Search Results: customers
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ECONOMICS
- David James
- 10 December 2013
15 Comments
It is hard not to smile over Woolworths' and Coles' 'voluntary' adoption of a code of conduct. Now that the duopoly has decided to mend its ways, it seems it can occupy the moral high ground and preach to everyone else. The Western world has been subject to a quarter of a century of propaganda about the virtues of deregulation. A closer consideration of the supermarket giants' promise to do the right thing offers little reason for confidence.
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AUSTRALIA
- Brian Matthews
- 08 November 2013
7 Comments
Within an hour the shop is humming with talk and movement. Mac is courteous, but has some iron rules. A woman who talks ceaselessly into her mobile phone receives a steely glare and silence. Someone with both ears plugged into his iPod finds Mac has also suddenly gone deaf. Each new arrival is threaded into a sort of endless conversation which functions at two levels — greetings to the customer and side-of-the-mouth asides to me.
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AUSTRALIA
- Ray Cassin
- 30 October 2013
17 Comments
There is a bizarre and remorseless logic to some of Joe Hockey's proposals, such as the absorption of Centrelink by Australia Post and making Medibank Private responsible for delivering the services of the National Disability Insurance Scheme. ACTU president Ged Kearney described the Centrelink proposal as 'moving into space-cadet territory'. She's right: the space cadets are flying the ship now.
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RELIGION
- Geraldine Doogue
- 24 September 2013
35 Comments
I wish he would invite me to be his temporary consultant, to offer him advice for his next 500 days. I'd begin by proposing a substantial Vatican-led inquiry, into why the Church has been so troubled by sexual abuse across various countries. Then I would point to the experiences of several large secular institutions, including the New York Times and US Army, that have rebuilt after crises.
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RELIGION
- Andrew Hamilton
- 09 May 2013
9 Comments
In our care of the aged, not only their health and security are at stake but also their self-respect and dignity. It is impossible not to sympathise with the argument that the high skills this requires from carers should be better remunerated. But in the business of business and remuneration, love is the skill that dares not speak its name.
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AUSTRALIA
- Moira Rayner
- 25 January 2013
21 Comments
Anti-discrimination acts are meant to protect vulnerable people, not corporations or dominant ideologies. The employers I represent reap the benefits of understanding that diversity and inclusion are brilliant for business and productivity. The Government's new human rights consolidation bill has missed simple opportunities for real improvement.
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RELIGION
- Paul Collins
- 15 August 2012
35 Comments
People often talk about the 'enormous wealth of the Vatican'. Some think the Vatican owns all the Church's worldwide real estate, others that all that art could be sold for the poor, others that the Vatican is corrupt and busy laundering vast sums of Mafia money through the 'Vatican Bank'. Now for the first time we have some hard facts.
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AUSTRALIA
- Brian Toohey
- 02 July 2012
16 Comments
For most Australians, Government compensation for the carbon tax won't cover the steep rise in the cost of electricity caused by unrelated investment in infrastructure. That was not its intention. But the carbon tax will still not ensure the price of 'dirty' electricity is high enough to make coal-fired generators uncompetitive and force a 'clean energy future'.
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RELIGION
- Frank Brennan
- 10 May 2012
61 Comments
The bishops intend a campaign of civil disobedience against aspects of the Obama Administration's health care plan. Many have been critical of this law on the ground that it might contribute to more abortions. The toxicity of the atmosphere should make us wary of adopting a similar campaign here.
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MEDIA
- Catherine Marshall
- 20 February 2012
33 Comments
For all the things Qantas stands accused of — selling out its Australian employees, uncompetitive pricing, bad management — it appears to be respectful of women. A ticket on a Virgin flight, on the other hand, brings with it the allure of sex, the commodity on which the company's brand has been built.
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AUSTRALIA
- Philip Harvey
- 06 June 2011
6 Comments
Fining people for swearing is silly. We can no more control what people say than we can hold the wind, or even a very large fart. Victoria's swear-fine laws are likely to be used either as threat or reality on those who can least afford the fine and cannot fight back.
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ARTS AND CULTURE
Once, I soaked up so much music it seeped from my pores. A week wasn't complete without buying a few albums, seeing a few bands, talking music with mates until dawn. Now I wonder if my weekly pilgrimage to a city music store is merely a break from the working day, or a respite from fading dreams.
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