The new Labor government will turn the resumption of Parliament into an immediate test of the Liberal Party's loyalty to Work Choices by making the abolition of the policy the first item of his legislative agenda.
Cabinet agreed yesterday to introduce transitional legislation in February that would outlaw new Australian Workplace Agreements and abolish the fairness test. "We believe this is an important step forward because so many working families have been adversely affected by the existing range of laws," said Kevin Rudd.
The Coalition, which will control the Senate until July 1, remains deeply split over whether to abandon all or any of the policy, which was a big factor in its election loss.
The former workplace relations minister, Joe Hockey, has declared Work Choices "dead", while his predecessor, Kevin Andrews, says the Coalition should stick by it. "Are we to say to these people [who voted Liberal] that what we believed was for the good of Australia is no longer the case," he wrote yesterday in a newspaper column.
Workplace Relations Minister Julia Gillard today urged employers not to draft new AWAs before the laws are changed, but conceded there was nothing the government could do to stop employers putting new workers on AWAs before the introduction of the new legislation.
"I can't change the Liberal party's laws until parliament can be brought together and the bill dealt with by both the Senate and the House of Representatives.''
But Ms Gillard urged employers to act in good faith, and resist drafting new AWAs in compliance with the incoming legislation.
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