The Prime Minister Concedes “the maters” are “policy matters”

Since the issue was raised to the government in April 2006, the government has refused to take any actions to address the issue that a worker’s constitutional right to obey law at work is not protected from retaliatory dismissal after he/she complains his/her superior’s illegalities or violation of laws and regulations.

I wrote to the Prime Minister on 8 September. The Correspondence Unit of the Department of the Prime Minister advised me that a response was scheduled to be sent to me in four weeks. However, on 25 October Assistant Secretary of the Prime Minister, Mr Patrick Sedgley wrote: “The government is now in a caretaker role pending the outcome of the election” because the Prime Minister called the election on 14 October.

Since the petition was presented to the Senate on 11 September, the government’s attitude toward the matters has been changed a bit. It now admits “the matters” are “policy matters”, and further advises me: “You may wish to raise the matters that are contained in your letter with the incoming government once the outcome of the election is known”.

The government has 18 months to deal with the matter but fails to do so. Obviously, the government's policies are not to try to uphold workers’ rights even though the workers’ rights are for upholding and obeying the government’s regulations and laws at workplaces.

(file below are downloadable as .jpg files)

Letter from the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet of 25/10/07