The NEXT coming Oz election thread!

Well, the Chamber of Commerce would say this, wouldn't they?
Slaves are much better for business, any day! :wink:

Howard seems a bit panicked, wouldn't you say?

And <sigh> it looks like our taxes will be at work again in the planned Liberals' "information" campaign! How much was spent on selling WorkChoices again? :

Howard has 'buckled' on IR: chamber of commerce
May 4, 2007 - 7:10PM/SMH

Australia's peak business group has accused Prime Minister John Howard of buckling to a scare campaign with his major backdown on Work Choices laws.

Mr Howard today admitted public concern was behind the decision to soften the controversial laws, although he refused to concede workers were worse off under Work Choices.

Under the changes, a new fairness test will apply to Australian Workplace Agreements (AWAs), ensuring workers earning less than $75,000 in areas covered by awards will be compensated if they trade away penalty rates.

The move partially reinstates the no-disadvantage test the government scrapped as part of its overhaul of industrial relations laws.

Mr Howard said the changes were made in the light of worker concerns about losing penalty rates without compensation.

But thousands of workers who have already signed AWAs will miss out, with the new rules only applying to agreements lodged on or after May 7, 2007.

"It was never the government's intention that it should become the norm for penalty rates or other protected conditions to be traded off without proper compensation," Mr Howard said.

"The government understands there is some concern in the community that the removal of penalty rates and other protected conditions without fair compensation might occur, with adverse consequences for final take-home pay."

Mr Howard foreshadowed a taxpayer-funded advertising campaign to follow the changes.

Labor and unions dismissed Mr Howard's announcement as an election year stunt.

But Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) chief executive Peter Hendy was also scathing of Mr Howard's backflip, saying the government should have toughed out the criticism. ... <cont>

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/howard-has-buckled-on-ir-chamber-of-commerce/2007/05/04/1177788392517.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1

ABC Online

Government blinks first on IR
AM - Friday, 4 May , 2007 08:00:00
Reporter: Chris Uhlmann

PETER CAVE: In a sign that the Government believes its WorkChoices legislation is jeopardising its chances of re-election, Workplace Relations Minister Joe Hockey has announced changes, beefing up the safety net for workers earning less than $75,000 a year.

A fairness test will be introduced, aimed at ensuring workers get proper compensation for any conditions they trade off.

The Government has repeatedly said it wouldn't overturn its controversial legislation but always left itself some room for fine-tuning.

Joe Hockey spoke to our Chief Political Correspondent Chris Uhlmann.

JOE HOCKEY: We are introducing a stronger safety net for working Australians. It was never the intention that it should be the norm for penalty rates to be traded off without proper compensation and that's why the Government is going to introduce new laws that, simply put, employees must receive fair compensation if they agree to trade away conditions such as penalty rates, shift and overtime loadings, monetary allowances like travel allowance or tool allowance, annual leave loadings, public holidays, rest breaks and incentive and other types of bonuses.

CHRIS UHLMANN: I thought that you were not for turning on this policy. We're you turned by good policy or expedient politics?

JOE HOCKEY: No, we are keeping the fundamentals of the current system. We introduced a system that delivered a national industrial relation system. We continue to stand by small business by removing the application of the unfair dismissal laws on small business.

We are committed to Australian Workplace Agreements. We're not going to try and replace them with some alternative. We continue to ban good faith bargaining, we continue to ban pattern bargaining. We will continue with our prohibited content restrictions. We continue to ban union membership forms with information statements and so on.

So, when it comes to the fundamentals, we remain absolutely committed to those fundamentals because they are helping to deliver today's strong economy.

CHRIS UHLMANN: Isn't this winding back an economic reform and to paraphrase the Prime Minister, doesn't overturning a major economic reform make you unfit for government?

JOE HOCKEY: Well, this is not about overturning any reforms. This is about putting in place a stronger safety net. And look, Australians have been concerned. It's often the case that people have been concerned about others, not necessarily themselves, but concerned about others who may have been disadvantaged under the laws. Well, we listen.

CHRIS UHLMANN: But how can you claim Minister, in this election year that this isn't transparently political, that you're doing this because you believe this has bite, that the electorate doesn't believe that this policy is fair and that the Labor Party has traction with that argument?

JOE HOCKEY: Well, unlike the Labor Party who say they consult and then act in the opposite direction, we do consult, we listen. And look, I don't apologise for that, no one should. That's what a democracy is about. We do listen and we've been hearing what people have been saying about our workplace laws. We are reacting by strengthening the safety net for working Australians.

CHRIS UHLMANN: Finally Minister, is this the end if in three months time your poll numbers are still bad, will we see more changes to this law?

JOE HOCKEY: Well no, this is about listening to the Australian people. We said we're not for turning on the fundamentals, it continues to be the case. These laws, the current system has helped to deliver a strong economy and we want a strong economy in the future, and that's why we are committed to the workplace relations system.

CHRIS UHLMANN: Well, you've swivelled a bit Minister, the question is how much further will you go?

JOE HOCKEY: Well, we always listen but this is it. This listens to the concerns of Australians. This is a significant strengthening of the safety net and we will continue to listen, we will always listen to the Australian people. A good government should listen to the people.

PETER CAVE: Workplace Relations Minister Joe Hockey

http://www.abc.net.au/cgi-bin/common/printfriendly.pl?http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2007/s1914087.htm

We all knew it was coming & now now it's official.
I wonder who his replacement will be at the ACTU? (Please not from the NSW Right!):

Combet confirms Labor candidacy
Tracy Ong
May 04, 2007/the AUSTRALIAN

ACTU Secretary Greg Combet today confirmed the ALP's worst kept secret - that he will run for pre-selection in the safe seat of Charlton - at a football club in the battler's suburb of Cardiff.

Mr Combet told the crowd of mostly union supporters he would "transition'" out of the ACTU's leader's role dividing his time between union headquarters in Melbourne and the electorate. ... <cont>

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21670076-2702,00.html

Quotes from Mr Hockey's interview.

comments in brackets are mine

JOE HOCKEY: Well, this is not about overturning any reforms. This is about putting in place a stronger safety net. And look, Australians(read polls) have been concerned. It's often the case that people have been concerned about others, not necessarily themselves, but concerned about others who may have been disadvantaged under the laws. Well, we listen.

JOE HOCKEY: Well, unlike the Labor Party who say they consult and then act in the opposite direction, we do consult, we listen. And look, I don't apologise for that, no one should. That's what a democracy is about. We do listen and we've been hearing what people(read polls)have been saying about our workplace laws. We are reacting by strengthening the safety net for working Australians.


JOE HOCKEY: Well no, this is about listening to the Australian people(read polls). We said we're not for turning on the fundamentals, it continues to be the case. These laws, the current system has helped to deliver a strong economy and we want a strong economy in the future, and that's why we are committed to the workplace relations system.

JOE HOCKEY: Well, we always listen but this is it. This listens to the concerns of Australians (read polls). This is a significant strengthening of the safety net and we will continue to listen, we will always listen to the Australian people(read polls). A good government should listen to the people(read polls).

As I said, I am a bit cynical today.

Still more Heffernan fallout. The ALP must be falling over its self in gratitude for the distraction!:

What with Howard's "concessions" & new "fairness tests" , plus Labor's mooted "fine-tuning to bring the business community back on board", I'm wondering if, come November, both parties have almost identical IR policies! :

Rudd casts unions adrift
George Megalogenis
May 05, 2007/the AUSTRALIAN

KEVIN Rudd has warned the trade unions their survival is not guaranteed under a Labor government as he prepares to craft a compromise "in the weeks and months ahead" to repair his fractured relationship with business.

"Trade unions will survive or die based on their ability to compete," the Opposition Leader told The Weekend Australian yesterday.
He said it was not the job of a Labor government to help arrest the membership slide that had seen trade union coverage halve over the past 15 years, from 40 per cent of the workforce in 1991 to 20 per cent last year.

Both sides of politics are seeking to reclaim the elusive middle ground in the debate on workplace reform, as voter anxiety about the Howard Government's policy fuses with nagging concerns about Labor's economic credibility.

John Howard yesterday watered down his Work Choices laws by introducing a new "fairness test" to protect employees earning up to $75,000 a year from going backwards under any contracts lodged from Monday.

The Prime Minister is promoting his industrial laws with a multi-million-dollar taxpayer-funded campaign around the country. In newspaper advertisements today, the Government seeks to address concerns among voters, particularly parents, that the laws are being used to exploit young workers.

The advertisements say that under the changes, the Workplace Ombudsman -- formerly the Office of Workplace Services -- will conduct "regular random audits" to ensure employers are meeting their obligations and "that young Australians are being fairly treated in the workplace".

But Mr Howard will not undo existing Australian Workplace Agreements. This leaves Tuesday's budget as the most practical vehicle for the Government to compensate those low- and middle-income workers who feel they have already gone backwards.

Mr Howard's concession has cheered the Labor side, which had been under pressure from business this week over the detail of its workplace policy which critics claim gives too much power back to the unions. There has also been the fallout from deputy Labor leader Julia Gillard's counter-productive warning to employers not to take sides in the election campaign. ...

Mr Rudd said Labor had more announcements to make on the transitional arrangements between the Howard system and that of a Labor government. In a statement, he flagged that he would use this fine-tuning to bring the business community back on board, or at least reduce the distance between it and Labor. ...<cont>

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21675079-601,00.html

Interesting article from Shaun Carney in today's AGE:


..... The reality is that WorkChoices was designed to allow the economy to soak up excess labour by reducing the bargaining power of some individual employees, driving down wages and making it easier to rearrange their hours of work. Industries such as cleaning, hospitality, retail and child care were prime areas. It is not meant to head off in just one direction. At the same time, higher skilled workers, during buoyant economic times, would be able to negotiate good wages and conditions. In tougher times, it would be easier to maintain employment while reducing wages.

Two longstanding institutions, the union movement and the Industrial Relations Commission, are frozen out by WorkChoices. Employers have the power to veto collective bargaining and there are all manner of restrictions on the abilities of workers and union officials to communicate with each other. Meanwhile, the commission has been left to wither on the vine. Its wage-setting power has been removed.

It's in respect to the commission where the new AWA regulations appear to be most flawed. For a start, the Government could have given the tribunal the job of overseeing the no-disadvantage test, especially since the awards that set the basic conditions that are to be protected were created by that body. Instead, one of the myriad industrial bureaucratic offshoots established by the Government will have oversight.

More importantly, with the commission on life support, the award safety net is dying, so the basic conditions that form the no-disadvantage test net will not be updated and will eventually become irrelevant. Again, this reflects the key objective of WorkChoices, even in its "rejigged" form, which is to have the vast majority of the workforce non-unionised and employed on individual contracts.



Was it really such big news that employers, who have never in their lives enjoyed as much power as they do under WorkChoices, didn't like the idea of some of that power being taken away by a Labor government?

A lot of the media analysis seems to run on double standards: for the
Government, IR is not about policy but is solely a political problem to be solved by finessing, whereas for Labor it's all about policy, an economic credibility problem. Try telling the tens of thousands of workers who have lost conditions under WorkChoices and are not covered by the new no-disadvantage test that a bit of political spin will make things better.

No amount of tinkering can get around a single fact about WorkChoices: it is the Government's biggest single economic and social reform, and voters were never asked at an election what they thought about it. Later this year, for the first time, they will get their chance to pass judgement.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/opinion/adept-adaptation/2007/05/04/1177788399778.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1

Mr Rudd should realize 20 % of the workforce is a pretty sizable group of people to get off side. It certainly outnumbers any employers that might vote for him. You will find when workers have had enough, union membership will increase again.

Remember the Tolpuddle Martyrs ...

The Tolpuddle Martyrs were a group of 19th century British labourers who were arrested for and convicted of swearing a secret oath as members of the Friendly Society of Agricultural Labourers. The rules of the society show it was clearly structured as a friendly society and operated as a trade-specific benefit society. But at the time, friendly societies had strong elements of what we now consider is the predominant role of trade unions. They were subsequently sentenced to transportation to Australia.

http://tinyurl.com/3dsmus

Perhaps if unionist break the law they might get transported back to England as punishment !

Blairs Labour Party got a hammering.
Saw this on a chat board

http://tinyurl.com/24n8k3

QUOTE

In the UK there were local council elections on Thursday, almost all the results are now in. About 40 million people voted, thats a hell of an opinion poll.
Blairs Labour Party got a hammering.

For the 1st time in 50 years they lost an election in Scotland. They were beaten into second place by the Scots Nationalists, a party that wants independance from the UK, in the elections for the Scottish Parliament. The Scots Nats are the largest party but don't have a majority, they will have to form a coalition, probably with the Liberals.

In Wales Labour is still the bigest party but has no majority.

In England they got slaughtered, they lost every council they controlled in the South. In the Midlands they lost control of Brimingham, they even lost control of councils in the North.

Labour's share of the vote was down to 27%, only 1% above the Liberals. The Tories were on 40%
Labour lost about 500 Local Council seats.

I don't know if they can recover from this they have over 2 years to a general election, but it doesn't look good.
If you lose so many councils you also lose party workers, add to that the fact that over 200,000 people have left the Labour party since the Iraq war, it means they no longer have the people to knock on doors, fill envelopes and make phone calls.
If you lose the grass roots you can't win elections.

END QUOTE

I certainly agree with this comment " If you lose the grass roots you can't win elections " ..

Take note Kev.

Vote Bribery Day .... oops, I meant federal Budget day tomorrow.

Don't you just get sick & tired of our taxes being used in this way, year after year, after year ...?

Same old story: the government stashes away heaps of our taxes (which could have been responsibly spent on education, health, welfare, god knows what other essential programs (though they don't squander on "defence"!) then targets particular groups (bribable voters in this election year) come budget day!

And they claim they are responsible economic managers!

No doubt more "family friendly packages" will be on the cards. (They still haven't fully paid up on their last lot of promises. Some token $$$$ will be thrown at "the environment". etc, etc, etc ....

I wonder, do other countries do it this way?

Costello remains coy on budget tax cuts
May 7, 2007 - 3:35PM/the AGE

Treasurer Peter Costello says tomorrow's budget will aim to get people into the workforce while containing measures to improve Australia's environment.

But with less than 36 hours until the formal release of the 2007-08 budget, the treasurer remained coy as to whether it will also include another round of personal tax cuts.

Economists expect Mr Costello will have scope to cut taxes in this pre-election budget with the surplus likely to be around $15 billion and much larger than was forecast late last year.

"It's a budget which is designed to set Australia up for future opportunities, to build the capacity of the Australian economy," Mr Costello told journalists in Canberra. ... <cont>

http://www.theage.com.au/news/business/costello-coy-on-budget-tax-cuts/2007/05/07/1178390202860.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1

Last Update: Tuesday, May 8, 2007. 0:25am (AEST)

Fed Budget contains money for 'almost every area'

Federal Treasurer Peter Costello will reveal new spending on almost every area of the economy in his 12th Budget tonight.

Mr Costello will focus on families, particularly low to middle income earners, with measures for dental health and child care, as well as some tax relief.

There will also be infrastructure like roads and railways and climate change measures.

A surplus of about $15 billion is also expected.

Liberal Backbencher Michael Ferguson says the Government's economic management means it can offer so many sweeteners. ..<cont>

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200705/s1916728.htm

Last Update: Monday, May 7, 2007. 8:47pm (AEST)

Rudd warns of Labor poll slide after Budget

Labor leader Kevin Rudd has warned his colleagues to expect a significant drop in the polls after the federal Budget tomorrow night.

Treasurer Peter Costello's 12th Budget is expected to deliver big spending across the board. ..<cont>

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200705/s1916648.htm