KCP - Catholic Diocese of Broome

May has been traditionally the month set aside for honouring Mary, the mother of Jesus, in the Catholic Church. The month also begins with a feast dedicated to Mary’s husband, Joseph, under the title of ‘the worker’.

The history of this feast is bound up with the attempt by the Church to combat the influence of communism which celebrated May the first as the workers’ day. The Church wanted also to use this as a supplementary feast to March 19th. However, it has faded somewhat from its former prominence, possibly since the collapse of communism in Europe.

This year, the Australian Catholic Social Justice Council has called upon us to once again look closely at what the Feast of Joseph the Worker calls from us as a nation. The Council is particularly concerned about the national hearing to determine the Living Wage. It points out that there are ‘almost 1.6 million workers struggling to make ends meet’, and stuck with accepting the current level of remuneration because the current industrial relations system does not permit bargaining above the award rate of pay.

The Council also points out that the current system is being used as a means to stimulate employment; by keeping wages low, the Government hopes that more employers will be able to take on more workers. Apart from not being convinced that this is in fact working, it smacks of making the socioeconomic system an end in itself rather than putting it, as the Council says, ‘at the service of its people’.

We are continually being told that the economy has never been so good and that Government coffers are overflowing. However, the ordinary battlers about whom we Australians are supposed to be concerned, the sorts of men and women who created the myths of ANZAC and ‘the bush’, are unfortunately being left behind as the benefits of the booming economy trickle ever upwards.

There must be similar concerns over the Government’s proposals to overhaul CDEP, the work-for-the-dole scheme for Indigenous communities. How are those in remote and rural Australia going to measure up to increasingly more rigorous requirements to qualify for access to the social safety net? Where are they going to find meaningful and lasting employment? How can they access training tailored to their needs? Much negotiation and sharing of the real on-the-ground experience of remote Indigenous communities is required.

The time has come for honest and shameless talking from all sides. Those destroying community harmony, health and safety through drug running and ‘importing’ of alcohol have to be stopped by their own people. Those responsible for Primary and Secondary education in remote areas have to make a realistic assessment of their achievements or lack of them and begin to look towards the future. Community leaders have to revisit their vision for life back on ‘country’ and reassess their hopes for the next generation.

In the meantime, both the basic wage and CDEP payments need to be fair and just, provide for the needs of families and meet at least the subsistence needs of their recipients.