Cabinet papers 2005: WorkChoices, Afghanistan and climate change take centre stage |
Today, the National Archives of Australia (NAA) released a key selection of records of the Australian Cabinet and its National Security Committee from 2005.
The election in October 2004 had given the Howard government a commanding majority in the House of Representatives. From July 2005, it also obtained control of the Senate, a rare accomplishment for any Australian government.
Freedom from having to negotiate with the Senate cross bench on legislation emboldened the cabinet in several directions. Most significant was the government’s plan to initiate the comprehensive reform of Australia’s industrial relations laws.
In March 2005, Cabinet agreed with suggested reforms that would encourage a more direct relationship between employers and employees. The reform package approved by Cabinet sought to replace separate state and federal industrial relations systems with a unified national system. It was known as WorkChoices and, once passed, the act would come into effect on March 27 2006.
The new system dispensed with unfair dismissal laws for companies under a certain size. It also replaced the “no disadvantage test” (NDT), a provision that required workers be no worse off under new enterprise agreements as compared to any relevant law or award. This was superseded by a more limited safety net of five conditions that could be bargained away. The new system also restricted trade union power by limiting workers’ ability to strike and allowing them to bargain for conditions without collectivised representation.
The new industrial relations laws sparked a major campaign of resistance. Defence of employees’ rights was........