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Fairness Test failure signals more extreme Work Choices reforms
NSW Minister for Industrial Relations, John Della Bosca, said today the failure of John Howard’s so-called ‘Fairness Test’ was further evidence that a re-elected Coalition Government would put in place even more extreme workplace changes.
“Mr Howard will not allow the ‘Fairness Test’ to continue to get in the way of his beloved Work Choices laws if he is returned to Government,” the Minister said.
“The test was only ever an attempt to hood-wink Australian families into believing he had watered down his unfair workplace laws to get him over the line for 24 November.
“And he knows that Australian Workplace Agreements (AWAs) - the centrepiece of his Work Choices laws – are faltering as a result of the test,” Mr Della Bosca said.
This was confirmed today by leading conservative economist Mark Wooden who told The Australian:
“The advantage of AWAs evaporated with the ‘Fairness Test’. AWAs are dead – he (John Howard) can say what he likes. You’ll still get companies… going for AWAs, but that will be for reasons other than cutting labour costs.”
Professor Wooden’s comments followed the release of data from Joe Hockey’s own department late last Friday afternoon (9 November) - a cynical attempt to avoid scrutiny -which showed half of all wage deals since May have failed to meet the ‘Fairness Test’
“According to the data for October, 142,140 workplace agreements under Work Choices had yet to be approved, an increase of about 15,000 from September and 30,000 more than August,” the Minister said.
“This massive blowout demonstrates that Mr Howard was never serious about the test – he will not provide adequate resources to process wage agreements because he wants to abolish it.
“Also, the test is not retrospective – it does not apply to the 350,000 AWAs that were already in use before its introduction. It would be a very small step for Mr Howard to scrap the test completely.
“Equally concerning is the fact that the Howard Government has a secret agenda to put in place more workplace reforms that will further disadvantage Australian families.
“Claims by federal Finance Minister, Nick Minchin, that Australian families knew about their Work Choices plans and the 2004 election provided the Howard Government with a mandate to implement these laws are arrogant and farcical.
“No Liberal Party literature in the lead-up to the last election mentioned Work Choices, Australian Workplace Agreements, the removal of unfair dismissal protections or a reduction in minimum protected conditions,” Mr Della Bosca said.
“A vote for the Coalition this time will be interpreted by John Howard, Peter Costello and Joe Hockey as a ‘mandate’ to take these unfair laws even further – with the ‘Fairness Test’ the first to go,” the Minister said.
“The evidence for their secret agenda continues to build. Mr Hockey is refusing to release the results of economic modelling, including the impact of introducing AWAs across all workplaces, under Work Choices.
“Further, the federal Treasurer Peter Costello, told The Age newspaper in 2005 that in a perfect world there would be no awards, an abundance of individual contracts and very little regulation.
“The Howard Government cannot be trusted on Work Choices – the only way to prevent them from taking these laws further is to throw them out of office,” he added.
NSW MInister For Industrial Relations Media Release
12 November 2007
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