Tony Abbott is the most hard line right wing politician who has ever sought the support of the Australian people.
Abbott was a minister in the John Howard led Government who sat at the table as they forced WorkChoices on Australians without telling the public about the policy before the 2004 elections.
Now he is trying to con us that he has changed.
He now says he opposed WorkChoices in cabinet. Well he never said so publicly at the time. It was only after WorkChoices cost the Liberals the last election that he shared that story with the voters.
He now says WorkChoices is “dead, buried and cremated.” But in his recent book, ‘Battlelines’ he said “WorkChoices was good for workers”.
He also admitted on national television that he lies to the public when it suits him.
So what do we know for sure about Tony Abbott?
Construction workers know that it was Abbott who set up the Cole Royal Commission and established the ABCC.
We know he is proud of putting in place the law which sees Ark Tribe facing six months in prison for standing up for safety by refusing to dob in his mates.
We know that he supports bringing back compulsory individual contracts.
We know that he wants to get rid of unfair dismissal laws for millions of Australians.
We know that he would abolish the stimulus package which helped keep the construction industry afloat in a serious world economic downturn.
I think we can probably believe him on those bits of policy, if nothing else.
Of course the union has been critical of Labor for its delay in getting rid of the ABCC, and for using the language of the Liberal Party in talking about a “tough cop on the beat.”
And we have criticised the bill that Labor has put in to the Senate which would abolish the ABCC because it continues unequal treatment of construction workers – it does not go far enough.
The union will continue to fight for one law for all and we will not stop until this objective is achieved.
A Labor government gives us an opportunity to continue to make progress – while under Tony Abbott the current laws would be retained and are likely to be extended.
Under Kevin Rudd, Labor often looked like a pale shadow of itself. Many people had stopped listening to Rudd. Julia Gillard has an opportunity to win back the true believers, including many construction workers.
Labor has made some welcome announcements about protecting workers entitlements.
Abbott would not implement these improvements if elected.
He has also pledged to scrap the resources rent tax which would finally see the mining billionaires pay a fairer share of tax on the massive profits that they receive from mineral resources; resources which are owned by all Australians.
Abbott’s mad policy would stop the long overdue plan to increase superannuation to 12%, a plan announced by Labor.
Abbott supports greedy billionaires trousering this money rather than millions of hard working Australians getting a decent retirement income.
Many of our members will vote for the Greens or for independents. If so, they should be careful that their preferences do not go to help elect an Abbott government.
However critical we are of Labor on particular issues, the fact is that at this time under our political system, either Tony Abbott or Julia Gillard will be the next Prime Minister of this country.
The union will always call it as we see it – regardless of which political party is in power.
We’ve had plenty of arguments with Julia Gillard.
If she is elected, we will continue to agree on some things and not others.
But if Abbott wins, Australian workers lose. We know this bloke and we know what he stands for.
Workers and their unions would need to prepare for a savage attack on hard won rights. Recent history tells us that when these rights are stolen by right wing Governments and employers, the fight to regain them is long and hard.
If you support rights at work and a fairer society, there is really only one answer to the question we all face on August 21 – that is to reject Abbott and the Liberals and elect Gillard and Labor.
The Union Show 