More On the Brave New World of IR

Snippets from the ABC's PM program, aired yesterday:

From Paul Keating ...

Why would you want to push ordinary people out of the safety net into individual workplace agreements so you pay them, you know, dumb them down to pay them six to eight bucks an hour.

I mean, Australia has one chance and one chance only. That's to sell our creativity, not our time.

In those couple of sentences, Keating has summarised the essence of the issue. Unfortunately, it's a nuance that eludes most people. Australia will not prosper if it relies on export industries that survive by keeping labour costs low. We can never compete on that basis. Australia must keep on developing capital intensive industries that sell value added products.

So, you know, the fact of the matter is that, you know, that you cannot get ... people who are pushed onto individual workplace agreements will ipso facto be taken out of the enterprise bargaining stream. And what's more, they will not get the benefit of the safety net because the safety net adjustments are going to go to, now, this Fair Pay Commission.

And the Liberals and bodies like the ACCI should understand this. If they believe the corporations power of the Constitution can be used to set up a Fair Pay Commission, well a Labor Government in the future, once this precedent is established, will use the same powers and the same commission to legislate wages.

Now, I would have thought the Liberals would have wanted to run a thousand miles away from that, and the ACCI with them.

So would have I. Robert Menzies must be spinning in his grave.

They want to hop into some poor little character on six to eight bucks an hour. I mean, the stock market, the profit share and the economy are at a record high. The stock market is at a record. No. They still don't want to pay someone $12 an hour. They want to take them down to eight. You know, it's all the old Fightback Policy.

Well, the changes are based on ideology, not need. The government has the keys to the Senate. Only a sustained public backlash, clearly showing in the opinion polls will derail the government's intentions. Hence the scandalous government funded party political adds in recent newpapers before the legislation has been drafted.

Keating may well mention the 'Fightback Policy.' He knows all too well the power of the electorate's fear of change that threatens their lifestyles. He won the 'unwinnable' 1993 election on the back of the voters' concerns about John Hewson's economic proposals.

I expect that the coming legislation may not be so onerous if the electorate resists being swayed by the government's propaganda campaign.