Press Release
ACTU Media Release – Hockey shows Liberals are still dishonest and out-of-touch with working families on WorkChoices
Monday February 18, 2008
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ACTU President Sharan Burrow
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Claims by the former Minister responsible for WorkChoices, Joe Hockey, that his Liberal Cabinet colleagues did not understand that workers would be worse off by the Liberals’ WorkChoices laws are simply not believable, say unions.
Right from the start, former Prime Minister John Howard and his senior Ministers refused to guarantee that no worker would be worse off under WorkChoices.
Prior to the introduction of WorkChoices, the former Prime Minister specifically referred to a situation in which a young worker (Billy) applying for their first job would lose award conditions such as penalty rates, overtime pay and public holiday pay without compensation.
The case of ‘Billy’ was also highlighted in an official information booklet that formed part of the Howard Government’s first attempt in a taxpayer-funded advertising campaign to blatantly mislead the Australian public over the impact of WorkChoices.
ACTU President Sharan Burrow said:
“This is a case of the Liberals trying to rewrite history and cover up their real intentions. Mr Hockey’s claim, to be aired on ABC TV’s 4 Corners program tonight, is another attempt to mislead the Australian people.
“John Howard spent years refusing to guarantee that workers would not be worse off because he knew and the Coalition Cabinet knew that the clear intention of the laws was that big business would benefit at the expense of employees.
“WorkChoices was a favour for the Liberals’ friends in big business and the Liberals were not listening to community concerns over cuts to workers’ job conditions and take-home pay.
Last modified 2008-02-18 03:20 PM
