Senator Eric Abetz

Tasmanian Liberal Senator Eric Abetz has renewed calls for The Australian Electoral Commission to investigate the circumstances surrounding the withdrawal from the seat of Franklin by Tasmanian union leader Kevin Harkins.

Mr Harkins has now revealed to the ABC’s 730 Report last night he was encouraged by Prime Minister Rudd’s former Chief of Staff, David Epstein in 2007 that he should stand down and that at a secret meeting later he was told if he agreed to stand aside he would be given a free run at the next preselection without any “blockers or veto or interference”.

Julia Gillard’s warning to nursing home operators in NSW and Queensland not to cut nurses pay under Labor’s modern award system is an admission by the Deputy Prime Minister that workers ARE worse off under her new award system.

Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd ensured that no worker would be worse off under Labor’s new award system but clearly this is not the case and is yet another in a long list of Labor’s broken promises.

Retailers who are struggling to cope with the introduction of Julia Gillard’s complex modern awards scheme now face the prospect of being unfairly targeted by the Fair Work Ombudsman.

Why is the Ombudsman subjecting retailers to a substantive audit of pay scales, penalty rates and leave loading allowances, at a time when the retail award is still being worked out by Fair Work Australia?

Julia Gillard’s showboating in the West in hardhats and vests with policy on the run won’t fix Labor’s industrial relations mess.

Clearly Ms Gillard’s industrial laws are not working as evidenced by today’s decision by Qantas engineers to initiate unjustifiable work bans over Easter designed to cause inconvenience to airline passengers, a similar action to that taken by unions in the lead up to last years Christmas holiday period.