Some of the unions, or some people will try and characterise it in that way, and whether or not that works in their favour, to be putting it bluntly, I think there is a genuine concern about what the government’s industrial relations reforms will do, what impact they will have on working people.
When you go through the detail of what they are proposing, they will be seeing the greatest burden placed on working Australians and it’s just wrong. They shouldn’t have cuts to their take-home pay.
In saying that, public information campaigns that are run, you want to be bringing people with you, I’m sure there will be a lot of who react strongly to that imagery. And it’s something to be borne in mind as to whether or not that works in your favour or doesn’t.
But I think we cannot be distracted from the biggest thing, and the biggest thing is this, the reforms the government are putting forward impact on people’s take-home pay, job security, enforcing terms that are really, for example, greenfield agreements running eight years.
This is just ridiculous in terms of some of the stuff being put forward. I think we really do need to focus on those material impacts.
