Speech - The Sydney Morning Herald Plain English Speaking Awards - We're champion workers - dont laugh its true.

Essay by ash_earthHigh School, 11th grade May 2004

download word file, 4 pages 3.0

Australia - The land of the free.

Australia - A fair go for all.

Australia - The lucky country

Australia - The land of the sun bronzed Aussies.

Australia - Whose citizens like a beer or two.

Australia - The place where every person dreams of owning their own home.

Australia - Where the clean air flows.

Australia - Where all are welcome.

Australia - Where no one does any work!

Good afternoon ladies and gentleman.

People of this great land - Australia - is this what we really have? Well I have an amazing news flash for you We're champion workers - don't laugh its true! Australians - that's us - are now the hardest workers in the developed world. Out of 18 decent sized, developed democracies - New Zealand, the US, Canada, Japan, Britain, Ireland, 11 countries in continental Europe and of course Australia, we have ranked the mighty place of number one in working hours in a statistical study done by Rodney Tiffen an associate professor of government at Sydney University and reported by Ross Giffins in the Sydney Morning Herald on May 1-2 of this year.

Australians now average 1855 hours of work per year! That is 77 days out of 365, 20% of the year - working. Now that may not seem heaps to you, but think of this, that equates to 78% of your life working, and on top of that the 13 years plus you spend studying to get the job. Now does it seem only a small amount?

The Australian people work 20 hours more per year then any other country! So much for us being the lazy ones. Tamela Smith is a 27 year old Solicitor and on average works up to 70 hours per week. That's 3700 hours per year;...