Interesting Political Days Ahead

The Australian political scene is to see its first major change in over 20 years from July 1 this year. Even though federal governments of different political persuasions have been in office over the years, none have had control of both Houses of Parliament – the House of Representatives and the Senate since the early 1980’s. At the last federal election, in October 2004, the Howard Government (now into its fourth term, having been in office since March 1996) won control of both Houses. Because of the timing of the replacement of Senators, the Government’s control of both Houses doesn’t come into effect until July 1 2005.

The impact of this significant change to the political landscape should be a raft of legislation designed to wind back years of industrial relations legislation that employers see as severely restricting growth and changes to welfare legislation to ensure that only genuine and deserving individuals receive full benefits. Both of these measures will raise the ire of the union movement – but to no avail. The unions have for years been able to exert pressure on the Senate to have it vote down, or water down government legislation – often defeating legislation that was a part of the elected government’s clear policy mandate.

The changes to industrial relations and social welfare policies and legislation over the next 3 years should be of on-going interest.

As always – we live in interesting times.

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David
editor@agarcarlyon.com