Published: 2 May 2016
In anticipation of a Budget weighted in favour of the top end of town, unions will rally on the lawns of Parliament House
MEDIA ALERT: Tuesday May 3, at 7.30am
What: Cayman Island Embassy to expose the LNP’s erosion of key pillars of society; job security, workers’ rights, medicare, education, public services, a secure retirement and a fair go for all.
Who: MUA Assistant National Secretary Ian Bray, ALP Senator Sam Dastyari, ACTU President Ged Kearney and CPSU National Secretary Nadine Flood.
Where: Jobs Embassy, Parliament Lawns
Workers will hold a rally on the lawns of Parliament House to highlight the growing inequality that has occurred during the Abbott – Turnbull reign.
The Jobs Embassy, which has been set up outside Parliament House every sitting week since early February, will be erected again this Budget Week, to highlight the attacks on working and middle class families by the Liberal-National Government.
Maritime Union of Australia Assistant National Secretary Ian Bray said tomorrow’s event would include a ‘Cayman Island Embassy’ to juxtapose between the tax avoiding, multi-millionaires and corporations, and the working men and women who pay their fair share.
“This Budget must address some of the things that have been exposed through the Senate Inquiry into Tax Avoidance and the release of the Panama Papers,” Mr Bray said.
“Every day we’re being told we need to tighten our belts because of the current economic climate and its always things like health and education which bear the brunt of the cuts.
“Meanwhile, some of Australia’s most well-known companies and individuals are paying very little, and in some cases zero, tax.
““Our argument is very simple - eliminate the tax loopholes that are being exploited by multinationals such as Chevron and Alcoa and we won’t need to make cuts to wages, to health, to education etc.
Mr Bray said the Jobs Embassy was originally set up to show the plight of seafaring jobs after a raid saw the crew of the MV Portland removed from bunks and replaced with a foreign crew.
“Other workers have realised that seafarers and members of the MUA can be treated in such an atrocious manner things don’t bode well for any working person in this country,” he said.
“As such the Jobs Embassy has become a platform to protest all of the Turnbull Government’s inadequacies.”
