The new dynamics of the Senate were on display for the first time during last week’s sitting.

The Coalition, with the support of Senator Steve Fielding from Family First, voted down (rather memorably for me) the Government’s Luxury Car Tax Bill which would have increased the tax on cars worth more than $57,123 from 25% to 33%.

Our major concern was that the tax catches “people movers” and mid-range four wheel drives essential to the agricultural and tourism industries, not the Ferrari and Lamborghini drivers that Treasurer Swan bleats on about.

The Coalition will also be opposing the Medicare Levy Surcharge, which is currently before the Senate. This Bill would increase the threshold for paying the Medicare surcharge or taking out private health insurance to $100,000 for singles and $150,000 for couples. A Senate committee heard evidence that another 700,000 people would be pushed into the already overstretched public hospital system if the Bill was passed, as I mentioned in my speech.

Funny how Labor’s view on the meaning of ‘mandate’ has changed dramatically since they won government. They seem to have completely forgotten their own opposition to the GST, introduced by the Howard Government after the Liberals won an election on the issue.

The Government are also playing ducks and drakes with the Budgetary effect of our opposition. If the Government refuse to compromise on any of the measures we oppose, the maximum effect would be a decrease of $6 billion out of $96 billion (6.25%) over three years.

If the Government are prepared to make sensible changes, not based on ideology and the politics of envy, the effect will be far less.

INTEREST RATE DROP WELCOMED, BUT AT WHAT COST?

The Reserve Bank lowered interest rates by 0.25 per cent this month, a move welcomed by borrowers, especially those with large mortgages, but it’s not all good news.

The Reserve Bank lowered the official rate following evidence that the Australian economy has slowed dramatically, particularly in the southern States.

A welter of indicators - for retail sales, the home-building industry, business and consumer confidence, levels of debt owed by households and businesses, and job advertisements - suggest the economy has entered a steep dive. Now the Reserve is cutting interest rates in an attempt to pull it out of its dive.

Treasurer Wayne Swan's continued talking-down of the Australian economy has also had an effect on confidence.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics reported gross domestic product (GDP) growth rose to just 0.3 per cent after an upwardly-revised 0.7 per cent increase in the previous quarter. Annual GDP is now running at 2.7 per cent compared with 3.6 per cent in the year to March, prior to revisions.

The Australian dollar has dropped to 81.03 cents (US) which will tend to push up the price of imported goods, including fuel.

Unfortunately too many more interest rate drops would be a clear indication that the expected soft-landing for the Australian economy had suddenly turned into a very, very hard landing.

The interest rate cut was the ideal time for some of our financial institutions to try to pull off a few magic tricks of their own. The first example is Wizard Home Loans, who picked up major news attention by announcing on Sunday that it was cutting its home loan rates on Monday ahead of the Reserve Bank. In a much quieter announcement it also took the opportunity to raise the rate on its "Clear Advantage" MasterCard by 2.75 per cent to 18.49 per cent. Wizard spokesman Matt Allison said the increase was necessary to keep fees down.

St George Bank also announced that they would be dropping their rate by a larger than average 0.3 per cent - but the drop will be delayed until September 29 - as opposed to other banks where the drop took effect on Monday.

PENSIONERS - THEY NEED HELP NOW

I’ve recently done a survey of older Australians in some parts of Queensland and presented the results in the Senate.

More than 800 people went to the effort to reply and they told a story of unrelenting need. The most telling comment for me came from a gentleman who said he was no longer concerned by petrol prices because he could no longer afford a car and had sold it!

And it’s not as though the Government doesn’t recognise the need. Minister after Minister - Swan, Gillard and Macklin - have empathised with the plight of pensioners and retirees and then told them to wait for the Henry Review due in February next year.

Minister Macklin even suggested that the system will be wonderful - by 2020.

I don’t understand this ‘empathise and ignore’ strategy - even the $30 increase mooted by Senator Rachel Siewert would be a big help whilst the Government puddles on with its inquiries and workshops and reviews.

STRIKE ACTION DAYS LOST UP UNDER RUDD AND GILLARD

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has released data showing a massive increase in industrial action under the Rudd Labor government.

Working days lost per 100,000 employees has more than doubled from 88.4 under the Coalition Government in 2007 to 164.9 under Labor. This year alone, the total number of disputes rose from 39 in the March quarter to 60 in the June quarter.

The cost of strike action under Labor, at its peak in 1993, is estimated to have cost the Australian economy an estimated $1.5 billion per year.

Levels of industrial disputation fell to the lowest on record in March 2007 following the Coalition’s workplace reforms, but under the Labor this is rapidly reversing.

The union movement invested tens of millions of dollars to get the Rudd Labor Government elected and it clearly wants a return on that investment.

Deputy Opposition Leader, Julie Bishop, said the unions were now taking strike action in the knowledge that with wall-to-wall Labor Governments there will be no comeback.

"They clearly feel no barrier or no impediment to make these claims to go out on strike and we're seeing the consequences of that - this massive increase in strike action across Australia," Ms Bishop said.

SHOPSMART SURVEY

The latest grocery price survey from across Queensland for September will be available shortly on the ShopSmart website at www.shopsmart.sueboyce.com.au.

The Senate Standing Committee on Economics recently looked at Family First's proposed Unit Pricing Bill. There are a number of issues surrounding the technical aspects of unit pricing - but in the meantime my website contains a downloadable quick calculator for comparing weights and volumes.

We're adding new volunteers to cover Townsville, the Sunshine Coast and Cairns. If you’re interested in being a ShopSmart volunteer shopper in an area we don’t already cover, please call or email the office.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND THE CONSTITUTION

The Australian Local Government Association will be examining the role of Local Government at a meeting in Melbourne between December 8-11.

The role of local government is not covered by the Australian Constitution and, with the exception of Brisbane, which is governed by the City of Brisbane Act, councils can be amalgamated, sacked or have an administrator appointed at the whim of State Governments.

Two previous referendums, in 1974 and 1988, failed.

BUILDING UNIONS NEED A POLICEMAN

ALP Senators, including new Senator Doug Cameron and Senator Gavin Marshall, are pushing the Rudd Government to abandon an election pledge to keep the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) operating until January 2010. A group of the nations largest unions have launched a "rights on site" advertising campaign to sway public sentiment towards winding up the ABCC.

In the Lower House, Member for Lyons Dick Adams is also calling for the dismantling of the Commission. "I don't think we need to keep this at the extreme end of where it is at the moment; I think we should be able to wind that back somewhat before 2010. It should be wound back, and if corporate Australia doesn't think that, then maybe we should apply it to corporate Australia as well."

But first, some history.

In 1986, corruption and violence in the Builders Labourers Federation had grown so blatant that Bob Hawke, with the full support of Victorian premier John Cain, permanently deregistered the union. In 1992 the Gyles Royal Commission in NSW uncovered similar illegal activity.

In August 2001, the Howard Government established the Cole Royal Commission to enquire into the building and construction industry. The final report of the Cole Royal Commission was tabled in Parliament in March 2003 - 23 volumes detailing hundreds of episodes of unlawful conduct, intimidation and inappropriate payments to union officials within the construction industry across Australia. The Royal Commission found that the industry was characterised by a widespread disregard for the law and that existing regulatory bodies had insufficient powers and resources to enforce the law.

In response to the Commission’s findings, the Building Industry Taskforce was established in October 2002 and operated until the establishment of the Office of the Australian Building and Construction Commissioner (ABCC) in 2005.

In its 2007 report, updated in 2008, respected economic analyst Econtech found that the establishment of the ABCC led to a dramatic improvement in industry productivity with significant benefits for the national economy. Without the ABCC, gross domestic product would have been 1.5 per cent lower and the consumer price index would have been 1.2 per cent higher. Overall, Econtech found an annual economic welfare gain of $5.1billion from the ABCC.

Before being elected to the Senate, Senator Cameron was the national secretary of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU). He says while building workers can be tough and uncouth, there is no systemic violence or corruption in the industry.

A small sample of cases from the ABCC website show:

• Currently one unionist, Brian George Shearer, is scheduled to appear in Melbourne Magistrates Court this month on two charges of unlawful assault, two of making threats to kill and two of threatening to cause harm to construction commission inspectors. It is alleged the inspectors, one of whom was female, were subject to intimidation and unacceptable abuse from building workers who barricaded them in a cafe and tried to block them from leaving a carpark.
• A head contractor engaged to build a four-stage commercial and residential site on Queensland’s Gold coast, the Southport Central project, engaged a subcontractor to perform plumbing work on the first stage of the project. The subcontractor was party to a number of collective workplace agreements with the CEPU. In August 2006, the second stage was awarded to another plumbing subcontractor, which had not negotiated a new collective workplace agreement with the CEPU. The ABCC alleges that on 21 February 2007, PGEU Queensland Branch Secretary Bradley O’Carroll, who is also a CEPU organiser, addressed a rally held near the Southport Central project. Following the rally, Mr O’Carroll spoke to the project’s construction manager about using the second subcontractor instead of the first subcontractor. He allegedly threatened to return every three months because the second subcontractor was ‘no good for the industry’. Mr O’Carroll is then alleged to have abused the managing director of the second subcontractor for taking the job off a plumber with a collective workplace agreement. He allegedly threatened that the subcontractor would be off the job shortly. The ABCC alleges that these statements were made with the intent to coerce the head contractor to not engage the second subcontractor.
• In February 2006 head contractor North East Developments Pty Ltd (North East) awarded a contract to Conform Australia Pty Ltd (Conform) to provide construction services at The Portico Plaza in Toongabbie. Conform engaged concreteing subcontractors to work on the site. It is alleged that on 11 April 2006 CFMEU official Sammy Manna made threats of bankruptcy to a representative of the concreting subcontractor in an attempt to coerce him to become a member of the CFMEU.
• On or about 14 May 2007, Wayne Martin of Martin’s Earthmoving was contracted to perform earth works on the Austin Hospital site in Heidelberg Victoria. On 15 May 2007, Mr Martin attended the Austin Hospital site and was inducted onto the site. Mr Martin stated that he was not a union member. On completing the induction, Mr Martin began working on the site. CFMEU organisers Brendan Pitt and Robert Mates approached Mr Martin and allegedly asked if he was considering being a member of the CFMEU. Mr Martin replied that he had considered it but did not want to join the union. Mr Pitt and Mr Mates then allegedly told Mr Martin that in order to keep working on the site he needed to pay up the union membership fees immediately. Mr Martin was allegedly told that if he didn't he could not continue working on site and had to leave immediately. It is alleged that Mr Pitt and Mr Mates then said that if Mr Martin paid up the union dues he could work on any building site. The conversation between Mr Pitt, Mr Mates and Mr Martin was interrupted by Kane Constructions' site management. Kane Constructions then required Mr Pitt and Mr Mates leave the site. They left shortly after this request. In these proceedings the ABCC alleges that Mr Pitt, Mr Mates and the CFMEU, by the conduct of its organisers, made false and misleading statements to Mr Martin in contravention of s.790 of the Workplace Relations Act 1996.

As part of an internal CFMEU dispute, questions have been raised over the Hearne Hill factory of concrete manufacturer Delta Construction, a union-friendly company involved in many construction projects under way in Western Australia. This factory is also the "home" address of 32 construction workers, according to information given to the West Australian Electoral Commission.

CMFEU state secretary Kevin Reynolds and his deputy, Joe McDonald, don't see a problem with that. The militant union is currently under investigation by the ABCC.

The CMFEU will also face an investigation by the West Australian Electoral Commissioner over alleged irregularities on its list of 8,000 members. They say the workers should be registered at their home address to avoid possible manipulation of postal votes.

The Cole Royal Commission highlighted the problems associated with companies paying workers' union fees. Evidence was given that 10 West Australian construction companies had handed over a combined total of $397,935.48 to the CFMEU in Western Australia for "casual" union tickets for non-union workers. The commission also heard evidence from five Perth builders that they paid almost $1 million to the CFMEU for casual union tickets, strike pay and training to guarantee industrial peace.

CONGRATULATIONS TO AUSTRALIAN OLYMPIANS AND PARALYMPIANS

With Queenslanders making up a substantial part of Australia's Olympic success, I would like to acknowledge the hard work of all our competitors, their supporters and, most importantly, their families. The complete list of our Olympians is available at  http://corporate.olympics.com.au/qld/files/41/QLD_2008_Olympian_Results.pdf.

The Paralympics, are now underway with Australia well represented in the early medal count.

And the next Special Olympics games, for athletes with an intellectual disability, will be held in Idaho in February 2009.

I’m pleased to see the first rumblings of discontent about the separateness of these events. I look forward to the day when all three are held simultaneously, but I suspect I’ll be waiting a while.

The Paralympics are an elite sport events for athletes from six different disability groups. The movement began in 1948, when Sir Ludwig Guttmann organised a sports competition in England for World War II veterans with spinal injuries. Four years later, competitors from the Netherlands joined the games and an international movement was born.

The modern Paralympics for athletes with a disability were organised for the first time in Rome in 1960. In Toronto in 1976, other disability groups were added and the idea of merging together different disability groups for international sport competitions was born. In the same year, the first Paralympics Winter Games took place in Sweden.

This year Australia is sending a team of 170 to compete against 4,000 athletes from around the world. There are hopes we could achieve our 1,000th medal at these Games - we currently hold 908 but in Athens we won 100.

I wish all our athletes the very best.

AUSTRALIAN CITIZENSHIP DAY

Australian Citizenship day is celebrated on September 17 each year. It's an opportunity for all Australians, old and new, to take a moment to reflect on what it means to be Australian.

This is also a day when many community groups celebrate by organising citizenship ceremonies and encouraging permanent residents to become citizens. It started in 2001, and is an alternative to the much bigger (and hotter) citizenship ceremonies held on Australia Day.

I've recently worked with many RSLs and community groups to provide Australian flags for display and for memorial services. A letter from the secretary of the Isis District Sub Branch of the RSL in Childers commented: "We are proud to fly our Australian flag and there should be more of it. The positive comments we have received from the community about the flag being flown all the time are fantastic."

I encourage community groups who would like to apply for a flag to contact my office.

GO GOVERNOR PALIN

I was absolutely delighted to hear US Vice-presidential candidate, Governor Sarah Palin, put support for disability issues at the very top of her speech to the Republican Convention last week.

I suspect there would be a large number of issues on which we might disagree, but we are both mothers of a child with Down syndrome.

To have such a high profile advocate for disability is wonderful and, in the Senate last week, I thanked her for this.

RAMADAN MUBARAK!

Ramadan is the Islamic month of fasting, in which Muslims do not eat or drink anything from dawn until sunset. This time of fasting is meant to teach the person patience, sacrifice and humility, and we wish our Muslim readers a happy and peaceful Ramadan.