Abbott v Turnbull: Unions say campaigns will stay

Unions have switched their campaign against changes to penalty rates from Tony Abbott to Malcolm Turnbull.

ACTU president Ged Kearney says ‘a change in the Liberal leadership won’t change their anti-worker agenda’. Picture: Kym Smith

Unions moved quickly this morning to switch their campaign against changes to penalty rates from Tony Abbott to Malcolm Turnbull.

The ACTU tweeted this morning that “one thing is for certain - the attacks on penalty rates will continue under Malcolm Turnbull”, citing comments the Prime Minister-elect made in 2014.

Mr Turnbull reportedly told the ABC last year that “businesses particularly hospitality businesses, like cafes and restaurants and so forth, (are) closed on weekends when they should be doing brisk business because the penalty rates are so high the owner cannot make ends meet.

“Now that’s nuts.”

The ACTU is yet to make an official statement after last night’s ballot delivered the Prime Ministership to Mr Turnbull.

Last night, it moved to downplay the damag eto their anti-government campaigns from a change in the Liberal leadership, despite millions of dollars spent targeting Tony Abbott.

The ACTU yesterday sought to blur the line between Malcolm Turnbull and Mr Abbott. “Mr Turnbull is attempting to separate himself from the Abbott government’s litany of broken promises and failures but all this amounts to is simply spin,” said ACTU president Ged Kearney.

“A change in the Liberal leadership won’t change their anti-worker agenda.”

Union sources privately acknowledged that television advertisements against the China free-trade agreement and the doorknocking campaign ahead of the Canning by-election, which have targeted Mr Abbott, would need to change direction now that Mr Turnbull had seized the party leadership.

Union members canvassing for Labor in Canning have urged voters to put the Liberals last, making special mention of Mr Abbott. One union source told The Australian the strategy in Canning, which also includes cold-calling, “would have to pivot ... to focus on the Liberal Party more widely”. The prime-time television ads, posters and billboards critical of the China free-trade agreement featuring the slogan, “Tony Abbott made a choice, he just didn’t choose you”, paid for by the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union and the Electrical Trades Union are estimated to have cost the unions $10 million so far.

Victorian Trades Hall Council secretary Luke Hilikari said: “Sure, we’ll have to scrub Tony Abbott’s face off some posters, but the Liberal Party remains the Liberal Party. The campaign is just getting started.”

The ACTU has also focused on Mr Abbott in combating revelations from the Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption, labelling the inquiry “Tony Abbott’s royal commission”.

It’s widely felt among unionists that Mr Turnbull will be a more difficult opponent than Mr Abbott.

A tweet from the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union’s construction division appeared to refer to this last night - “all those messages of support Tony reckons are flooding in were from us.”

Another source said there was no plan yet on how the union’s campaign strategy would change now that Mr Abbott was no longer prime minister, but said “we’ll play the ball, not the man”.