Wednesday, May 23, 2007

WorkChoices Ads - No New Law

On 22 May, Workplace Relations Minister Joe Hockey, admitted that "We (the Fedral Government) got it wrong. We under-estimated what would have happened if we put in place a system that may lead to people trading away penalty rates without fair compensation."

Well - Yes. WorkChoices is deeply unpopular with working families, young people, mums and dads, because the legislation gave to employers what employers asked of John Howard: - reduce the wages (but don't touch our bonuses) John Howard was doing the bidding of employer groups.

However, the people of Australia have been promised, and it is coming, ad advertising campaign so they can "Know where you stand". The trouble is that there are currently no proposed amendments to the Workplace Relations (WorkChoices) Act that relate to the advertising. It's been nearly a week since they were announced, with much "humility" by John Howard, Joe Hockey, adn Treasurer Peter Costello. There is no indication of such an amendment from the government's website. (www.aph.gov.au), nor in its list of proposed and current legislation at http://www.aph.gov.au/parlinfo/billsnet/blist.pdf , which was updated on 22 May.

We'll get the ads, and we'll pay for them, but it seems we might not get the changes!! They might be a non-core promise for after the election. Funny about that!

The Analyst