Fed: High Court challenge to IR laws on states' agenda

AAP General News (Australia)
08-02-2005
Fed: High Court challenge to IR laws on states' agenda

By Denis Peters and Nick Lenaghan

CANBERRA, Aug 2 AAP - A High Court challenge to the federal government's proposed takeover
of state industrial relations systems will be discussed by state IR ministers on Friday.

Ahead of the meeting, Victorian Premier Steve Bracks said today there was a very strong
chance a High Court challenge by the Labor leaders would go ahead.

NSW's newly installed Premier Morris Iemma also indicated he would be continuing former
premier Bob Carr's fight against the labour reforms and warned he would consider a High
Court challenge.

The NSW union movement, which has been most strongly promoting a challenge, expressed
confidence its case was growing stronger as time passes.

Prime Minister John Howard has signalled he will use the corporations power under the
constitution - which gives the Commonwealth the right to make laws in respect to trading
or financial corporations - to usurp up to 90 per cent of workers tied to state awards.

But Mr Howard today shrugged off the threat of High Court action, saying his government
had been a better friend to working Australians than any Labor government had been.

Mr Bracks said Labor states wanted to protect the rights of the nation's workers.

"Other states have a similar resolve to the resolve here in Victoria," Mr Bracks said.

"That is, we want to protect working families. We want the economy working for working families.

"We don't believe this protects working families and clearly that's one of the options
open to our state and other state and territory governments."

Unions NSW, which says former Supreme Court judge and NSW attorney-general Jeff Shaw
will front a challenge, believes legal opinion is moving towards the unions' view on a
challenge.

The council believes the perceived conservative nature of the High Court panel might
actually work in unions' favour, due to the radical nature of the suggested reforms, using
a slimly related aspect of the constitution.

"Clearly there are limits to corporations power with respect to industrial relations,"

council secretary John Robertson said. "The question is where those lines lie.

"Our advice is that the government's going to have to tread very carefully with drafting
this legislation."

The council cannot act on a challenge until the government releases its legislation.

The Victorian government also moved today to protect the awards and conditions of the
250,000 workers on the state payroll from the federal changes, due before the end of the
year.

This was despite the fact that Mr Bracks admitted the state government was powerless
to protect the 90 per cent of Victorian workforce in the private sector.

Mr Bracks said the federal government did not have a mandate to change the unfair dismissal
laws, nor to strip away entitlements and conditions.

Matters like long service leave, superannuation, jury service and notice of termination
will be removed from awards under the planned changes.

For that reason, the Victorian government will retain all existing elements within
its employees' workplace agreements.

"Those rights, those minimum conditions under awards, will be stripped away under the
industrial relations system which is being proposed by the federal government," he said.

Mr Howard said that as far as a High Court challenge was concerned, the states could
do what they like.

"The last government would wage war on the working men and women of Australia is my
government, the workers of Australia have been better off under my government than they
were ever under a Labor government."

AAP dep/sw/jt/sd

KEYWORD: WORKPLACE NIGHTLEAD

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