Why government’s Employment White Paper’s a futile exercise
The government’s new Employment White Paper is a futile exercise with Tony Burke’s IR changes threatening to punch back hard against what little there is to stimulate jobs.
Terry McCrann
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The Albanese Government’s much touted (Full) Employment White Paper is not just an exercise in rather futile ‘one-hand clapping’.
Oh no, it’s far worse than that; because the ‘other hand’, so to speak, isn’t just not clapping, but punching; and punching back hard against what little there is in the White Paper to stimulate jobs.
This damaging conflict was exactly pinged by industry spokesman, ACCI CEO Andrew McKellar; and later Monday also by Minerals Council CEO Tania Constable.
On the one hand, we have this White Paper issued by treasurer Jim Chalmers and supposedly aimed at promoting jobs expansion on both a macro - overall economy – and micro – individual businesses and industries – basis.
While ‘the other’- punching - hand is that of the actual minister supposedly directly responsible for employment, IR minister Tony Burke. He’s being directly counter-productive with his massive IR re-regulation that is essentially anti-jobs.
McKellar: the positives in the (Chalmers) White Paper “will be overwhelmed by the damage from its (Burke’s) backward-looking industrial relations changes”.
And: the “White Paper talks up workplace flexibility, the workplace relations changes will do the opposite.”
Constable: the government “risks undermining its new employment aspirations by pursuing disruptive and destructive industrial relations changes that will only imperil employment and enterprise.”
And, clear-cut and direct: “for employment, it is one step forward, and two steps back”.
No ambiguity there; and, more pointedly, they are both exactly right. One hand clapping; the other punching – back.
There are two bigger points to be made about this.
First, this is no unintended accident, to be easily sorted – either positively by the IR changes being hauled back; or negatively by the government letting our Clyde Cameron Version 2.0 continue to run rampant.
No, it goes to the heart of both this, and the hopeless leadership haplessness of our peripatetic PM.
The combination gives us a cabinet where each minister is left to go off on any frolic of their own fancy.
Do you think, do you really think, the frivolous back-to-a 1970s future Burke stupidity would have ever been allowed to see the light of day in the Hawke and Keating (and Kelty) days?
Of course not; and for two reasons.
Hawke – and Keating – would have kept their thumbs on the process.
And secondly, as we are now seeing time and time again; Chalmers is just not up to it. Borrowing from the US political scene: Jim, I knew Paul Keating; Jim, you are no Keating.
Furthermore, both the White Paper and the broader inchoate stuff coming out of Canberra, is taking zero account – far less co-ordinating with – two very big things.
They are our surging, completely out of control immigration; and interest rates.
Do you think, do you really think, that bringing in 400,000 bordering on 600,000 and in fact who really knows how many – no-one in Canberra sure knows - might have some relevance to jobs, employment, wages, and things like “turbocharging a few TAFEs”?
So also, interest rates. Do you want to force new governor Michele Bullock to re-start hiking rates?
Keep letting Crazy Tony run wild.
Originally published as Why government’s Employment White Paper’s a futile exercise
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