A learning kit that was designed, produced and implemented entirely by the Aboriginal community in the Clarence Valley has taken out a major national local government award.

The ‘Three Mobs One River Learning Kit’ won the promoting indigenous recognition category at the National Awards for Local Government at the Great Hall in Parliament House, Canberra, last night.

Clarence Valley Mayor, Richie Williamson, who attended the ceremony with two of the driving forces behind the project – Beris Duroux and Joanne Randall – said it was fitting recognition for an inventive, inspiring and inclusive project.

“Projects like this help develop understanding between the indigenous and non-indigenous communities,” he said.

The Three Mobs One River Learning Kit started with the aim of engaging Aboriginal students and helping them extend their schooling to Year 12, but according to Ms Duroux, there have been many other spin-off benefits.

The program was developed by the three Aboriginal nations of the Clarence region – the Bundjalung, Gumbaynggirr and Yaegl nations – and involves verbal in-school presentations by Elders and community members, multi-media presentations and reflections, written materials such as poems and articles and a living library of film and audio recordings.

The initial target was to engage 280 people, including Aboriginal parents, carers, agencies and community members. That target was surpassed in three months and after 12 months more than 2700 community members had made a connection with the learning kit.

More than 100 story themes have been offered by Aboriginal people and have been tracked to key student learning areas. Fifty five community members and 14 Aboriginal organisations have made a commitment to in-school verbal presentations.

Twenty seven PowerPoint and verbal presentations have been developed by parents, and four film pieces, four sound records, and a set of donated documentation has been compiled.

Department of Education and Communities Aboriginal communities liaison officer, Beris Duroux, said the project would not have been possible without the support of the three Aboriginal nations of the Clarence and the wider community.

“Without the stories of the Aboriginal people, we wouldn’t have a project,” she said.

“This is all about our future and helping develop future leaders in our community.

“But it also helps other members of the community understand our stories and our history.”

The program is running at Maclean High School and Grafton and South Grafton high schools and McAuley Catholic College are expected to have it running soon.

Release ends.

* Since David Bancroft, former editor of The Daily Examiner, began to write these media releases the level of reliable information they contain and general quality has improved - well done, David.