I'll scrap dismissal laws: Abbott
Australian prime minister candidate Tony Abbott has said that, if elected, he will make an effort to reform old workplace dismissal laws, ensuring that labor laws will be a big part of the election campaign. Abbott says that current dismissal laws are unfair to small businesses, and have given unions too much power, at the expense of business but also of non-unionized and unemployed workers. Workplace Relations Minister Julia Gillard has called Abbott's proposals irresponsible, saying that if he becomes prime minister, all the worst parts of the old 'Work Choices' law would come back,' despite Abbott's assurance that he knows Workplace Choices is 'dead.' Gillard says that, underneath that slogan, the 'fine print' reveals that the same unfair dismissal laws would simply be reinstated in a 'new' way.
See "I'll scrap dismissal laws: Abbott", Ewin Hannan, The Australian, February 14, 2010