ID :
204438
Tue, 08/30/2011 - 23:39
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/204438
The shortlink copeid
Former PM John Howard seeks IR rollback
Federal Labor's industrial reforms will inevitably have to be wound back to improve productivity and Australia's competitiveness, former prime minister John Howard says.
Despite Mr Howard saying he had taken a vow of silence and how the Liberal party approached industrial policy was a matter for it, the Work Choices champion said a rollback of Labor's Fair Work laws was inevitable.
"I'm not there, I'm the past as far as parliamentary tactics are concerned," he told ABC Television on Tuesday.
"But I do know that at some point this country has to wind back the re-regulation of the labour market."
Mr Howard said he didn't believe Work Choices had made it harder for the coalition to talk about industrial relations.
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott declared Work Choices "dead, buried, cremated" ahead of last year's election but is regularly accused by Labor of hankering to return to the previous IR regime.
A review into Labor's Fair Work Act will begin early next year amid criticisms of the laws this week from Reserve Bank governor Glenn Stevens and the former head of the Australian Building Construction Commissioner.
Change wouldn't happen under Labor, "because Labor is run by the unions even more so now than when I was prime minister", Mr Howard said.
"It's blindingly obvious one of the worst mistakes (Prime Minister) Julia Gillard has made is to reregulate the labour market," he said.
"It's affecting our productivity and it will therefore affect our competitiveness."
Mr Howard said Ms Gillard's biggest problem was that she lacked authority because she failed to win a clear majority at the election and was forced to form a minority government.
He predicted independent MPs Rob Oakeshott and Tony Windsor, who helped Ms Gillard form government, would both lose their seats at the next election, in which there would be a clear majority again because people did not like indecision or the influence of the minorities.
But the former prime minister said the government was likely to go the distance to the next election and thought the Australian Greens' popularity would be on the wane.
Despite Mr Howard saying he had taken a vow of silence and how the Liberal party approached industrial policy was a matter for it, the Work Choices champion said a rollback of Labor's Fair Work laws was inevitable.
"I'm not there, I'm the past as far as parliamentary tactics are concerned," he told ABC Television on Tuesday.
"But I do know that at some point this country has to wind back the re-regulation of the labour market."
Mr Howard said he didn't believe Work Choices had made it harder for the coalition to talk about industrial relations.
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott declared Work Choices "dead, buried, cremated" ahead of last year's election but is regularly accused by Labor of hankering to return to the previous IR regime.
A review into Labor's Fair Work Act will begin early next year amid criticisms of the laws this week from Reserve Bank governor Glenn Stevens and the former head of the Australian Building Construction Commissioner.
Change wouldn't happen under Labor, "because Labor is run by the unions even more so now than when I was prime minister", Mr Howard said.
"It's blindingly obvious one of the worst mistakes (Prime Minister) Julia Gillard has made is to reregulate the labour market," he said.
"It's affecting our productivity and it will therefore affect our competitiveness."
Mr Howard said Ms Gillard's biggest problem was that she lacked authority because she failed to win a clear majority at the election and was forced to form a minority government.
He predicted independent MPs Rob Oakeshott and Tony Windsor, who helped Ms Gillard form government, would both lose their seats at the next election, in which there would be a clear majority again because people did not like indecision or the influence of the minorities.
But the former prime minister said the government was likely to go the distance to the next election and thought the Australian Greens' popularity would be on the wane.
