I had placed a pithy post here but decided to withdraw it. I am becoming wearied of my own Centrelink distress and in addition do not wish to distress Jim Belshaw any further. Somewhere in the Land Beyond the Boundaries is a Clarentzian Dream of Music, and Wallabies and Family nearby. Of the Big River and Good People on Solar Power. Even the pit toilet is a vast improvement on the Current Employment Training experiences. I wonder whether I would have ever needed a Disability Support Pension had I not become mauled within Social Welfare System. I had always accounted it to my misspent Youth.
The Pithy Post related to the latest of the Job Network encounters. In this incident, Peter has actually been given an interview to attend for a 2 day per week position with a College for International Students.
All looking well until the Trainer rings to suggest that he wear a collared shirt with tie and TUCK HIS PONY TAIL INTO HIS SHIRT.
I won’t say much more. For those of you who are not outraged at what I thought was a battle fought and won in the 1960s, there are no words to convince you. For those of you who DO understand – well !
Thanks to the CIVIL LIBERTIES ACTION GROUP for their response which came quickly and was literate and compassionate.
Herein is a section of that communication.
” Freedom of expression in Australia means you can dress as you like, provided its clean and tidy.
No-one tells women how long to wear their hair, why should people tell men what length to wear their hair, or how to wear it (fancy advising someone to ‘hide’ their hair).
The man is a stage and media performer, his hair is part of his identity:
Where is Australia headed if the job agency Centrelink and their sub-agency, the Salvation Army, can tell a man how to dress?
The requirement to job search sometimes takes away a job seeker’s dignity: this is one of those cases, where the Govt is belittling Australians who are out of work…or, studying, as here.”
______________________
DOES THE TALE OF SAMSON AND DELILAH have any significance here ?
LYNNE SANDERS-BRAITHWAITE 