The Guardian 28 June, 2006
Gutless Howard ducks & weaves
Howard backers taunted a sacked mum with cries of "get a job" when she took her case to Federal Parliament. While his leader refused to make eye contact with the dumped childcare worker, last week Liberal MP Andrew Laming left little doubt where his sympathies lay.
Emily O’Connor accused John Howard of dishonesty and cowardice, after he ducked and weaved in response to questions about her dismissal. Howard said he neither knew, nor could be expected to know, of the case in which a Canberra employer boasted that the WorkChoices laws meant she didn’t have to advance a reason for O’Connor’s sacking.
According to bewildered parents, Blinky Bill child care centre manager, Anna Maria French, said she had taken "full advantage" of the new industrial relations laws in dismissing O’Connor.
"He pretended he didn’t know", said Ms O’Connor, who was in the Parliament gallery when the Prime Minister was asked if he could "look Emily O’Connor in the eye?"
"He knew exactly who I was. Doesn’t he watch TV or read the papers?"
O’Connor says it was extraordinary that the Prime Minister could recall the specifics of a West Australian miner on the same day "when it suited him".
"He just dodged the issue. Any decent person would find my, or other people in a similar situation, shocking. I think he has lost sight of what the Australian people want. It was a gutless thing to do."
Ms O’Connor was shocked at the reaction of Liberal politicians when her case was raised in parliament, with Andrew Laming, Liberal member for Bowman, waving a paper at her and laughingly telling her to "find a new job".
"I felt like they were going ‘look at this girl, she’s nothing, she’s nobody’."
She says she came forward because of the large number of people being affected by the new laws who were too scared to speak up. She has been buoyed by the support from her community and the Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Workers’ Union.
"It’s important people speak up. Just because it’s legal doesn’t make it right", she said.