Push for Coalition to get in front on industrial relations
JOE KELLY and EWIN HANNAN
The Australian
January 27, 2015
CONCERN is mounting inside the Abbott government that the Coalition risks being damaged by its review of the industrial relations regime unless it seizes control of the political debate, as the ACTU prepares a new, well-resourced campaign to frustrate workplace policy change.
The sweeping nature of the review by the Productivity Commission has caught many in the government by surprise with its focus on potentially radical changes to the minimum wage, including its possible replacement or varying it by state, territory or region.
Without a strong political response now, some Liberal MPs are worried the government will be “carpet-bombed” and outmanoeuvred by a scare campaign by Labor and the unions mirroring tactics used to discredit John Howard’s Work Choices laws.
With the commission not due to report until November, union leaders believe they will be able to hurt the government politically for months, with ACTU secretary Dave Oliver meeting national union leaders in coming weeks to discuss the new campaign.
“I will be spending the next few weeks engaging with the leadership of the unions at a national level and meeting with all the state trades and labour councils about putting together a comprehensive strategy to take on the government and fend off these attacks in defence of working people,” he told The Australian.
“We have our (ACTU) congress later this year and I intend on going to the congress with a comprehensive plan for the next three years.
“The key part will be support for a plan to fend off these attacks.
“We’ll be wanting to mobilise our members. We’ll engage with the community and it will be a well-resourced, comprehensive strategy”.
Some Liberal MPs have described the commission’s proposals on the minimum wage as unusual, suggesting it was a miscalculation and a free kick for the Labor Party.
“Why would you do a whole section on the minimum wage?” said one Liberal MP.
“I’ve got to say it surprised me. I wouldn’t have thought it would be a focus in any way.
“You’ve got to ask what the commission’s rationale was for including the minimum wage in the first place.
“If they can’t justify it, then you’ve got to ask, Is it a bit of a setup?”
A second Liberal MP said the government had to engage with the political debate or risk dealing itself out of the game.
“You’ve got to try and keep some control over the agenda. There’s a capacity for the government to make a contribution.
“The challenge is: do we allow critics to be out there for 10 months carpet-bombing us on IR?”
Another Liberal MP said: “Ten months is a long time. Is it ideal? No. If it was June or July, I wouldn’t be as worried. If we get spooked and rule it out, they’ll then turn their attention to another thing and there you go.”
ACTU president Ged Kearney will use the inquiry to try to discredit Campbell Newman in the final days before the Queensland election, campaigning for three days from tomorrow in state marginal seats in Townsville, Cairns and Brisbane.
The ACTU last year ran a mini-campaign in Townsville funding television advertisements and community events designed to increase voter opposition to any attempt to cut penalty rates. .
Opposition workplace relations spokesman Brendan O’Connor said unless the government ruled out the more “offensive” proposals contemplated by the commission, Labor would “attack them at every turn”.
Mr O’Connor said the government was arguably engaging in a bigger attack on the safety net than under Mr Howard.
“The breadth of the review would suggest that the Productivity Commission could recommend changes in any facet of the current industrial relations laws. It certainly is as wide and as deep as Work Choices, and arguably even going further,” he said.
NSW Liberal MP Angus Taylor and Victorian colleague Dan Tehan have sought to push back against the Labor attack and Bill Shorten’s “fairness” argument on workplace change.
“They’re going to have to explain how they are going to deal with the unfairness of rising youth unemployment which happened under Labor’s watch,” Mr Taylor said.
Mr Tehan said the review was the “perfect opportunity” for the Opposition Leader to put his views forward and back them with empirical data.
Mr Oliver yesterday called on the government to rule out any reduction to the minimum wage and provide a guarantee that penalty rates would be maintained, warning of the prospect of the emergence of a US-style system with a “class of working poor in this country”.