E&OE...
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Mr Rudd has now confirmed what many of us knew to be the case. The union bosses will not allow a Rudd Labor government to keep Australian Workplace Agreements in any shape or form.
The opposition leader has categorically ruled them out. Under a Labor government they or anything like them will be gone lock stock and barrel.
This has followed an elaborate pantomime in which Mr Rudd has been the principal villain.
The union bosses forced Kim Beazley, when he was leader, to promise that he would tear up AWAs. Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard duly repeated this pledge.
But when the mining industry, in particular, pointed out how much damage would be done to Australia's booming resources sector by such an approach the opposition leader commenced a pattern of deception.
He pretended to consult. With a serious face he said he would listen to the mining industry, hinting that the anti- AWA policy would be softened at the edges.
It is now clear that this was all a charade, a hoax to encourage the Australian public to believe that Labor supported a more balanced and moderate policy on workplace agreements.
The union bosses brought the curtain down on all of this. They forced Mr Rudd to retreat publicly from any flirtation with moderation.
He has done their bidding and completely scotched any possibility of Labor weakening its hard line opposition to Australian Workplace Agreements.
And this has happened while Labor is still in opposition. It is but a taste of what life would be like under a union dominated Rudd Labor government-egged on by eight state and territory Labor governments.
Listen to this Speech (MP3 - 1.91Mb - 93secs)