The End is Neigh.

"They will not bring the end of the world. The sky will not fall in" claimed Prime Minister Howard in parliament on the 10th November 2005, in regards to industrial relations changes.

Lawyers for the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse™ concurred. Mr. Black, one of the horsemen, remarked that he “had already been brought.” Representing unfair trade and corruption keeps Mr. Black busy in Australia of late. “If charities would stop feeding the poor we could also get some famine going, but I’m already run off my feet with this government.”

Mr. Red, the horseman representing war, claimed he had been brought many times. “Iraq, terrorism, drugs, with so many wars I’m constantly snowed under with paperwork most weekdays.” An assistant had been acquired to help with the workload.

“My team has been hard at work, and we have managed to make some headway into the False Christ campaign which correlates directly with the rise of neo-evangelist fundamentalist Christians,” states the Mr. White, representative of False Religion. “And they call me the fucking Antichrist.”

Mr. Pale, who at his distress, the others call Mr. Green, despite his pleas of how much it suggests he is Mr. ‘Hippy’, regards the IR legislation as not particularly “end of world-ish.”

“It’s still a bit iffy. Bird flu is probably the closest thing to pestilence we’re likely to see, but that really has little to do with worker’s rights. Nonetheless, I’m still the odd one out; everyone else has been welcomed into Australian society with a warm embrace with Mr. Howard at the helm. I’ve really got my hopes on the FTA allowing unfair patent grants for pharmaceutical corporations, which should create a monopoly that would allow pricing to affect Australia’s ability to afford the drugs needed to prevent widespread diseases.”

“I don’t think the industrial relations legislation will bring the end of the world – but it certainly will be the end for the most vulnerable.”

The Australian Bureau of Meteorology refused to comment on any declination of the sky.