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It may not have been checked against the broadcast or in any other way. Freedom from error, omissions or misunderstandings cannot be guaranteed.

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AM

Wednesday 8 March 2006

Finance Minister addresses HR Nicholls Society on industrial relations reform

TONY EASTLEY: As the Government struggles to sell its new workplace la ws to the public, a senior minister has signalled there may be more changes to come. 

 

Finance Minister Nick Minchin wants the Government to seek a mandate at the next election for another wave of reform. 

 

It would target awards and the Industrial Relations Commission. 

 

But at the same time he's acknowledged that the most recent industrial relations changes are extremely unpopular. 

 

Senator Minchin made the comments at a closed-door conference last weekend, as Economics Correspondent Stephen Long reports. 

 

STEPHEN LONG: Nick Minchin was speaking at a conference of The HR Nicholls Society. It's fought for 20 years to have the award system and the Industrial Relations Commission scrapped. 

 

And he told its members what they wanted to hear. To the cheers of the audience, he said the Government needs to seek a mandate at the next election for a new wave of industrial relations reform. 

 

A journalist from the website Workplace Express was invited to attend and he captured the comments on this crackly recording.  

 

NICK MINCHIN: We do need to seek a mandate from the Australian people at the next election for another wave of industrial relations reform.  

 

STEPHEN LONG: A new wave targeting what Senator Minchin called "the whole edifice", including awards and the industrial relations commission. 

 

Before this friendly audience, the Finance Minister was remarkably candid. 

 

He begged forgiveness from the HR Nicholls Society because the Government's Work Choices laws didn't go further. 

 

But he said that even as it was, the changes were deeply unpopular, with poll after poll showing that most Australians didn't want any of it. 

 

NICK MINCHIN: The fact is the great majority of the Australian people do not support what we are doing on industrial relations. They violently disagree. 

 

STEPHEN LONG: Senator Minchin also said there was a real prospect that the High Court could overturn the Work Choices laws. 

 

NICK MINCHIN: We've still got some very big issues in getting this down. I am one of those who remains nervous about the statute of this legislative issue before the High Court. 

 

STEPHEN LONG: The Finance Minister said he couldn't understand why colleagues Kevin Andrews and Philip Ruddock are so relaxed about the High Court challenge to the new industrial relations laws.  

 

He warned the Government had appointed conservative judges to the High Court, and they could well be conservative about using the Corporations Power to override the states. 

 

Senator Minchin also said the unintended consequences from taking over State IR systems were "mind-boggling". 

 

It was unbelievable, he told the conference. Every Cabinet meeting, the Workplace Relations minister would come back with yet another issue that had emerged from taking over the state systems. 

 

Senator Minchin's views are bound to be politically controversial, especially his frank assessment about the unpopularity of the Government's IR changes, and his conviction about the need for more reform.