Scare Tactics
What nonsense. Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd wants to set up a different national industrial relations watchdog organization than the one Howard’s put up, so we’re supposed to believe it’ll be ”hand-picked” by the unions. First off, is that worse than having it “hand picked” by business groups? Any IR oversight body needs to be fully independent, and Howard’s is no more so than what he claims the ALP will create. It’s perhaps worse, as it’s stocked with Howard/Liberal Party cronies, predisposed to the WorkChoices regime, itself weighted in favor of employers. Unlike many other areas of policy, Howard’s abandoned dog-whistling in favor of just arm-waving hysteria. Unions! Unions! Evil commies on the march! He thinks we’re idiots.