Tony Abbott can’t turn a trick on IR — he’s in trouble no matter what he says, and plenty of it is friendly fire.
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INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS REFORM
The Fair Work myths come tumbling down
Business had its chance to make its case against the Fair Work Act — and couldn’t produce the evidence.
READ MOREFWA review released: blow to biz lobby
The business campaign for further industrial relations deregulation has suffered a major blow with the release of the review of the Fair Work Act by Bill Shorten today.
READ MOREYou wouldn’t read about it — industrial disputes are falling
Forget what you read in the newspapers. The number of days lost to industrial disputes reduced significantly in the past quarter, part of an overall long-term trend downwards.
READ MOREMoving the goalposts on cash splashes and wage cases
What role should the budget’s cash handouts play in wage determinations? There’s a long history to the issue.
READ MOREProductivity is complicated — except when it comes to competition
The biggest single brake on Australian productivity is the mining industry, where productivity has declined by more than a quarter in the past two years, an analysis of ABS data reveals.
READ MOREEssential: no to uranium exports to India, yes to mining tax
Voters back the mining tax but oppose uranium exports to India, today’s Essential Report shows. And voters are less concerned about a return to Workchoices.
READ MOREThe long tradition of union ‘interference’
Advocates of IR reform claim unions traditionally haven’t been allowed to “interfere” in issues such as contracting out. Wrong.
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Delegitimising unions in the great game of labour v capital
As voters become more estranged from corporations and economic reform, neither labour nor capital is responding effectively to the sentiment.
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Liberals in search of the case for IR reform
Since IR reformers won’t explain why we need it, we’ve looked at what WorkChoices accomplished. It wasn’t much.
READ MOREReith v Abbott: the early 90s wants its zeal back
The tensions between Tony Abbott and Peter Reith have deep roots in recent Liberal history. The former minister’s eagerness to prevent a return to “the Fraser years”, unencumbered by the party presidency, will be fascinating to watch.
READ MOREThe strange reform hypocrisy of Australian business
Australian business has an ordinary record of backing economic reform.
READ MOREMacCormack: Oratory the loser on a day of fumbles
After weeks to prepare, the Prime Minister’s performance at his election news conference was inexplicably poor. In his response, Rudd started poorly, too - stiff and stilted, writes David MacCormack.
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