A radio ad campaign launched today in Queensland highlights the Coalition’s obsession with breathing life back into WorkChoices.

Queensland Council of Unions secretary Ron Monaghan said an analysis of the Fair Work laws had uncovered 198 separate sections which would allow the Government to make changes impacting on working Australians without the approval of Parliament.

Mr Monaghan said the radio ads used humour to highlight a deadly serious subject – workplace rights.

Listen to the radio ad

“Tony Abbott simply can’t be trusted not to make substantial changes to workplace rights,” he said.

“You just have to look at his track record on how he regards the truth.

“This is the man who told The 7.30 Report that ‘the statements that need to be taken absolutely as gospel truth is those carefully prepared scripted remarks’.

“If he’s elected he will resurrect WorkChoices no matter what legal technicality he uses to push it through.

“The previous Coalition Government has form on attacking workers’ rights in the dead of night – they did it in the waterfront dispute in 1998 – and they would do it again.

“At the stroke of a pen, Tony Abbott could reduce unfair dismissal protections for small business employees, reduce minimum conditions in modern awards or enterprise agreements, and cut their entitlements to redundancy payments.

“With 198 possible changes to the Fair Work laws that can be made through regulations, you have to wonder just how much ‘tweaking’ Tony Abbott and the Liberals intend to do.

“We are only a couple of days into the election campaign, and Tony Abbott has already broken his promise that he would not be making any legislative changes to laws governing workplaces.

“His proposal to cut funding for Australian Electoral Commission oversight of union elections would require rewriting to the Fair Work laws and seriously curtail democracy in the workplace. This shows again that Mr Abbott’s campaign promises change like the wind, and he cannot be trusted to leave WorkChoices alone,” Mr Monaghan said.

Listen to the radio ad