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Opponents of workplace regulation are well-resourced and powerful. In order to meet them head-on, the Government must do more than invoke the value of hard work. After all, if work automatically confers great dignity, what does it matter that conditions are unsatisfactory?
Speech given by Fr Frank Brennan SJ at the 'Law and Religion: Legal Regulation of Religious Groups, Organisations and Communities' Conference Dinner in Melbourne on 15 July 2011.
Kyle Sandilands and other shock jocks may want to behave well, but they are constrained by commercial logic, and need the helping hand of regulation. Even John Laws intimated this last week when he told VEGA 95.3: 'I never wanted to create mischief that would be damaging to people.'
The law does not protect the natural world from destruction, but supports its destruction. The effect of regulation is that if a company ticks the right boxes and stays within the prescribed boundaries, its activity is acceptable.
News of the Irish child abuse report prompted a call for scrutiny of Irish priests now based in Australia. A more far-reaching implication is the need to look at the state of regulations governing care in our entire not-for-profit sector.
Malcolm Turnbull laughed off the Government's half-baked attack on his wealth last week. With Australians more interested in who a politician represents, he has the opportunity to protect the poor by imposing increased regulation on the finance sector.
The rights of free speech and assembly should not be curtailed because World Youth Day pilgrims might be annoyed or inconvenienced. The NSW regulation is a dreadful interference with civil liberties, and contrary to the spirit of Catholic Social Teaching on human rights.