Well, I can't believe it!  It's the final week of the Federal election campaign and in 6 days the nation will decide will make a decision about what direction it will take over the next 3 years.  If we can continue to grow more and more successful by following the same strategic plan, or if it's time to hand the reigns over to a new set of decison makers.

I stand by my original prediction that it will be close.  Very close and analysts are very brave to be predicting victory for either party.

At the end of the day I have my camp, and I've been working very hard to help the man in the photograph above.  Spending many of my Saturday and Sunday mornings waving placcards on street corners, walking arround community gatherings and today helping gather the final supplies for an army of voluntary workers to promote the Liberal message at your local polling stations.  I would also like to emphasise the voluntary nature of what I do because I know other parties, have to pay campaign workers to get any one out there to do anything.  We can and do not.

A few things in the last week at work have reminded me of how well we are actually doing in Australia.  I have been working with a colleague from Milan at an engineering company.

My colleague this week, could not believe that Australia's federal government has no debt.  His country is nearing the point where debt will exceed the annual GDP and he believes that there is no chance the country will ever repay their debt.  The prospect of returning to a government which is more than happy to increase national debt is not one that I relish, but inevitable if Rudd is to become Prime Minister.  I believe this firmly as Paul Keating and Bob Hawke have come out to help Rudd manage his campaign and his policy and these men have no problem with amassing debts with no regard to the future generations who must repay this.

Italy has a strong union movement, to protect workers "rights," however as a result, companies are obsessed with keeping head count down because if workers do not perform or if there are shifts in demand for the company, they can not reverse their decision to employ.  Even worse, there are penalties for workers to change jobs, so even those who are poorly treated, have a gross disincentive to move.  Additionally the lack of fluidity in the workforce has actually forced wages down.  Some one who started in a white collar graduate job as I did 12 months ago, would be paid, in an equivalent position, about 25,000 Euro.  This is not only not equivalent to the $42,000 that I recieved, but does not include any superannuation and after tax, reults in a pay package of just over 900 Euro per month.  For those who are not so good at adding and subtracting, this is equivalent of a tax rate of over 60%, and this is applied to low income earners.  At the end of the month, most of them have to ask their parents to pay their rent as they can not.  I hope Australia never follows the path where I do not have a choice about where I work and I have to accept such a low starting salary.

By contrast the Australian branch of the company which I have been working for, is struggling to pay salaries at a market rate, as they have increased so rapidly (I acknowledge that it is a very specialised market).  And is going to all ends to come up with initatives to keep their staff happy.  I will also add that this is not just their engineering staff, they also have a pool of blue collar workers who are still paid a number of allowances and at a variety of rates depending on where and when they work.  These benefits are far from gone from the face of the Australian Industrial Relations scene.

Also I have had exposure to a number of aspects employment in a developing country (which will remain nameless as I do not wish to make my client's name or industry public).  Complain as I might about red tape in Australia, the particular company in question operates in a market, where if the do not fill out up to 500 pages of forms correctly, they miss the monthly pay cycle of their clients.  I don't know who came up with the insane idea that this is a good way to do business, or made a regulatory environment so complex that businesses must keep such detailed complicated records, but all I can say is that we have made it easy for people do do business here in Australia.  Not as easy as some other countries, with much freer markets, but we are doing well.  And I would not jeopardise this advantage by electing a government, who will be led by a man who thinks capitalism is bad for the country, communities and families.  I hate to say it, but being free to consume a wide array of goods and services as seen fit, necessary or desirable, is what gives families, communties and the country a higher standard of living and a good lifestyle.  And this can not be achieved by restricting consumption (which flows on to restricting demand for workers).  But I digress.

Whilst I won't miss the early starts, I will miss the mateship of my fellow campaign workers, the encouraging toots from motorists and seeing that there are people from all walks of life who support all sides of politics and have all manner of opinion. 

I hope you all vote for the person you are convinced will do a good job over the person who looks and sounds good, and I also hope you all vote based on a local decision rather than for a leader.  A leader will make you feel good, but at the end of the day your local member will be the one who changes you community for the better or worse.

Over and out.

AJ

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