The Prime Minister tying up all loose ends ahead of double dissolution election

THE ABCC stand-off has given Turnbull the impetus to detonate Australia’s cumbersome trade union movement.

MALCOLM TURNBULL PRESS CONFERENCE

The ABCC is just a jumble of letters to most voters, a cypher well short of the recognition factor commanded by AC/DC or even ASIO.

But it is a powerful jumble.

This is what Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull wants to use as the justification for an election which will not just be early, but will be of all seats in both houses of Parliament.

The ABCC ploy raises issues which feed directly into the Government’s broader strategy of pledging to boost employment and economic growth, an objective it argues requires a reduction in trade union power, and promotion of small businesses.

The Prime Minister believes claims of a union bogey is understood in a private workforce where unionisation is close to becoming a footnote. The Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC), abolished by a Labor government in May 2012, is being depicted as the sheriff needed to stop wildcat and illegal industrial actions which the Government says adds to the cost of buildings including homes, and which reduce the opportunities for job creation in the industry.

The Government is portraying the ABCC as a corruption buster although that was never its job.

Mr Turnbull is, from one political perspective, standing up for the rights of construction companies while Labor will be focused on other workplace matters, particularly defence of the penalty rates and occupational safety of relatively low income earners.

The trade union reply is that the ABCC was preventing officials from enforcing safety standards which save lives in one of the country’s most dangerous industries.

The same demarcation appears in relation to another alphabetic bureaucratic stunner, the RSRT — the Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal — which along with the ABCC is featuring prominently in this parliamentary week.

This 2012 Labor creation sets pay for owner-drivers, guarantees the unions say prevent accidents from reckless driving at times needed to either meet deadlines or forego contract payments.

The Government says it is putting small business, independent owner-drivers, out of business and wants it abolished.

Unlike the ABCC, it is likely to get its way.

The Government is hoping all these strategic threads will be tied together by the Budget on May 3. It is being shaped as the platform for the long campaign to the double-dissolution election expected on July 2.

Originally published as The Prime Minister tying up all loose ends ahead of double dissolution election