Archived Industrial News: September 2007

Howard’s way – no AWA’s / no commonwealth funding

Prime Minister John Howard recently announced that the federal government is to assume responsibility for the funding and operation of the Mersey Hospital, a public sector facility in the north west of Tasmania.

Ironically titled the ’mercy mission ’,this announcement comes following the federal government ’s assuming control over workplace laws, tighter funding of universities and a push for complete control of the Murray-Darling river system which runs through three states and the ACT.

While a lot has been written about the impact of the Howard Government’s attempts to assume control of workplace laws and water, less is known about activities in the higher education sector.

As the major funding body of universities, primary and secondary schools, public hospitals and a range of other services delivered by the states and territories, the federal government at times has threatened to withhold or reduce funding unless the state run service providers embrace federal industrial laws, which seek to promote alternatives to union collective agreements.

While these threats have not led to any significant changes in hospitals or in primary and secondary schools there have been recent changes in universities.

All universities are now subject to strict requirements to offer all employees (both existing and new) employment under an Australian Workplace Agreement (AWA)and all collective agreements must now satisfy strict criteria established and scrunitised by the federal government which they say are intended to promote further flexibility and efficiency.

In the event that such requirements are not met in full the federal government may withhold or reduce funding.

In the June 2007 sitting of federal parliament the government was repeatedly asked to confirm or deny that the health care sector would be subject to the same requirements as universities should the government be returned at the next election. Far from putting our minds to rest, the response was an unwarranted attack on nurses and their involvement in the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) campaign against the government’s unfair industrial relations laws.

If the Howard government is returned after the next election recent history indicates we can expect far greater government control over the provision of health services including how and who will deliver services. There is nothing to suggest the imposition of AWAs on nurses and other health sector employees will not be a central part of this process.

Nick Blake
ANF Federal Industrial Officer