Gillard’s mousepad plague work choices

Sorry, this may not make sense to readers outside of Australia, but this article in tonight’s paper made me snigger.

To cut a long story short, the previous government in Australia, lead by John Howard, enacted workplace laws that many workers considered to be unfair.

The Howard government, according to the now deputy Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, spent A$120 million on various advertising campaigns, and gimmicks, in an attempt to bring Australian workers around to the then new laws.

Among promotional gimmicks, are what Julia Gillard considers to be, a “plague of mousepads”. She has been asking for, and receiving, suggestions on how to best recycle these mousepads…

“We’ve had the suggestion that they could be used for noticeboards, or shin pads for soccer or inner-sole pads for shoes, or doormats, or my personal favourite, floor-liners for porta-loos - a good use of surplus Work Choices mousepads.”