A lot has been written and said about Bernie Banton. I can't add a lot to it. I never met him and take all of my knowledge from what I have seen on TV.
I do know a bit about asbestos though and that gives me some insight into what he took on.
I knew little about the stuff until the early 80's - other than using it as A/C sheeting. Very handy and cheap stuff it was. Chopped it up happily, dust everywhere. No knowledge about danger and took absolutely no care.
In the early 80's I started to hear more about it and of its dangers but this material was routinely dismissed by the industry and all of the 'reputable' scientists of the day. It was important material, there were no effective alternatives and it really wasn't dangerous at all. People only had problems if they were unlucky. You could eat the stuff! I remember seeing photos of people working in situations like Bernie. They were having no problems.
In those days, 1983 to be precise, I played a role in union. Our mob had some grunt in the (then) ACT Trades and Labour Council but we were a public service union and not much used to industrial action.
We received complaints that 'white crap' was falling out of the air conditioning ducts at the National Library but that management wouldn't do anything about it. When we investigated we found that it was 'white' asbestos that had been sprayed into the roof cavity as a fire retardant.
Approached management. The head of the NLA was a very nice man. Distinguished and dependable. But he dealt with books and such, not asbestos spewing out of the roof cavity. Add to that the strong information from just about everyone you could find that asbestos was OK and you will see the difficulty for the NLA. Surely this union was simply being difficult.
At the time we had a brand new ALP government so we had a rather lovely, but naive, view that this might mean that they would listen. So we took the matter up a couple of levels. Didn't work.
Next step was pretty obvious. We couldn't really call a strike and couldn't use bans so we set up a picket. We didn't want to stop the public but we did want to stop services and supplies.
It lasted many, many weeks.
The poor NLA. It must have hurt them deeply. A 24 hour, 7 day a week picket on the two entrances with grubby unionists. A 5 meter scaffold out the front with a massive sign across it saying 'EVEN ONE FIBRE CAN KILL'. Unionists standing around 44 gallon drum fires in the cold Canberra winter.
The industry and their scientific backers came out of their trees. Learned articles complained that we were misleading the public (we may have exaggerated just a tad). Talkback shows were full of people complaining about us. We had Ministers telling us to back off and those of us who were on long term leave without pay from the Commonwealth Public Service received letters telling us that our leave was over and we should immediately return to full time duty or resign.
On the day they decided to break the picket we were ready. We had become used to trucks and vans charging the line and picketers were told to let them go rather than get flattened. But the word was that this particular day they would be both breaking the line and removing the picket.
A chain was provided by the BLF from the site of a new police building. We needed about 25 people to hold the chain across the road. The police came and after the routine directions etc they chopped up the chain, link by link, alongside each hand. They then arrested the picketers. We brought in more. They arrested or moved on the new picketers. We brought in more. And so it went on.
Over 200 public servants were on the line that day. None were charged. The picket continued.
Finally, a deal was done. Nine Ministers represented the Commonwealth Government. The world changed. Asbestos was removed wherever it was in an unsafe condition under strict guidelines. Programs were established and funding was provided.
This was a tough and difficult time but, to be honest, it was pretty exciting until the day I watched an old bloke be helped out of car near the union office.
He was so decrepit that it took him ages to get across the lawn to the building. Eventually, the receptionist told me that there was someone to see me. Turned out that he wasn't a particularly old bloke but rather a bloke that was just about at his end. He had worked on the Australian War Memorial where they sprayed blue asbestos under that big copper dome. He had mesothelioma. He made the journey just to shake the hands of people who were having a go.
It appalls me that 25 years after that fight it was necessary for Bernie Banton to fight for compensation. But I remember the strength and savagery of those who supported the industry and I guess that they were never going to give up easily or after just one battle.
People like Bernie are vital for a strong country. Someone who was prepared to take on a major international company that had honed its skills fighting the asbestos fight over the last 30 years. In the end their political friends deserted them and the scientific community came to its senses but, without a Bernie, most of the people who are suffering and will suffer would have quietly died without recognition or compensation.
Bernie is receiving a lot accolades. He deserves every one but most of all he did not deserve to die just because he went to work
Friday 30 November 2007
Monday 26 November 2007
A Class Act
It seemed that there would never be an ALP government in the Northern Territory. The CLP were there for 27 years - for 4 years before self government and the rest after. Incumbency in the Territory with small electorates is a powerful thing.
The CLP used the self-government package well to ensure its future. Of course, it ignored the bush but then most of the blackfellas didn't vote for them anyway. It was just a bit surprising that the CLP lost track but, when the rot set in and became obvious to all, Clare Martin was there to make them pay.
The first ALP victory in the Territory was no easy or assured thing. It took a centrist leader who could relate to people, who could convince them that there was another option, was not too frightening and who could possibly make the Territory a better place.
We needed someone who could take on the CLP and win. Clare did it and she did it where many had failed before her.
Clare took over as Chief Minister when unemployment was growing, the NT economy was dying, infrastructure spending had stopped, there was no secondary school in any Indigenous community and much, much more money was spent on fighting land claims than on supporting Indigenous enterprises. She took over a public service that had lost its enthusiasm for the task and where good governance was not given priority.
In government, Clare, and her deputy Syd Stirling, have led a government that has been careful and centrist. It has worked hard to support and build the economy using the well tried formula of getting cranes onto the skyline and mines into the ground. Unemployment is at very low levels, gas is now on-shore and the place is booming.
In social terms we are now a different place. We are no longer automatically regarded as red neck or racist. We have more Indigenous MLAs than any other parliament and now have a female Deputy Chief Minister. Who would have thought that could happen before Clare?
Social policy advances have not matched those in the economic area. The Government has struggled, I believe, to deal effectively with the law and order issue. Allegations that crime is on the increase are rubbish but the perception that things are getting worse are growing. It has taken a long time to deal with issues of alcohol and substance abuse, although recent moves appear to be in the right direction. It started out well on local government reform but has become frustrated and is now making a mess of the area (but then I am by no means a disinterested observer on this one).
The Indigenous area is one where Clare has been lambasted. The criticisms have been very unfair. She had the courage to take on the job as Minister for Indigenous Affairs and to continue with it. Any Minister for Indigenous Affairs in the Territory is on a hiding to nothing. You simply cannot win. Clare could have given it to one of her Indigenous Ministers but that would have simply meant that she was painting a target on them. Clare was always a Minister who gave strong support to any sensible proposal for changes to Indigenous policy. Her reactions and judgement were good and she had the courage to carry through on decisions.
When she came in Clare inherited a public service that both desperately wanted a new government but where some key individuals wondered whether they would survive. She guaranteed public servants their jobs, calmed them down and has worked with them ever since.
As a long time professional public servant, it pains me to say it but it could have been a different world if Clare had followed up on her removal of the (then) head of the Department of Justice with the removal of a few others. By removing the blockers and self servers she could have sent a message to all that it truly was a different world and that she wanted advice on both what she should do to make a change and how that could be done. Instead, after an initial period where the public service tried to do the job that seemed to be required, enthusiasm waned as the blockers continued to operate and the self servers prospered.
Clare was not perfect but she was just about the only way that the ALP was going to get through the CLP stranglehold. She has changed the Territory from a red neck, racist place to one where we are still optimistic and happy to have a go but where we now better recognise the value that our cultlural diversity brings.
It is often the little things that stand out. For me, two instances define Clare Martin's Chief Ministership.
Not long after she was installed the long time CEO of a major agency was pulling the pin. He was 60 and, in going that day, he was carrying out a decision he had made when he was 18. On the day of his departure a car pulled up in front of the building. Out came the CM with a bunch of flowers. She simply walked in, handed them over, gave him a kiss on the cheek, said thanks and left. Absolutely no fanfare - nothing. If she hadn't already won every vote in the department then that day she won the rest.
Many years later at Wadeye shortly after a series of well publicised riots, the CM visited to see for herself what was going on. She had appointed a Coordinator to pull together a whole of government response and develop a plan to try to ensure that this never happened again.
At the airport on that day she didn't climb into a car to travel around the community. Instead, to the concern of some of her advisors, she agreed with the idea that she walk. She visited all key locations, including the house where a major gang was headquartered.
Unfortunately, while the place was settled down and the community engaged in the development of a plan that was negotiated through the bureaucracy, much of it didn't hit the ground and Wadeye has recently exploded again.
Clare is a person with good judgement, excellent reactions and great courage. She has not been well served at all times by her advisors and public service. Perhaps if she had been just a little more ruthless she would have had more success - but then she may not have been so good.
I am sorry to see Clare go. She will be remembered with affection by most.
The CLP used the self-government package well to ensure its future. Of course, it ignored the bush but then most of the blackfellas didn't vote for them anyway. It was just a bit surprising that the CLP lost track but, when the rot set in and became obvious to all, Clare Martin was there to make them pay.
The first ALP victory in the Territory was no easy or assured thing. It took a centrist leader who could relate to people, who could convince them that there was another option, was not too frightening and who could possibly make the Territory a better place.
We needed someone who could take on the CLP and win. Clare did it and she did it where many had failed before her.
Clare took over as Chief Minister when unemployment was growing, the NT economy was dying, infrastructure spending had stopped, there was no secondary school in any Indigenous community and much, much more money was spent on fighting land claims than on supporting Indigenous enterprises. She took over a public service that had lost its enthusiasm for the task and where good governance was not given priority.
In government, Clare, and her deputy Syd Stirling, have led a government that has been careful and centrist. It has worked hard to support and build the economy using the well tried formula of getting cranes onto the skyline and mines into the ground. Unemployment is at very low levels, gas is now on-shore and the place is booming.
In social terms we are now a different place. We are no longer automatically regarded as red neck or racist. We have more Indigenous MLAs than any other parliament and now have a female Deputy Chief Minister. Who would have thought that could happen before Clare?
Social policy advances have not matched those in the economic area. The Government has struggled, I believe, to deal effectively with the law and order issue. Allegations that crime is on the increase are rubbish but the perception that things are getting worse are growing. It has taken a long time to deal with issues of alcohol and substance abuse, although recent moves appear to be in the right direction. It started out well on local government reform but has become frustrated and is now making a mess of the area (but then I am by no means a disinterested observer on this one).
The Indigenous area is one where Clare has been lambasted. The criticisms have been very unfair. She had the courage to take on the job as Minister for Indigenous Affairs and to continue with it. Any Minister for Indigenous Affairs in the Territory is on a hiding to nothing. You simply cannot win. Clare could have given it to one of her Indigenous Ministers but that would have simply meant that she was painting a target on them. Clare was always a Minister who gave strong support to any sensible proposal for changes to Indigenous policy. Her reactions and judgement were good and she had the courage to carry through on decisions.
When she came in Clare inherited a public service that both desperately wanted a new government but where some key individuals wondered whether they would survive. She guaranteed public servants their jobs, calmed them down and has worked with them ever since.
As a long time professional public servant, it pains me to say it but it could have been a different world if Clare had followed up on her removal of the (then) head of the Department of Justice with the removal of a few others. By removing the blockers and self servers she could have sent a message to all that it truly was a different world and that she wanted advice on both what she should do to make a change and how that could be done. Instead, after an initial period where the public service tried to do the job that seemed to be required, enthusiasm waned as the blockers continued to operate and the self servers prospered.
Clare was not perfect but she was just about the only way that the ALP was going to get through the CLP stranglehold. She has changed the Territory from a red neck, racist place to one where we are still optimistic and happy to have a go but where we now better recognise the value that our cultlural diversity brings.
It is often the little things that stand out. For me, two instances define Clare Martin's Chief Ministership.
Not long after she was installed the long time CEO of a major agency was pulling the pin. He was 60 and, in going that day, he was carrying out a decision he had made when he was 18. On the day of his departure a car pulled up in front of the building. Out came the CM with a bunch of flowers. She simply walked in, handed them over, gave him a kiss on the cheek, said thanks and left. Absolutely no fanfare - nothing. If she hadn't already won every vote in the department then that day she won the rest.
Many years later at Wadeye shortly after a series of well publicised riots, the CM visited to see for herself what was going on. She had appointed a Coordinator to pull together a whole of government response and develop a plan to try to ensure that this never happened again.
At the airport on that day she didn't climb into a car to travel around the community. Instead, to the concern of some of her advisors, she agreed with the idea that she walk. She visited all key locations, including the house where a major gang was headquartered.
Unfortunately, while the place was settled down and the community engaged in the development of a plan that was negotiated through the bureaucracy, much of it didn't hit the ground and Wadeye has recently exploded again.
Clare is a person with good judgement, excellent reactions and great courage. She has not been well served at all times by her advisors and public service. Perhaps if she had been just a little more ruthless she would have had more success - but then she may not have been so good.
I am sorry to see Clare go. She will be remembered with affection by most.
Monday 19 November 2007
Not another 1961 please
It is that time in an election campaign when those closely involved are in the zone. Totally focused on not putting a foot wrong until THE DAY. Keeping those things that are going wrong to a minimum. Dealing with the daily disasters so they sound ok to everyone else and, above all, holding the line.
For those of us who are interested but not insiders it is a tough time. We think it looks good. We read all of the polls, examine all of the analysis, nervously watch the leaders for signs of panic/ disappointment/worry etc etc. It all looks good but we know it can all go very bad and get very sad, very quickly.
It may be just a case of too many scars but they were nasty ones.
Take 1969 for instance. Election late in the year - 25 October.
The previous election in 1966 was the 'khaki' election. ALP slaughtered - Holt the PM - and we were in Vietnam for the long haul. But by 1969 it was all different. The protests against the war had kicked in and I couldn't see why anyone would think it was a good idea to keep a government that was keeping us in a war like this. I also took extreme umbrage at being told to register for conscription before I had the chance to have a vote.
The Libs campaign was all about '17 Faceless Men' who ran the ALP. Union bosses telling Gough and Lance what to do and neither of them were even on the Fed Executive of the ALP. Lovely photo of Gough outside the door. All sounded pretty silly stuff as far as I was concerned. I mean as if an unelected group could tell a representative government what to do. I was young.
The ALP needed to win about 25 seats. It didn't. It did win 18 and it did get a swing of just under 7% across the nation. One of the great victories of all time.
That is, it was a victory if you really didn't expect to win, you were really interested in numbers and you were closely in touch with reality.
I was none of the above and found the whole exercise to be one of the most depressing experiences of my life.
1969 followed 20 years of conservative rule.
The thing that worries me is that the closest the conservatives came to being turfed out during the Menzies/Holt era was in 1961. Menzies was returned but only with the help of some preferences - from the Communist Party I think - for Jim Killen in Moreton. In the unkindest cut of all the ALP actually won the same number of seats as the conservatives but two were in the ACT and NT and these members didn't have full voting rights in those days. The ALP received many more votes than the LNP overall.
What makes me nervous is that they made it with 130 dodgy preferences in 1961 and we had another 11 years of them with the Vietnam war, conscription and the continuation of 1930s and 40s ideas and policies.
It doesn't look like it will happen again. It can't can it?
For those of us who are interested but not insiders it is a tough time. We think it looks good. We read all of the polls, examine all of the analysis, nervously watch the leaders for signs of panic/ disappointment/worry etc etc. It all looks good but we know it can all go very bad and get very sad, very quickly.
It may be just a case of too many scars but they were nasty ones.
Take 1969 for instance. Election late in the year - 25 October.
The previous election in 1966 was the 'khaki' election. ALP slaughtered - Holt the PM - and we were in Vietnam for the long haul. But by 1969 it was all different. The protests against the war had kicked in and I couldn't see why anyone would think it was a good idea to keep a government that was keeping us in a war like this. I also took extreme umbrage at being told to register for conscription before I had the chance to have a vote.
The Libs campaign was all about '17 Faceless Men' who ran the ALP. Union bosses telling Gough and Lance what to do and neither of them were even on the Fed Executive of the ALP. Lovely photo of Gough outside the door. All sounded pretty silly stuff as far as I was concerned. I mean as if an unelected group could tell a representative government what to do. I was young.
The ALP needed to win about 25 seats. It didn't. It did win 18 and it did get a swing of just under 7% across the nation. One of the great victories of all time.
That is, it was a victory if you really didn't expect to win, you were really interested in numbers and you were closely in touch with reality.
I was none of the above and found the whole exercise to be one of the most depressing experiences of my life.
1969 followed 20 years of conservative rule.
The thing that worries me is that the closest the conservatives came to being turfed out during the Menzies/Holt era was in 1961. Menzies was returned but only with the help of some preferences - from the Communist Party I think - for Jim Killen in Moreton. In the unkindest cut of all the ALP actually won the same number of seats as the conservatives but two were in the ACT and NT and these members didn't have full voting rights in those days. The ALP received many more votes than the LNP overall.
What makes me nervous is that they made it with 130 dodgy preferences in 1961 and we had another 11 years of them with the Vietnam war, conscription and the continuation of 1930s and 40s ideas and policies.
It doesn't look like it will happen again. It can't can it?
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