Newman weapon warning sparks war of words

November 19th, 2011

FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda

LNP leader Campbell Newman: Federal industrial relations laws too heavily weighted against employers.

Liberal National Party leader Campbell Newman has drawn fire from unions over his declaration that safety should not be used as a “weapon” in industrial relations disputes.

But the aspiring premier insists he made no comments suggesting laws to protect workers would be changed.

Mr Newman yesterday said “far too much” industrial action was occurring around the nation and he believed federal industrial relations laws were now too heavily weighted against employers, compared with under the abolished WorkChoices regime.

“If there were claims that the balance went way too far the other way [in favour of employers] four or five years ago, I think we have gone too far the other way now and businesses and a lot of Australians are worried about that,” he told a business breakfast in Brisbane.

Mr Newman, who had been asked a question that suggested a deterioration in the industrial relations climate, said the LNP intended to look at such issues.

“We want to keep workplace health and safety and things like Work Cover arrangements, and the like, are still in the state arena and we know these are areas that often become industrial relations issues,” he said.

“Those are issues we’ll look at to ensure they are not being used as industrial relations weapons.”

Queensland Council of Unions president John Battams demanded an explanation from Mr Newman.

Mr Battams said the comments suggested an intention to wind back workplace health and safety laws, a move that could jeopardise worker safety.

“Safer workplaces must be a major priority for all of our political candidates, and Mr Newman has to show that he understands the importance of this issue to workers and their families,” he said in a statement.

Industrial Relations Minister Cameron Dick also accused Mr Newman of planning to undermine safety.

But Mr Newman’s spokeswoman said he had “made no statement suggesting that laws to protect workers would be changed”.

She said Mr Newman had a strong industrial relations track record as Brisbane Lord Mayor.

“Over a seven-year period the lost time injury frequency rate for workers was greatly reduced, employees received real wage increases and industrial disputes were at a 40-year low,” the spokeswoman said.

Mr Dick said safety should not be watered down.

In a statement, he said the incidence of work-related death and injury claims in Queensland dropped by 42 per cent between 2005/06 and 2009/10.

“Any death is one too many but the trend shows our efforts in working with businesses and unions are paying off,” Mr Dick said.

“We are also moving towards a national approach to workplace health and safety, which will reduce the regulatory burden on businesses, particularly those that operate across state boundaries.

“All this progress will be lost if Campbell Newman has his way.”

Mr Dick dismissed claims of high industrial disputation, saying 13,250 days on average were lost per quarter in Queensland in 2010-11, compared with 32,400 per quarter when the conservatives were last in power.

Mr Newman did not speak to media as he left yesterday’s Queensland Resources Council event, where he made the comments after a businessman asked him whether the industrial relations climate had gone back to the 1980s. Mr Newman was at the event promoting his new resources strategy.

LNP candidate for Redcliffe Scott Driscoll, who heads the United Retail Federation, said unions should not twist Mr Newman’s words.

“I concur with him saying what we need to do is have a sensible debate about what’s going to work for Queensland workers,” Mr Driscoll told this website.

“I seriously can’t see, knowing who my colleagues will be, anyone standing up and arguing against fairness and decency and safe workplaces.”

Mr Driscoll said workplace health and safety was a serious issue given people needed their mums and dads to come home safely from work each day.

“What we don’t want to see is the unions playing politics with it [workplace health and safety],” he said.

– with AAP

This reporter is on Twitter: @danielhurstbne