A breath of fresh air descended onto my Twitter feed: federal Labor leader Anthony Albanese was ignoring the poor job Shorten had made of industrial relations. With new legislation before federal Parliament dealing with casualisation, Ablo’d seen an opportunity to do a Howard on Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
Remember WorkChoices? Their passage by John Howard under a previous Liberal-National coalition government led to the loss of power and – for Howard himself – the loss of his seat. The only surviving part of the original Australian settlement of a century before was being attacked and workers rallied to unseat the abuser.
Here's Krinatina Kenneally – a senator – talking industrial relations on ABC News channel this morning.
The Sydney Morning Herald – which has published a good backgrounder on the debate – seems to be of two minds about Labor’s and the Coalition’s plans, and have written their story with the debate as a locus of conflict headlining two battling politicians. This sort of guise for discussion – which is really not a matter of sensible argument – allows the newspaper to let the journalist stay in the game (Herald journalists are largely Keynsians) while assuring management that they’ve got the government’s back (the Coalition is in power in Australia currently). I recommend you reading the story if you want to know what all the fuss is about.
It’s all about well-paying jobs so workers have money to spend.
It’s about protecting the economy’s recovery from Covid.
If Albo sticks to his guns on this issue we’ll see, going forward, the survival of a major platform differentiator. Because both the Coalition and Labor are highlighting technology as a solution to climate change, Labor needs something to set it apart from the incumbent. Industrial relations can be that issue.
But it takes courage.
Shorten would’ve caved and panicked.
The problem with this type of policy is that it goes to the heart of who we are. It’s a problem because small businesses – who are a major employer; about 45 percent of workers work for a small business – make up a significant voting bloc, and any attack on their profitability is communicated widely. But small businesses also rely on consumers spending money, and if workers have more of it they’ll spend more in shops and at events.
It’s a tightrope Albo’s walking. Can he stay aloft, or will he tumble?
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