The Honorable Bill Shorton MP 16 January 2014 Leader of the Opposition Federal Parliament Australia Dear Mr Shorten, Although I am long out of the workplace, I am strong advocate against workplace bullying, in fact, I would regard myself as an activist. I have immersed myself in a campaign of prolific letter writing over the past 15 years at local, state & federal level, from the then local member, Michael Crutchfield (who was a useless as an udder on a bull) to Prime Minister Howard (equally useless). I also wrote to Beasely and a raft of other Federal & State politicians and I did receive, after relentless campaigning, a letter of assistance from the then State of Victoria Attorney Rob Hulls which ultimately led nowhere. I have always been a Liberal voter but they did not want to know anything about my personal fight against workplace abuse/bullying. I finally had a response from the office of the new Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, on 2 occasions. I did admittedly get a response from Tony Abbott’s office before the previous federal elections when I asked him for a commitment to addressing the serious problem of workplace bullying, to be advised that, in case I didn’t know, an election campaign was on and there was no time to answer my questions! As you can imagine, after a prolific letter writing campaign & a pretty solid Facebook campaign that it was like a Godsend when the Gillard Govt set in motion the Federal Committee to examine workplace bullying in each state. I took up the offer to write a submission, which was accepted. I then accepted invitation to give a personal submission to the Committee at Parliament House Victoria. It was after these submissions, written & in person, that actions were set into motion & Fair Work Australia Laws were to be enacted from 1 January, 2014. This felt like a small victory Mr Shorten, for the good of all Australian workers. Now, we learn that the States of Queensland, NSW, South Australia & ACT ****** are denying their workers the right to take their grievances to Fair Work Australia and surely this flies in the face of all we have worked for, myself for nearly two decades. It is surely an abuse of their human rights to deny them this amenity. How can this be so and how can we lobby, we being “Beyond Workplace Bullying Australia” a Facebook entity I am part of, on behalf of all Australians. What can we do Mr Shorten, how can we launch a campaign to invoke this law in all states of this country, allowing all Australians the opportunity to access this most historic legislation, the likes of which we are unlikely to ever again see in this country and that the Liberal Party and big business are determined to squash. Many of us are desperate to make this legislation Australia wide but we have no idea how we go about doing this. Petitions are a waste of time & paper, as you probably know, I am asking you for advice on the most effective strategy possible to ensure that this landmark legislation is not buried underneath the vexatious scare mongering of the business community. I believe that this legislation was made for the welfare of all Australians, employers and workers and that it is a fair and reasonable path to stopping this scourge that has been named by the WHO, a global pandemic, costing billions of dollars in lost productivity, compensation in Australia alone and the tragic loss of life to the phenomena called “bullycide”. I know about this because two of my former workplace companions took their own lives as a result of the heinous cruelty & bullying we were each subjected to in my former workplace. Mr Shorten, it is my understanding that this legislation was very much ‘your special project ’ and I beg you, please help us ensure that it is not consigned to the annals of Australian Federal Parliamentary history, where I am sure our submissions now gather dust. Please help us to keep it alive and to ensure that it becomes the beacon that shines for all Australians and that all states be required to ensure that their workers are given access to Fair Work Australia anti-workplace bullying legislation. I, and thousands of others, have a story that needs to be made public to emphasise the need for laws to protect workers from the, in some instances, psychopathic individuals, who deliberately wreak havoc in the lives of their targets, destroying them mentally and emotionally, leading to the complete breakdown of their entire lives. I await, with eagerness & anticipation, your advice on how we can best and most effectively ensure that this life changing legislation can be lobbied for compulsory use in all states so that all Australians can benefit from its potential for justice. Yours faithfully, Dianne Wilkinson Barwon Heads Victoria 3227 For and on behalf of Beyond Workplace Bullying Australia Justice for Brodie Panlock FAB (Fight against bullying) FAB (Fight against Bullying) Australia Cc above groups
Posted on: Wed, 22 Jan 2014 02:33:45 +0000
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