Saturday 20th of April 2024

fresh from the 50's .....

fresh from the 50's .....

Labor says Workplace Relations Minister Joe Hockey's admission the government is running a fear campaign over ALP union links exposes its fearmongering ahead of the election. 

Launching a new round of Liberal advertising attacking Labor's union links, Mr Hockey told reporters: "Our fear campaign is based on fact.'' 

Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd quickly seized on the statement. 

"The fact that the Liberal Party is running a negative fear campaign on industrial relations is now confirmed out of the mouth of the Liberal Party's industrial relations minister,'' Mr Rudd told reporters in Perth. 

"It speaks for itself. 

"I have a positive plan for the country's future. "Mr Howard is offering a fear campaign, another fear campaign and another fear campaign.'' 

The government has been criticised over its repeated claim that 70 per cent of a Labor government frontbench would be former trade unionists. 

Prime Minister John Howard today defended the claim, but would not name what he believed would be an acceptable percentage. 

'Our Fear Campaign Is Based On Fact'

Hockey is hoarding the ball

Gillard urges Govt to come clean on wages figures

The Federal Opposition is calling on the Government to release wages figures it says will reflect badly on the Coalition's WorkChoices legislation.

Labor says the June quarter survey of collective agreements is overdue and will reveal the true nature of WorkChoices.

Labor's industrial relations spokeswoman Julia Gillard says Workplace Relations Minister Joe Hockey should come clean.

"It's always hard to tell with Mr Hockey whether it's sheer incompetence or whether it's cover-up, or a mix of both," she said.

"Of course those statistics are due and they should be released."

WorkChoices is dead...?

WorkChoices 'went too deep': Hockey

Former workplace relations minister Joe Hockey has signalled the end the Coalition's industrial relations policy, describing the WorkChoices legislation as "dead".

Mr Hockey said the laws "went too deep" but were introduced with "the best intentions".

And he warned that their scrapping under a Labor Government would cause a rise in unemployment.

"As I said yesterday and I've said since election day, WorkChoices is dead, and there is an overwhelming mandate for the Labor Party's policy of tearing up WorkChoices," he said.

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Gus: Glad to see Hockey see the light... a bit late mind you, but...

see toon at top... 

workchoices for the bosses...

Shareholders should play a role in deciding the pay packets of executives, Opposition treasury spokesman Joe Hockey says.

The Federal Opposition is pushing for changes to the corporations laws that would allow shareholders to vote on executive pay packets.

The move comes after Pacific Brands, which owns businesses including Bonds and King Gee, announced it would cut 1,800 jobs but later revealed its executive staff had received pay rises.

Pacific Brands last year awarded its top executives pay rises of millions of dollars, including chief executive Sue Morphett, whose pay went up from about $680,000 to more than $1.8 million.

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Gus: Joe makes me laugh... he has a great sense of humour for being in the party of "let the free market decides"... Of course Joe is concerned that ...etc.... but then he should be in the Labor Party  to make the proper waves... During his Liberal Party despotic rules, workers entitlement increased by no more than 24 per cent in 10 years while bosses' increased pay packet went through the roof — beyond decent figures, sumpthin' like 400 or 1000 per cent...

Now, he wants work-choices applied to bosses via the "shareholders" to determine the pay packets of execs... Hey, Since most shareholders are composed of large slabs of "big" investing companies — that have interests in bigger remunerations for top execs, the little guys who have invested two bob aren't going to have a result, despite "having a say" should they choose...

And the bosses will get the "bonuses" left to the discretion of the board, in which individuals might not be too enthusiastic should they trim the fat, because one of them, including themselves, could take the levers of the company... Why burn your bridges beforehand?

see toon on top. Joe is still on thin ice...