The biggest news in business after the election is the same as that before it, the Industrial Relations shake up.  And whilst I have nothing to say about businesses rushing through AWA’s, except that they’re entitled to manage their affairs as they see fit, reading CCH did give me something to think about.

The unions have demanded that all AWA’s be torn up as of 1 January.  This demand seems idiotic to me as the unions have had the opportunity to negotiate every one of those AWA’s which were agreed to by their own members.  Get over it.  It would also be impossible for Rudd to achieve.  

Why?

The new senate will not be sworn in before the middle of next year. 

I finally had a look at the final figures after giving up on the AEC site and going to the ABC. ( http://www.abc.net.au/elections/federal/2007/results/senate/)  Given that half the senate is elected at any one time, the senators who were voted in last time, were predominantly Liberal and will still stay in office until the next election.  This time the numbers of Liberal and Labor senators voted in were equal, with 3 Greens and 1 independent to compliment.  Which means…?

Yes you guessed it, anything Rudd wants to do, which will have a drastic negative effect on the country can still be blocked depending on who does the best wheeling and dealing.  Assuming that the Greens will always side with Labor (and let’s face it only Labor comes even close to the extremist left position that the Greens occupy), it will come down to which way the Independent (http://www.xen.net.au/) and the Family First senators choose to go.  Given that there is some overlap in their policies and they types of people they have running for the party, they may well tend to group together. 

Even before they’re sworn in Rudd may need to sure up their vote as the current, Liberal dominated senate, which will remain until mid-year is the same one which, thought Work Choices was a good idea.  They’re hardly going to vote it out.

To be brutally honest, I do like having the upper and lower house in different hands (blasphemy to some I know), but even just having a few independents to help even things out does give law making a more balanced view.  As much as I would like to see us living in a Utopian free-market libertarian world, I know that it would be unpopular, and people would use the liberty which they have been granted to vote out a government which made decisions like that.  Balance is what ensures that the needs of the majority of Australians are met.  It's also why I think that Queensland needs to move for the swift and immediate re-introduction of an upper house.

But back to my rant.  We may well see that all the big talking which has swayed the votes of the 8% of people who changed the way they voted, will come to nothing.  I can only hold my breath until I'm as blue as my politics.

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