Equal opportunity as a policy change process doesn’t work if the failed equal-pay commitments of our first female PM are an indicator.
Work choices
Debates, purse strings and potential Red Faces
Daily Media Wrap: It’s a mixed-bag in the media this morning, with talk of population continuing to overflow, Tony Abbott still getting haunted by the “dead, buried, cremated” Work Choices zombie and political nerds preparing their rebuttle for the leaders’ debate.
Local snapshot: Flinders ALP candidate accuses Abbott of contributing to suicides
Whatever your view of Tony Abbott and his policies, it’s a bit much to accuse him of contributing to suicides. And yet a prospective Labor MP for the seat of Flinders has done exactly that.
Rundle: Pull your finger out Gillard
It’s been a week since PM Gillard ascended, and the whole thing has been fought on the Coalition’s and right-media terrain ever since. Where’s the initiative? asks Guy Rundle.
Abbott is lying on Work Choices
The latest Essential Report dishes the dirt on Work Choices, with 57% seeing a return likely of at least some aspects if Tony Abbott gets the top job. Interestingly, 50% don’t believe Abbott when he says Work Choices is dead. Possum Comitatus has the numbers.
Gittins: Will the 2010 election be the making of Rudd?
The Libs will run a negative election campaign, dissing their ‘great big tax’ policies without really introducing their own. Which means Rudd will have to stand up for his policies and not just rely on Opposition leadership trouble, says Ross Gittins.
Schubert: Get your fingers clicking for the horror of the Abbott family
Yep, it’s definitely a freak show, with Tony Abbott starring as Gomez of the Addams family, Julie Bishop as Morticia and a host of other Howard ministers and ideas (Work choices!) brought back from the dead, says Misha Schubert.
Crabb: Is the Coalition a bunch of union bigwigs?
The Opposition is like a “crumbly old trade union”, writes Annabel Crabb. The evidence? Tony Abbott declared an industrial dispute on Question Time and threatened to strike.
Bolt: Gillard will soon be the Aussie Margaret Thatcher
Julia Gillard, once a leader of the Socialist Forum, is now butting heads with the unions — and that’s exactly how she wants it, says Andrew Bolt.
Rio’s looming union nightmare
Rio Tinto is refusing to enter into wage negotiations with the union that represents some of the train drivers at its rich iron ore operations in the Pilbara, writes Nicholas Way.
WorkChoices v Forward with Fairness: a photo finish
Most observers agree that when the politics is stripped out and policy is analyzed, Forward with Fairness adopts a large percentage of Work Choices, writes Ken Phillips.
