Peter Costello's Life Long Industrial Relations Crusade

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Media Statement - 20th November 2007

Federal Labor today launched a time line setting out Peter Costello’s 21 year crusade to impose radical industrial relations changes on all Australians.

If John Howard wins the election - and Peter Costello becomes PM without facing the voters - Prime Minister Costello will take Work Choices further.

Prime Minister Costello will take Work Choices further because Peter Costello has spent the last 21 years agitating, advocating, and legislating for a more and more extreme American style industrial relations system.

For 21 years Mr Costello has used all the skills at his disposal, financial, legal, and political to erode the take home pay and conditions of working families.

Now after 21 years – and in the shadow of an election - Mr Costello has spent the last 21 days reluctantly promising he won’t take Work Choices further.

To judge the intentions of Prime Minister Peter Costello working families are entitled to look at the last 21 years, not just the last 21 days. Highlights of Mr Costello’s extreme industrial relations crusade include.

• 1986 - Formed New Right organisation called the HR Nicholls Society;
• 1986 - Advocated in the National Wage Case a 44 per cent cut to the minimum wage;
• 1986 – Attempted to radically change Liberal Party industrial relations policy from outside Parliament;
• 1989 – Costello installed in safe Liberal seat as part of a New Right push;
• 1991 – Argues to privatise the independent industrial relations umpire;
• 1993 – Supports $3 youth wage under Liberal’s Fightback! Policy;
• 1999 – Agitates for cutting the wages and working conditions of employees in regional Australia;
• 2004 – Agitates for the Howard Government to use its Senate majority to introduce extreme industrial relations laws;
• 2005 – Costello, Howard and Kevin Andrews draft Work Choices legislation plan, Howard forced to restrain Costello from even greater extremism;
• 2005 - Argues to scrap all protections except the minimum wage and put more workers onto unfair AWAs;
• 2005 – Agitates for the removal of all protections from unfair dismissal;
• 2005 – Votes to introduce Work Choices;
• 2006 – Receives economic modelling from his own department to take Work Choices even further;
• 2007 – After a lifetime crusade and in the shadow of an election begins denying he wants to take Work Choices further; and
• 2009? – Prime Minister Peter Costello will take Work Choices further.

Working families who want to know what life would be like under Prime Minister Costello should look at Mr Costello’s 21 years crusade, not his hollow promises over last 21 days.

1986 - Formed the HR Nicholls Society
In March 1986 Peter Costello was one of the four founding New Right members of the HR Nicholls Society. The HR Nicholls Society is the most extreme industrial relations think tank in Australia

The Society was formed by the drafting of an invitation outlining the Society’s mission which stated that the purpose of the Society would be:

“(giving) new impetus for reform of our present labour market and to provide a forum for discussion of alternatives to the present regulation of industrial relations. There are many problems to be analysed and many possible solutions to be considered.

Source: http://www.hrnicholls.com.au/nicholls/nichvol1/vol1a1ap.htm

1986 - The National Wage Case and a cut the minimum wage
In December 1986, Peter Costello advocated in the National Wage Case for all award wages to be reduced to the level of $171.30. This was a 44 per cent reduction from the Metal Industry Award 1984 rate for the Tradesperson G10 (equal to today’s C10 classification) of $305.10 per week...Source:National Wage Case 1986 Print G6400

1986 – Taking over Liberal Party’s Industrial Relations policy
An article published in December 1986 in the Business Review Weekly profiled the work of the HR Nicholls Society and particularly Peter Costello in pressuring then Liberal Leader John Howard into adopting their extreme industrial relations agenda.

The extent of Peter Costello’s influence and disdain for the Liberal Party’s more moderate IR policies becomes clear in the article:

…Members of the HR Nicholls Society and fellow travellers of the New Right are still looking for more radical changes. Costello describes the way the pressure works: “We are looking to influence the debate as much as possible. There are not many of us, so the ideas keep coming from the same people. Basically, we come up with ideas. The Liberals and others say ‘Oh no, this is too radical for us. We have to get re-elected’. So we put them out into the public debate, writing articles and so on and the newspapers publish them and gradually people begin to talk about the ideas.

Then the Liberals suddenly say ‘This sounds like a good idea. Who can we get to help us on this’ and the natural choice is one of us because we’ve already been talking about the same thing.”

The article went on to say that:

“although the legislation is drafted to allow the commission to set a basic wage, one HR Nicholls member told BRW this is simply a ploy for presentational purposes before the election to give the wets and others in the party the impression that there will be minimums set. “The policy’s hidden agenda is really the scale of deregulation which will be possible.” he says…”

Source: Pamela Williams “Liberals’ Secret Plan to crack Union Power”...Business Review Weekly, 5 December 1986

1989 – Installed as New Right candidate for safe Liberal seat of Higgins
In November 1989 Peter Costello was installed as the candidate for the safe Liberal seat of Higgins, as part of a New Right push led by Liberal powerbroker John Elliott and party chief Michael Kroger. Three sitting MPs were removed in the push including sitting Higgins MP Roger Shipton...Source: Australian Financial Review May 8 1989

1989 – Involved in $2 million New Right legal fund
Peter Costello was involved along with other leading New Right figures in launching a $2 million fund to wage industrial litigation wars...Source: The Australian November 20 1989

1991 – Argued for the privatisation of the independent umpire
In 1991 Peter Costello proposed his policy of privatising the independent industrial relations umpire the AIRC:

“Well I can see a place for a voluntary arbitral system. I would probably privatise it in the sense that if you wanted to use the Commonwealth's arbitral system you could pay a fee and it wouldn't be compulsory, you could also go to John Stone and pay him a fee, or David Russell.”

Source: Constitutional and other Constraints on State Governments Seeking Labour Market Reform, Discussion Led by Peter Costello, MHR, and Phil Gude, MLA...http://www.hrnicholls.com.au/nicholls/nichvo10/vol1012d.htm

1993 – Supports Fightback! and the $3 youth wage
As a member of the Coalition Shadow Ministry Peter Costello was a key supporter of the $3 per hour youth wage which was the centrepiece of the Liberal Party’s infamous Jobsback policy, part of the extreme Fightback! Policy rejected by Australians at the 1993 election.

1999 – Agitates for cutting the wages and working conditions of people in regional Australia
On December 11, 1999, Mr Costello told The Age that he believed that people outside Sydney and Melbourne did not deserve to be paid the same.

"When minimums are set, they are basically set for what is appropriate in a big business for somebody in Sydney or Melbourne, and I’m saying that’s not necessarily appropriate for regional centres."...Source: Peter Costello, The Age, December 1999

2005 – Howard has to restrain Costello from making Work Choices laws even more extreme
After the October 2004 election, the Howard Government won control of both houses of Parliament. Peter Costello designed the Work Choices legislation alongside John Howard and Kevin Andrews – but Peter Costello pushed for even more extreme legislation:

“Although cabinet has held about three major discussions on the industrial relations changes, much of the work has been done by a committee of three ministers - Howard, the Treasurer, Peter Costello, and the Employment and Workplace Relations Minister, Kevin Andrews.

Howard often played a restraining role within this group, with Costello and Andrews pushing for bigger changes at various times, say those familiar with the discussions.”

Source: Louise Dodson, “Late push to realise a dream of 30 years”, Sydney Morning Herald, October 15, 2005

2005 – Agitates for extreme Work Choices laws
In an interview on Sunday Sunrise, Peter Costello advocated the Howard Government should use their unchecked power to undertake “vigorous” changes to industrial relations laws:

“We need a better industrial relations system. As I said, we've got to boost productivity. I can think of no single reform which would boost productivity in the Australian economy to the same extent as real, vigorous industrial relations reform. This is now the once in a generation opportunity to enhance individual contracts, to cut down on arbitral matters, to try and get wages linked to productivity improvements and enhance profitability, to get ease of entry, ease of exit, into employment situations, to give flexibility in relation to hours, and to improve opportunities for part-time work...Source: Sunday Sunrise, 13 February 2005

2005 - Remove all protections except the minimum wage
In February 2005, Peter Costello argued in The Age that he envisaged a system where employees negotiate from a basis of just a minimum wage.

Mr Costello argued that

“If you started with a clean sheet of paper you would have a minimum wage and then as much as possible free negotiation over that minimum.”

“We should be trying to move to an industrial relations system where the predominant instrument is the individual contract”

Source: The Age, 19 February 2005

2005 - Remove protection from unfair dismissal from all employees
Talking to the ABL Insight Magazine in September 2005, Costello detailed his view that he would be willing to remove all protections from unfair dismissal.

RITCHIE: There is an argument that says that given your proposed laws exempt 93 per cent of Australian businesses, why don’t we start from scratch and develop a better unfair dismissal regime or scrap it, rather than a model that exempts 93 per cent?

COSTELLO: You could have an exemption for everyone. There is no magic in the 100 limit. My experience tells me that bigger companies are more able to defend themselves against these claims. They can afford lawyers so they are less likely to be held to ransom so they are not as big a problem for bigger companies than smaller companies.

I can’t tell you there is any magic in the number 100. If this were to work well and people were to say well in the years to come it should be extended to all companies I would be very open to the idea.

Source: ABL Insight Magazine, August/September 2005

2006 – Planning to take Work Choices further
A confidential Treasury Powerpoint presentation obtained under Freedom of Information detailed that even though John Howard had announced the details of Work Choices on October 9, 2005 Peter Costello had his Department prepare further options.

The Powerpoint presentation titled “Unfinished Business” and included subsections entitled “disseminating best practice in workplace relations”, “behavioural responses to change regulation” and “other regulatory reform”...Source: Documents obtained by Federal Opposition under Freedom of Information

2009? – Peter Costello will take Work Choices further
If John Howard wins the election Peter Costello will become Prime Minister without having to face the voters. Peter Costello has spent a lifetime agitating, advocating, and legislating for a more extreme American style industrial relations system.

If John Howard hands the keys of the lodge to Peter Costello it is not believable that after a 21 year extreme industrial relations crusade Prime Minister Costello will not take Work Choices further. And John Howard won’t be around to restrain him.