Fremantle Dockers great David Mundy has announced he will retire from the AFL at the end of the season.
Key points:
David Mundy will end his career in the top 10 for most AFL/VFL games played
Fremantle has paid tribute to Mundy, calling him a major part of the club
The Dockers will honor his career during the round 22 western derby
Mundy, 37, made his AFL debut for Fremantle in 2005 after being drafted from Victoria, and has played 371 games to date.
That places him 10th on the list of most AFL/VFL games played, and the Dockers veteran is set to move into outright 9th place at least by the time he hangs up his boots at season’s end.
“I’m incredibly proud, I’ve been living my dream for 19 years now and I’ve loved every bit of it,” Mundy said in announcing his decision to retire.
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“Not all of it has been easy, there’s been quite a few, really hard and emotional bits to it, but I’ve been able to grow as a person and as a player throughout my time at Fremantle and I wouldn’t have it any other way”.
Fremantle football manager Peter Bell was quick to point out how significant Mundy’s career had been in the context of the club’s history.
Mundy says he is “incredibly proud” of his career with the Dockers.(AAP: Julian Smith)
“Dave has been a major part of where we are as a club and where we are headed,” Bell said.
“He’s a great character who understands the bigger picture, understands what the stresses of being a player are, and understands more broadly the other decisions and leadership that we need as a football club.”
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Fremantle will honor Mundy’s career during the round 22 western derby, the club’s final home game of the season ahead of the finals series.
While the game will be the fans’ chance to say thank you to Mundy, the veteran said it was also important for him to be able to pay tribute to the club.
“It’s been an incredible thing to be apart of to be honest, to receive that kind of love and respect from the fans,” he said.
“It’s something that’s really grown in the back half of my career and I find it really hard to describe how it makes me feel. It’s obviously very special and I really appreciate that support.”
The West Australian government will give all public sector workers a 3 per cent annual pay rise, over two years, and a one-off $2,500 payment, in an attempt to offset rising inflation and cost-of-living pressures.
Key points:
More than 150,000 public sector workers will be offered a pay rise and one-off payment
The changes will cost $634 million over the next four years
UnionsWA says a one-off cash payment is no substitute for real base wage increase
Industrial action had been escalating in recent weeks over the West Australian government’s wages policy, with unions urging the state to lift its 2.75 per cent wage cap to reflect the soaring cost of living.
Public service employees who have already accepted the previous agreement — including teachers, doctors and transit guards — will receive the difference and have the one-off $2,500 payment paid to them in the coming weeks.
The new offer also includes a 0.5 per cent superannuation guarantee increase per year, over two years.
Premier Mark McGowan says the wage increase comes after considerable consultation with public sector unions.(ABC News: James Carmody )
Premier Mark McGowan said the government wanted to recognize workers for their efforts during the pandemic.
“We’re going to change our wages policy and make it more generous for our public sector workforce, who are doing a terrific job, particularly over the COVID period,” Mr McGowan said.
“Our base pay rate is more generous than New South Wales’. It’s more generous than Victoria’s and I think it better reflects the expectations of the workforce.
“And, certainly for this year — for the vast majority of the workforce — it’s significantly above the inflation rate.
“We have significant competition for labour. It’s important we have a very vibrant, very successful economy, that we have a well-rewarded workforce, that we resolve these EBA issues, and we get back to the business of service delivery.”
The changes will apply to more than 150,000 public sector workers, with an expected price-tag of $634 million over the coming four years, bringing the total wages bill to $2.54 billion over that period.
Mr McGowan said that while the state government was doing all it could to alleviate cost-of-living pressures, it was also important to protect the state’s finances.
“Maintaining a good budget is very important to ensure that we have enough money to spend on what is important, and we don’t get ourselves into a difficult position and have the credit rating outcomes that other states and territories have had.”
Industrial action has been escalating in recent weeks over the state’s wages policy. (ABC News: Keane Bourke)
The state’s Industrial Relations Minister Bill Johnston said the new wage policy offered the “right balance”.
“This is an important adjustment that reflects the changed circumstances that we’ve had since December last year,” he said.
“We’re responding appropriately. We have to protect the interests of the taxpayers, but we also have to be generous to the workforce.”
Many workers going ‘backwards’
UnionsWA has criticized the announcement, saying one-off cash payments are no substitute for real base wage increases.
However, it welcomed what it called the McGowan government’s recognition that its public sector wages policy did not meet the needs of workers in the state.
Unions WA Secretary Owen Whittle says the government announced the offer without genuine bargaining. (ABC News: Jon Sambell)
UnionsWA secretary Owen Whittle said low-wage public sector workers would benefit most, but others much less so.
“For many public sector workers — police, firefighters, child protection workers, prison officers — they’ve been going backwards for five years and this policy will ensure they continue to go backwards,” Mr Whittle said.
“One-off cash payments are not a substitute for real base wage increases for public sector workers.”
Mr Whittle said the announcement was made without consultation with unions.
“This isn’t genuine bargaining. We’re not in the room bargaining these pay increases. The government is just dropping this on us.”
The Australian Nurses Federation is still considering the wages offer, but indicated lowering workloads was as important as any pay rise.
That union’s Mark Olsen said the new offer was still not as good as that of nurses in most other states.
“It still leaves West Australian nurses and midwives as the second-lowest paid in the country, without any transparent regulation of their workloads,” Mr Olsen said.
The ANF’s Mark Olsen says the offer leaves WA nurses as the second lowest paid in Australia. (ABC News: Keane Bourke)
Opposition questions long-term wages plan
Western Australia’s Shadow Treasurer, Steve Thomas, labeled the increase “moderately generous”, but said the government should do more to help those who are not in the public sector.
He renewed calls for government fees and charges to be frozen, at a cost of $160 million, which would benefit every West Australian.
Mr McGowan has previously said the current approach — which increases fees and charges at a rate below inflation and gives households a $400 electricity credit — delivers a better result than a freeze.
Dr Thomas wants to see the government go further in giving all West Australians cost of living relief.(ABC News: Keane Bourke)
Dr Thomas also called for a discussion around the state’s wages policy over the longer-term, particularly as the iron ore price corrects, impacting the state’s bottom line.
“I would have liked to see an overall policy for cost of living. That is: a freeze on fees and charges, for at least the 2022-23 financial year,” he said.
“I would have then liked to see [the Premier] reassess the policy in the longer term and, instead of giving a one-off hit in terms of cash, [take] a genuine look at what the government can afford in terms of wage policy.”
When Aunty Denise McGuinness looks up and down Gertrude Street in Fitzroy, she sees her community’s history everywhere.
“Fitzroy’s so significant to Aboriginal people … if you come from Perth, anywhere, you come straight to Fitzroy,” she says.
The inner-Melbourne suburb is now dominated by expensive houses, trendy bars and designer homewares, in recent years garnering a reputation as a hipster haven.
But it’s still home to the large public flats where Ms McGuinness lived as a girl.
Fitzroy’s recent gentrification has transformed Gertrude Street, but a new project is bringing its history back into focus.(ABC News: Joseph Dunstan)
Through the 1960s, 70s and 80s, Fitzroy and the surrounding suburbs were a meeting place for Aboriginal people who’d left behind restrictive lives on missions or emerged from state institutions, searching for family links the government had tried so hard to severe.
“We were discriminated against, there was only one pub that would let us drink, and that was the Builders Arms,” Ms McGuinness recalls.
Several stories shared in the project involve life-changing meetings at the Builders Arms Hotel.(ABC News: Joseph Dunstan)
Now, the stories of laughter, tears and powerful civil rights victories born on this part of Wurundjeri land are free for all to hear, through a truth-telling phone app.
Named Yalinguth, after the Woi Wurrung word for “yesterday”, the app follows your GPS location, producing rich audio stories that reveal the recent history of the land you’re walking on.
A map marked by bubbles invites the user to step into the stories of elders.(Supplied)
Wander past the Builders Arms Hotel, and Uncle Jack Charles comes through the headphones, telling you how he discovered Melbourne’s Indigenous community inside as a teenager.
Stroll down to Atherton Gardens, and the late Uncle Archie Roach’s haunting lyrics and story invites you to reflect on the cruel cost of the Stolen Generations.
Further down, by the police station on Condell Street, elders share their memories of racist treatment by the justice system.
Bobby Nicholls, a multi-clan traditional owner with Yorta Yorta, Dja Dja Wurrung and Wotjobaluk connections, says the project is a powerful way of ensuring the legacy of civil rights leaders including Sir Doug Nicholls, William Cooper and Jack Patten are more widely known.
“They came into Melbourne to achieve a lot of things, and one of those things was to ensure that Aboriginal people had equal rights,” he says.
Bobby Nicholls says his community is still fighting for access to the culturally appropriate services it needs.(ABC News: Joseph Dunstan)
It was on Gertrude Street that the Victorian Aboriginal Health Service was opened in 1973, offering a safe space in an era when stories of racist treatment in health services were common.
The health service was one of several community-run Aboriginal organizations that emerged in the 1970s.(abcnews)
“[In Echuca]they used to have the expectant mothers to be out on the verandah of the maternity hospital, so they weren’t taken into the wards like non-Aboriginal people,” Mr Nicholls says.
Ms McGuinness spent two decades working in the community-controlled service, which ran on little more than community passion in the early years.
The creation of the Victorian Aboriginal Health Service gave Indigenous people an option that wasn’t run by white Australia.(Supplied: Aunty Denise McGuinness)
“Back in those days, we didn’t need the funding that we rely upon now,” the Gunditjmara, Wiradjuri, Yorta Yorta and Dja Dja Wurrung woman says.
“We worked at the health center … three months without a wage, three to six months.
“We still delivered the service.”
Ms McGuinness hopes those who take a walk through the stories offered by elders will gain a deeper appreciation of the struggles her community has endured.
“Get a different understanding and learn the struggles back then,” she says.
The app offers an audio tour of the streets around Fitzroy, revealing the rich Aboriginal history of the area.(ABC News: Joseph Dunstan)
Gunaikurnai and Kooma-kunja artist BJ Braybon gathered many of his elders’ stories for the app.
He feels young Indigenous people taking in the stories will find themselves changed.
“It’ll change the young people because it will help them to understand about their elders’ history,” he says.
BJ Braybon contributed to the artwork featured on the app.(ABC News: Joseph Dunstan)
Yorta Yorta man Jason Tamiru, who helped formally launch the Yalinguth app this week, says the trove of elders’ stories collected on the app represents a chance to become better informed.
“History’s shaped us all, good and bad,” he says.
Jason Tamiru says the audio app respects the oral history traditions of Aboriginal communities.(ABC News: Joseph Dunstan)
“Outside of our own community some people have made judgment of us and that judgment is incorrect and there’s been a lot of books, lot of stories and those stories haven’t been always positive.
“You want to hear the truth, you want to hear from the right people.
“Engaging with the app, you’re going to engage with a lot of elders, a lot of people that hold stories and those stories are important.”
You can find out more about the Yalinguth project on its website.
West Australian Liberal Leader David Honey has told the party faithful he’s “optimistic” about the future, after members agreed to significant pre-selection reforms yesterday.
Key points:
West Australian Liberals have met for day two of their state conference after passing significant reform on Saturday
State Liberals Leader David Honey sought to inspire the party faithful
He says it is unlikely the party will adopt a female quota
At the first Liberal state conference since the federal election, members yesterday voted to overhaul the way the party chooses its candidates and take control off powerbrokers.
It was seen by many in the party as a landmark moment, which illustrated it had listened and learned from two devastating election results at the state and federal level.
By comparison, the second day of the conference was described as “flat” by one member, with far more seats left empty for Dr Honey’s opening address than the day before.
David Honey’s address drew a smaller crowd than the numbers attending the first day of the conference. (ABC News: Keane Bourke)
In his speech, Dr Honey set out a clear agenda for the next three years: to demonstrate that the state and federal Labor governments should be “sacked” and prove the Liberals are a “credible alternative.”
“I’m not pessimistic about our political future. I am realistic. We face an enormous challenge to return as a major political force in Western Australia,” he said.
“What makes me optimistic for the future of the Liberal Party in Western Australia is the good work that is being done at this conference to get our internal affairs in order, a strong foundation for the future.
“We have clearly demonstrated that we are willing to embrace progressive change as part of our continued evolution as a dynamic political force in Western Australian politics.”
Party falls short of supporting quotas
After this year’s federal election result, some former female Liberal MPs urged the party to adopt quotas for women in parliament.
Federal deputy leader Sussan Ley has previously expressed her support for a target, rather than a quota.
Deputy state leader Libby Mettam said she was of the same view.
“We just want, in each seat, to see the best people come forward,” she said.
“If that is a quota and not a target, that will be something that the Liberal Party as a whole considers, and there will be much debate around that.
“Up until now, I’ve been very supportive of targets. I’m yet to be convinced that we necessarily need quotas at this stage.”
Libby Mettam (right) says her preference is for the party to set targets for gender representation.(ABC News: Keane Bourke)
Her colleague, Dr Honey, said he was “not averse” to a quota, but would wait to see what the party decided.
“Knowing the nature of the party, it’s probably unlikely we’re going to have quotas, but there will be a really high expectation [that] we have significantly more excellent women candidates, but also candidates that represent the diversity of our society,” he said.
Long reform journey ahead, party elder says
The Liberal Party has dozens of other recommendations to work through from its election review.
One of those recommendations — to require candidate pre-selections to be accompanied by a statutory declaration — also passed this weekend.
However, there are many others still being worked through, prompting former party president Norman Moore to describe the changes as “a small step, not a giant leap.”
Former state president, Norman Moore (third from right), says he’s hopeful about future reform.(ABC News: Keane Bourke)
“The president (Richard Wilson) has said that he’s interested in ongoing reform of the party, and we’re going to have another conference, I think, in the next 12 months,” Mr Moore said.
“I think that’s a great opportunity to look at some of the other issues that the Road to Reform report talked about, which haven’t been addressed yet.
“I’m very comfortable about the president’s position and I hope that we’ll be able to make further progress in the future.”
Motions put forward by the Curtin branch — to implement other recommendations — were voted down, while changes to who can pay for party memberships passed.
Dr Honey said he remained confident the party was moving quickly enough.
“If we did nothing else but [reform pre-selections]this whole process would be a success,” he said.
