ID :
195438
Sun, 07/17/2011 - 14:22
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/195438
The shortlink copeid
Abbott shies from Work Choices questions
SYDNEY (AAP) - Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has refused to display any nostalgia for the Work Choices industrial policy, after former prime minister John Howard described its end as a "tragedy".
Mr Howard on Sunday lamented the roll back of his workplace reforms, claiming the move by Prime Minister Julia Gillard had taken the country back several decades.
"Julia Gillard didn't just abolish Work Choices she went back to the pre-1992 position of a heavily regulated labour market," he told ABC TV.
"We're going to pay evermore dearly for that as time goes by.
"This nation will have to revisit industrial relations in the future and calamitous retreat on the issue will do us more harm."
Mr Howard said Ms Gillard's industrial relations policies had swung the pendulum too far in the opposite direction.
"I think it's a tragedy Julia Gillard has regulated the labour market," he said.
Mr Abbott became testy when asked if a coalition government would revive aspects of Work Choices.
"It will be a policy based on solving problems not on ideology," he told reporters at Penrith, in western Sydney, on Sunday.
"We'll have a strong and effective workplace relations policy in good time before the next election."
Mr Abbott declined to say if the coalition wanted to bring back Australian Workplace Agreements with a no-disadvantage test, which existed before Work Choices became law in 2006.
"I'm happy to take a couple more questions but I think we've dealt with the workplace relations," he said.
The coalition promised at the 2010 election to leave Labor's Fair Work Australia laws untouched.
The Australian Council of Trade Unions president Ged Kearney said Mr Howard was one among a chorus of senior Liberal figures still singing the praises of Work Choices.
With growing cost of living pressures and about 40 per cent of workers in casual or non-permanent jobs, Australia needed more secure workplace rights, she said.
"Scratch the surface, and Work Choices-style policies are still very much alive within the Liberal party," she said.
Mr Howard on Sunday lamented the roll back of his workplace reforms, claiming the move by Prime Minister Julia Gillard had taken the country back several decades.
"Julia Gillard didn't just abolish Work Choices she went back to the pre-1992 position of a heavily regulated labour market," he told ABC TV.
"We're going to pay evermore dearly for that as time goes by.
"This nation will have to revisit industrial relations in the future and calamitous retreat on the issue will do us more harm."
Mr Howard said Ms Gillard's industrial relations policies had swung the pendulum too far in the opposite direction.
"I think it's a tragedy Julia Gillard has regulated the labour market," he said.
Mr Abbott became testy when asked if a coalition government would revive aspects of Work Choices.
"It will be a policy based on solving problems not on ideology," he told reporters at Penrith, in western Sydney, on Sunday.
"We'll have a strong and effective workplace relations policy in good time before the next election."
Mr Abbott declined to say if the coalition wanted to bring back Australian Workplace Agreements with a no-disadvantage test, which existed before Work Choices became law in 2006.
"I'm happy to take a couple more questions but I think we've dealt with the workplace relations," he said.
The coalition promised at the 2010 election to leave Labor's Fair Work Australia laws untouched.
The Australian Council of Trade Unions president Ged Kearney said Mr Howard was one among a chorus of senior Liberal figures still singing the praises of Work Choices.
With growing cost of living pressures and about 40 per cent of workers in casual or non-permanent jobs, Australia needed more secure workplace rights, she said.
"Scratch the surface, and Work Choices-style policies are still very much alive within the Liberal party," she said.
