Rudd's "fresh thinking" is straight out of the handbook

Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd's promise to the Labor faithful to bring "fresh thinking" to Australian politics reeked of former NSW Opposition leader John Brogden's 2003 slogan, "A fresh approach".And (now, please don't call me Yoda - Yoda's just a source) his introduction, "My name is Kevin, I'm from Queensland and I'm here to help''.

(K. Rudd, Darling Harbour, 2007) sounded awfully like, ``I'm Luke Skywalker. I'm here to rescue you.'' (Star Wars, 1977). The "fresh thinking'', "fresh approach'' line comes straight out of the Candidate's Handbook - the chapter dealing with what to say about a candidate when the candidate hasn't any record to run on. "Fresh thinking'' and "fresh approach'' were designed to fool punters into overlooking the candidate's lack of substance. It's code for "another pretty face, but nothing else''. Like Brogden in 2003, like Rudd in 2007. How did the former NSW Opposition leader's slogan turn up in a federal campaign? Easy. Think Mark Arbib, State secretary of the ALP. He's the man responsible for Premier Morris Iemma allowing Paul Gibson to set a record for being named and un-named as a State minister in something short of a nano-second after allegations of extreme domestic violence involving his then girlfriend, former NSW minister Sandra Nori (who was,of course, the former wife of Labor senator John Faulkner). Arbib, who threw his Machiavellian support behind Gibson in a complex deal to win union support for his own Senate run, was deputy ALP secretary during Brogden's failed run. Obviously, he took something from Brogden's failed campaign - as did Walt Secord, Rudd's media adviser, who previously managed the press for former NSW premier Bob Carr. If television fans think the NSW ALP sounds like an incestuous episode from a compilation of Sex And The City meets The West Wing, they wouldn't be far from the mark. Rudd's campaign is clearly being organised by scriptwriters with a love of fantasy. Having pledged to consult widely on policy, Rudd showed how absolutely hollow that promise really was when he launched Labor's retrogressive industrial-relations policy last week, catching business by complete surprise. Sure, he had consulted ACTU boss Greg Combet, and Labor's Madame Defarge, Julia Gillard, but what happened to the "I say we need to consult with business'' vow he made when appointing Victorian businessman Sir Rod Eddington (a director of News Corporation, publisher of this newspaper) as chairman of the ALP's Council of Business Advisers last February? Eddington's invitation must have got lost in the mail. The only people Rudd has consulted are the union bosses and their handmaiden, because they know this election represents the last roll of the dice for them. They can read the numbers, and they know they represent only 15 per cent of workers in the private sector - and that percentage is shrinking by the hour, because the trade-union movement has made itself irrelevant. Without a Labor government backing it in, the union movement is headed to Dodoland and its bosses are headed for Centrelink. That's why union bosses are squeezing their members for contributions with which to fund their fight against the Federal Government's industrial-relations reforms. That's why the ALP national conference is stacked with current or former union officials, and that's why the unions have kicked in more than $50 million over the past decade to fight the Howard government. That's why ACTU chief Greg Combet is lining up to join former ACTU bosses and heavyweights Martin Ferguson, Simon Crean and Jennie George on Labor's front bench, along with union leaders Bill Shorten and Doug Cameron. Labor's planned overhaul of industrial relations is all about returning the unions to power. The same thuggish power they used to keep a foot on the nation's throat when Australia was going backwards, when interest rates were astronomical, when unemployment was a constant worry, when the unions ran closed shops. Little wonder big business is having a serious rethink about Rudd's credentials, and small business is wondering whether the good times are about to come to an abrupt halt. The jig is up. The unions have paid the piper, and they're just passing around the sheet music. If they have their way, Rudd will be in The Lodge, and workers won't get a look-in without a union ticket and a union delegate's hand in their pocket. Not that the conference has been all venality and spleen - no sir. The delegates, 73 per cent of whom are current or former union officials, MPs or ALP staffers, did take a moment out to honour Labor icon Gough Whitlam with a life membership. Not bad, considering the sacked prime minister will turn 91 on July 11. Long may he enjoy this display of the True Believers' warmth. It's about as generous as the "gift'' Labor has in mind for the rest of us.