Red Rag

Steve Bracks says he will legislate to shield Victorian public servants from the Howard Government’s industrial reforms. NSW has already signalled its intention to do the same thing. Bracks’s announcement is significant because the Howard Government expects the States to surrender their residual IR powers rather than maintain a separate system. Victoria will have the fewest workers in its State system, so the decision to retain it is a symbol of the Premiers’ resolve.

Bracks has also forced the Howard Government onto the back foot over long service leave, by pointing out that it is on the chopping block. As he did on the issue of public holidays and mealbreaks, John Howard used a talkback radio interview to contradict his workplace relations minister: “Long service leave will be preserved. Absolutely preserved.” But the experts disagree — Flinders University’s Andrew Stewart told the 7.30 Report, “As things stand, what the Government has announced is that long service leave will drop out of the award safety net. … [T]hose rights will disappear.” Even if Howard backs down and allows long service leave to remain in existing awards, he will remove the no-disadvantage test so that long service leave can be stripped from individual contracts.

Morris Iemma announced his support for a High Court challenge to the IR package at his first press conference as NSW Premier, and Victoria will also participate. Industrial lawyer Joe Catanzariti predicts the challenge will be unsuccessful because the legislation will be drafted carefully — but his firm, Clayton Utz, is one of several involved with the drafting, so a pinch of salt is necessary. The dean of Sydney University’s law school thinks “the states have a good chance of narrowing the new laws.”

Kevin Andrews’s bullying of churches that express concern about his IR package appears to have paid off. As “a result of a communication from the IR Minister”, Melbourne’s Catholic Archbishop Hart wrote to a number of Catholic agencies demanding that any public comment be vetted by him. A senior employee of one of the agencies told Online Catholics, “It is an attempt by the Archbishop to reign in public comment on significant social issues.” The journal also reports that Cardinal George Pell, a close political ally of the Liberal Party, would only argue for the maintenance of the minimum wage. For the Cardinal, issues like paid holidays on Christmas and Easter, meal breaks, overtime rates, long service leave and paid maternity leave are not worth the effort.