sub54

From: Hardwick, Andrea

Sent: Wednesday, 28 September 2005 3:50 AM

To: Family Responsibilities

Subject: Submission re Striking the Balance

To whom it may concern

I would like put forward a small submission, my little contribution and support for the Striking the Balance Discussion Paper.

Firstly, while I understand some of the constraints in enabling as many people as possible to have input into this consultation, I believe that the current climate of busy-ness, the level of current 'unbalance' would mean that most people would not have time to read, let alone respond to this most important discussion paper. Put another way, meaningful dialogue regarding Striking the Balance while the boat is precariously unbalanced will, unfortunately be limited. Given a state of balance following a state of imbalance will provide a great deal of insight in hindsight... and far too late. The flow of conversation around a group of friends at a coffee morning (Oh yes - if only, the dim recollections of having time to actually communicate meaningfully with a group of friends!) or, if provided with the opportunity to have the outline of the paper described while completing one of life's many unthinking tasks, say while driving home after dropping the kids off at school or off to go shopping, there would be much to say and suggest. So...firstly I would like to say that I think the importance of this discussion paper cannot be over emphasised and I think it needs to be more broadly and creatively marketed. Maybe the coffee mornings isn't a bad idea after all!)

Secondly I believe the Australian working culture needs to be addressed top down and through the mechanisms of the public service to enable men more access to family and family responsibilities. My partner works in the health department in middle management. His work hours are long and we know he is not quite seen to working long enough. He starts between 8 and 8.30 am and generally comes home around 7 or 7.30pm. Admittedly he does sometimes have a half to one hour lunch break, depending on whether he has some business to complete in town. He has, at my absolute insistence attended the school assembly two times for our grade one son to receive his merit awards. He is middle ageing and overweight and under exercised and on antihypertensive medication. He has difficulty in fitting exercise into the current work times. As he sweats profusely for a period of time following exercise, he would rather exercise after work. But then we don't get to see him, or we do, but then my little boy ends up sleep deprived. Our solution? We would like him to be able to work part time. Yet this is a nearly unknown work option for men and for men at or over a certain undefined level of position. Imagine men in management roles actually job sharing? Unthinkable!!

Thirdly, the anomaly of teachers having 11 weeks holiday a year and the average work participant having only 4 weeks is a serious issue nation wide. Simple Simon maths will indicate a 7 week gap. Should a person be so blessed to have a partner who will also have access to a full 4 weeks leave a year, still leaves a gaping 3 weeks unattended. (and I can vouch for the unattended holiday children in my area as I am so fortunate to be working from home and know they are home alone - not the movie). And this poses the question as to whether families are being precocious to think that they might actually enjoy holidays together? Heaven forbid!

I believe that teachers are entitled to their 11 weeks break. I also believe that families are entitled to more time together. I do not have the vaguest inkling of a desire to place my child in a holiday program, high quality or not. I remember with great nostalgia our family holidays as a child and I am certainly not going to hand my child's future nostalgia over for a holiday with a stranger, no matter how well intentioned or whether they have achieved 5 star quality accreditation. Give us our measly four weeks paid leave and give us the opportunity to increase it by another 2 to 3 weeks unpaid. Jobstart could take on a whole new dimension, bring in the juniors and inexperienced and upskill the unemployed while I spend less on the new popcorn maker and some more time with my family. Now those maths work out at a premium for a one up to three week holiday for the family to actually be together. It might only be a holiday at home, but it will be together. Employers will be more inclined to bring in an unemployed person if they are not forking out for holiday pay and if the government Jobstart supports the employers expenses for a set period of time. Eg 6 months in employ regardless over what time frame whether it is over 12 months or even a 24 month period. The unemployed person may replace several workers during that period of time. I'm sure there are silos of people working on these ideas for the unemployed, but are they linking it across to help families Strike the Balance? We talk endlessly about Intersectorial Partnerships yet often in reality there are so many funding and parochial boundaries.

Lastly I'd just like to say that the culture of an organisation is maintained top down. Until the government of the day values the family at least in league with the economic state of the nation, it will remain that the family is at least second to the power of the almighty dollar. It is not enough to bandy about family friendly initiatives or parental or maternity leave while enabling a culture that is driven to have people working harder and longer and perpetuated by endless demand for change and buck passing down the line to the worker himself. Unpaid work needs to be recognised. The results of not recognising it are becoming more and more apparent. Children need their parents and parents need each other and all of that takes time and energy, and lots of it. If the government is not going to drive the change of our society away from consumerism then Mental Health Promotion and Prevention initiatives need to be funded to provide Mums and Dads in the work place and kids in schools with the skills to strategically select, manage and, if required, deselect friendships as well as strategies for ensuring time spent with friends is well spent and all planned outcomes from the exchange are achieved. It seems that the era of being together round the table or even watching a caterpillar for the sake of it without a Richard Attenborough commentary have passed us by. And while we and our children are being bombarded with information overload we are not learning the new social skills required in the fast and hard world of the working parents to support meaningful relationships. Someone somewhere is toppling out of the picture until we Strike the Balance. Be it the children manicured with music and tennis lessons, homework, and the net, shuffled into quality child care starting at 6 weeks of age and on, away from parents; the networking mums managing relationships in direct proportion to Saturday sporting transport exchanges or our men socially introverting because its either us and the kids on Sunday arvo or the mates and the footy, one of us has to go. Not recognising unpaid work is directly related to a wide and varied range of promotion, prevention and primary, secondary and tertiary tax payer expenses. These expenses would certainly be interesting to project to compare with alternatives to improve family quality time. We need to monitor and audit family based initiatives. How many workers have accessed them and how many were in a position to and did not, and more importantly why not. This information collation needs to confidential. Men in management roles job sharing, taking parental leave because a child is unwell, taking maternity leave, arranging flexible work practice to attend family, community and school events should be espoused as real men in a real world. I could have said 'successful men in management roles', but unfortunately the men who do manage to Strike the Balance are often not seen as successful, and more likely in the work role they aren't as successful s those who focus on work alone. I can just see the TV add with the successful manager, at his funeral, dying youngish and richer with only a few people at his graveside and his wife sad, but a little smile as she remembers the superannuation payout, after all those years of .. well, not a lot really. And the comparison with the successful 'Strike the Balance guy, an old man, never really made it to the top. But played hard and fair when he was at work. Loving wife and married kids, a family reunion of sorts. Lots of jesting and smiles. He's fixing the old bike for the grandkids...and doesn't it ride like a beauty!

Just thought I'd leave you with that little visual! Hope it was an okay read and that what I have said made sense and was of some value.

Andrea