Live News Feed: ALP Federal
Abbott's contempt for commission
Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations Arch Bevis said today’s appointment by Workplace Relations Minister Tony Abbott of four Deputy Presidents and two Commissioners to the Australian Industrial Relations Commission is unprecedented and a disgraceful abuse of convention only days from the beginning of a federal election campaign.
28 September 2001 [Read More]
Just Plain Mean and Tricky
Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations Arch Bevis said that contradictory announcements today by the Prime Minister John Howard and Workplace Relations Minister Tony Abbott was proof the Government was making up its employee entitlements policy on the run.
18 September 2001 [Read More]
Anderson Hypocritical Over Ansett
Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations Arch Bevis called on the Howard Government to stop playing politics with employee entitlements and to support Labor’s package of reforms aimed at addressing this ever-increasing problem.
14 September 2001 [Read More]
Abbott must abide by convention
Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations Arch Bevis called on Workplace Relations Minister Tony Abbott to abide by convention and not make multiple appointments to the Australian Industrial Relations Commissions only weeks from the beginning of a federal election campaign.
31 August 2001 [Read More]
Labor welcomes settlement at TriStar
Labor Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations, Arch Bevis, today welcomed the agreement reached between the AMWU and the management of TriStar that has secured workers’ entitlements and enabled a return to work for TriStar and the vehicle industry.
08 August 2001 [Read More]
Memo to Tony Abbott
Labor Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations, Arch Bevis, said today that Tony Abbott should take Peter Reith’s advice and immediately move to institute a business funded insurance scheme to protect employee’s legally funded entitlements.
07 August 2001 [Read More]
Relaxed and comfortable? Ask Marty
Labor Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations, Arch Bevis, said today that the case of TriStar employee Mr Marty Peek demonstrated comprehensively that the Howard Government’s Employee Entitlements Support Scheme was totally unfair and inadequate.
07 August 2001 [Read More]
Howard Government bias
Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations Arch Bevis said today the intervention by the Government in the TriStar dispute to argue that the bargaining period should be terminated was further proof of their bias in dealing with industrial relations issues.
06 August 2001 [Read More]
Abbott foot firmly in his mouth
Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations Arch Bevis said today that the actions by Workplace Relations Minister, Tony Abbott, in the TriStar dispute show his lack of understanding of the basic issues facing Australian workers.
06 August 2001 [Read More]
Abbott's hypocrisy knows no bounds
Comments by Workplace Relations Minister, Tony Abbott, that workers engaged in industrial action at TriStar Steering and Suspension are guilty of “treason” clearly show the hypocrisy of the Howard Government, Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations, Arch Bevis, said today.
04 August 2001 [Read More]
Abbott an embarrassment
The comments by Workplace Relations Minister, Tony Abbott, concerning the TriStar Steering and Suspension dispute were an embarrassment, not only to himself but also to the Prime Minister. Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations Arch Bevis said today.
03 August 2001 [Read More]
Howard must take responsibility
The current car industry dispute is clearly the result of the Howard Government’s unwillingness to guarantee 100 per cent of employee’s entitlements, Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations, Arch Bevis, said today.
03 August 2001 [Read More]
Tristar dispute a result of Howard
The TriStar Steering and Suspension dispute that is affecting the Australian car industry is the result of the industrial relations system put in place by the Howard Government, Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations, Arch Bevis, said today.
03 August 2001 [Read More]
Terms of reference too narrow
Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations Arch Bevis has called on the Government to extend the terms of reference announced by the Prime Minister John Howard for an inquiry into the construction industry.
26 July 2001 [Read More]
Royal Commission's 'R us
Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations Arch Bevis said today that the growing speculation of an announcement of a Royal Commission into the construction industry by Workplace Relations Minister Tony Abbott was further proof that this government has run out of ideas.
17 July 2001 [Read More]
REITH BOWS OUT
Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations Arch Bevis said today that Peter Reith would forever be remembered in the minds of most Australians for the savage dogs and balaclava wearing thugs used in the Patrick’s waterfront dispute of 1998.
29 June 2001 [Read More]
Mean and Tricky Again: -
HOWARD'S EMPLOYEE ENTITLEMENTS SCHEME NOT GUARANTEED AFTER JUNE 2003
Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations Arch Bevis said today that funding for the Howard Government’s inadequate employee entitlements support scheme was not guaranteed after 30 June 2003.
04 June 2001 [Read More]
L-Plate Minister rolled by Howard
Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations Arch Bevis said today that the action by Prime Minister Howard in over ruling Workplace Relations Minister Tony Abbott demonstrates a lack of confidence by the Prime Minister in the minister.
04 June 2001 [Read More]
Abbott not up to the challenge
Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations Arch Bevis said today that the refusal by Workplace Relations Minister Tony Abbott to support an application for a safety net award for employees of the troubled telecommunications company One.Tel was just another example of mean nature of the Howard Government.
04 June 2001 [Read More]
One.Tel workers deserve support
Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations Arch Bevis called on Workplace Relations Minister Tony Abbott to support an application for a safety net award to be made for employees of the troubled telecommunications company One.Tel.
03 June 2001 [Read More]
Welcome to US Style IR
Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations Arch Bevis said today that the revelation that QANTAS is training a secret force of strikebreakers was further proof that the Howard Government is ushering in American style industrial relations to Australia.
03 June 2001 [Read More]
LABOR ATTACKS AWAs
Labor Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations, Arch Bevis, today stepped up Labor’s attack on the Howard Government’s Australian Workplace Agreements in a speech to the Australian Higher Education Industrial Association.
30 March 2001 [Read More]
Government Permits Slave Labour
Union intervention has exposed an immigration scam involving the exploitation of guest skilled workers issued with four-year work visas who have been effectively imprisoned for more than three years. The case raises immigration and industrial relations issues, according to Shadow Minister for Immigration, Con Sciacca, and the Shadow Minister Industrial Relations, Arch Bevis.
05 March 2001 [Read More]
Howard's Laws = Rattie Conditions
News today of construction workers living on less than $45 per month demonstrates how far the Howard Government has gone in dismantling our nation’s industrial relations system, said Labor Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations, Arch Bevis.
26 February 2001 [Read More]
Maternity Leave a Must Labor
Labor today called on the Government to condemn the decision of the Australian Hotels Association to oppose unpaid maternity leave for casual workers.
15 February 2001 [Read More]
New Year Same Story for Electruck
Labor Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations, Arch Bevis, said today that the workers of Electruck and associated companies deserved nothing less than to be paid their full employee entitlements.
10 January 2001 [Read More]
Looming Crisis in Blood Donation
Labor Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations, Arch Bevis, today called on incoming Workplace Relations Minister Tony Abbott to move quickly to avoid a looming blood donation crisis.
24 December 2000 [Read More]
Reith Leaves Ruins - Right Rewarded
Peter Reith has left behind a smouldering ruin of failed industrial relations reform and is now set to take aim at Australian Defence Force personnel and their families, Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations, Arch Bevis, said today.
20 December 2000 [Read More]
Australian Workers: 6 – Reith: Nil
Workplace Relations Minister Peter Reith has reached the end of the Parliamentary year and has failed to score in the Parliament on industrial relations.
07 December 2000 [Read More]
The Peter Reith Tipping Competition
Peter Reith has put in a Gold Medal performance as the country’s most unpopular public figure. Having failed to get his 2nd Wave and other IR laws through Parliament the likelihood of a new job for Peter in Santa's sack this year is high. (The Leadership Baton he got a couple of years ago seems to be broken now)
07 December 2000 [Read More]
Government Double Standards on Reith
The Howard Government is guilty of double standards in the handling of Workplace Relations Minister Peter Reith’s flagrant breaches of guidelines relating to his taxpayer-funded ‘Telecard’, Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations, Arch Bevis, said today.
11 October 2000 [Read More]
Reith's $50,000 taxpayer folly
Australian workers should be asking themselves this question.
10 October 2000 [Read More]
Commonwealth Bank Ignores Staff
Labor Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations, Arch Bevis, today condemned the Commonwealth Bank for its decision to force its 28,000 staff onto Peter Reith’s secret individual contracts.
01 September 2000 [Read More]
Reith's comments reek of hypocrisy
29 August 2000 [Read More]
Black is White, Says Reith
Labor Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations, Arch Bevis, said today that contrary to repeated claims by Peter Reith, working days lost through
industrial action have actually increased since the introduction of Minister Reith's industrial laws.
22 June 2000 [Read More]
Reith Offering the Same Old Fare
Labor Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations, Arch Bevis, said today that Workplace Relations Minister Peter Reith was continuing the ‘salami’ approach to his failed second wave legislation with four more slices due in the Parliament next week. No matter how he serves it up it is still the same stale sandwich.
21 June 2000 [Read More]
Questions Remain On Financial Bill
After persisting for hours to get basic questions answered about the impact of the Local Government (Financial Assistance) Amendment Bill 2000 and the GST, Labor supported the Bill's passage, while protesting the lack of accountability displayed by the Minister for Local Government, Senator Ian Macdonald, said Shadow Minister for Regional Services, Territories and Local Government, Senator Sue Mackay today.
20 June 2000 [Read More]
Labor's Digital TV Position
Shadow Minister for Communications, Stephen Smith, today released Labor's proposed amendments to the Government's Digital Television and Datacasting legislation.
20 June 2000 [Read More]
Howard Policy Supports High Rollers
Yesterday's Auditor General's Report into the Tax Office's High Wealth Individuals Taskforce shows clearly the folly of the Government's staff cuts to Tax's Large Business and International Business Line, Shadow Assistant Treasurer, Kelvin Thomson, said today.
14 June 2000 [Read More]
Labor Puts Digital TV Position
Shadow Minister for Communications, Stephen Smith, today welcomed the tabling of Labor Senators' Environment, Recreation, Communications, Information Technology and the Arts Committee report into the Government's proposed digital television and datacasting legislation.
08 June 2000 [Read More]
Reith Learns From Labor
Labor Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations, Arch Bevis, said today it was good to see that Workplace Relations Minister Peter Reith was likely to embrace Labor Party policy positions.
08 June 2000 [Read More]
Another Duck for Reith
Labor Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations, Arch Bevis, welcomed today’s decision by the Australian Democrats to reject Workplace Relations Minister Peter Reith’s latest industrial relations legislation.
06 June 2000 [Read More]
Fahey Holds Telstra 2 Loot
John Fahey has confirmed that, as at 24 January this year, the Government still owed 800 people money who did not receive their full share allotment from the Telstra 2 float.
15 May 2000 [Read More]
Labor Committed to Knowledge Nation
The Shadow Minister for Industry and Technology, Bob McMullan, has reaffirmed Labor's commitment to creating Australia as a Knowledge Nation with a knowledge economy.
15 May 2000 [Read More]
Scan Scam Lies Exposed
Shadow Health Minister, Ms Jenny Macklin said the embattled Health Minister, Dr Wooldridge yesterday lied to the Australian people about when he first knew about crucial flaws in the evidence he has used to defend himself in the MRI Scan Scam.
15 May 2000 [Read More]
Reith to tie umpire's hands
Labor Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations, Arch Bevis, today blasted the Government’s new industrial relations laws introduced into Parliament last week as biased and divisive.
14 May 2000 [Read More]
Reith Serves Second Wave In Slices
New industrial laws introduced into Parliament today are Peter Reith’s second wave in slices.
11 May 2000 [Read More]
Costello Ducks Telstra Comments
Treasurer Peter Costello today refused to answer questions in Parliament over his comments on Telstra's future dividends, made during his post-Budget press conference on Tuesday this week.
11 May 2000 [Read More]
REITH'S GST WAGES BREAKOUT
Government claims that wages demands will not increase in response to the GST have been torpedoed by revelations that a registered industrial agreement in Peter Reith’s own department includes a GST ‘top up’ clause.
10 May 2000 [Read More]
Budget Does Nothing For Jobs
"This Budget has done practically nothing to alleviate unemployment among sectors of Australia that have not received their share of economic growth or social infrastructure," Cheryl Kernot, Shadow Minister for Employment and Training, said today.
10 May 2000 [Read More]
Total New Spending on Trade = $0
The 2000-01 budget demonstrates starkly just how indifferent the Howard Government is to Australia's trade problems, Shadow Trade Minister, Senator Peter Cook, said today.
10 May 2000 [Read More]
Beazley on the Budget
TRANSCRIPT OF DOORSTOP, PRESS GALLERY, PARLIAMENT HOUSE, CANBERRA, 10 MAY 2000
E & OE - PROOF ONLY
10 May 2000 [Read More]
Budget Ducks Workers Entitlements
Labor Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations, Arch Bevis, said that Australian workers would take cold comfort from the Federal budget which failed to deliver a comprehensive employee entitlements scheme.
10 May 2000 [Read More]
Budget for Jobs and Training
Recent employment figures do not mask the reality that unemployment remains a serious problem in Australia - for young Australians, indigenous Australians, as well as mature age unemployed and their families, Cheryl Kernot, Shadow Minister for Employment and Training, said today.
08 May 2000 [Read More]
Interference in Employment National
Responses to Questions on Notice to Finance Minister, John Fahey, reveal what can only be described as political interference in the operations of Employment National, Shadow Minister for Employment and Training, Cheryl Kernot, said today.
04 May 2000 [Read More]
Thank GST for Fourth Rate Rise
Interest rates have now increased four times and by a total of 125 basis points in just six months.
04 May 2000 [Read More]
Defence Budget in Crisis
Australia's national security is being compromised by a Government that is unable to effectively deal with the crisis in defence funding and a Minister who is still struggling with the Defence portfolio, Shadow Minister for Defence, Stephen Martin said today.
28 April 2000 [Read More]
More Effort Needed on ATSI Health
Shadow Health Minister, Jenny Macklin, today called on the Federal Government to provide extra funding for Aboriginal Health in this year's Budget.
26 April 2000 [Read More]
Reith Must Own Dispute Manual
Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations, Arch Bevis, today called on Workplace Relations Minister, Peter Reith, to show some political courage by taking responsibility for his own portfolio.
26 April 2000 [Read More]
Reith's Feral DIY Training Manual
The Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations, Arch Bevis, said today that Peter Reith's Department of Employment, Workplace Relations and Small Business was encouraging dubious negotiation practices in public service dealings with its own employees.
26 April 2000 [Read More]
ACCC Asked to Act on GST Adverts
The Federal Opposition today called on the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and the Federation of Australian Commercial Television Stations to take action against misleading and deceptive advertisements published as part of the Commonwealth government's $80 million GST marketing campaign.
19 April 2000 [Read More]
The Family Unfriendly Government
Statement by opposition Leader Kim Beazley
19 April 2000 [Read More]
Labor Seeks Copy of Digital TV Legn
Shadow Minister for Communications, Stephen Smith, today said that he had formally requested that the Government provide the Opposition with a copy of its digital television legislation.
19 April 2000 [Read More]
Statement on Mandatory Sentencing
The agreement struck between Mr Howard and Mr Burke does not go far enough, and fails to address directly the unacceptable principle of mandatory sentencing for juveniles.
11 April 2000 [Read More]
No Guarantee on Rural Post Service
The Prime Minister today refused to guarantee that the Government's determination to deregulate Australia Post would not have an adverse impact on Australia Post service levels in rural, regional and remote areas.
06 April 2000 [Read More]
Alston Glosses Bandwidth Report
Shadow Minister for Communications, Stephen Smith, today said that the report of the National Bandwidth Inquiry, conducted by the Australian Information Economy Advisory Council (AIEAC), showed a damning picture of the availability and price of telecommunications bandwidth in Australia, despite the gloss that the Minister for Communications, Senator Alston, has attempted to put on the Inquiry's findings.
05 April 2000 [Read More]
Labor Call to Let China In
China's accession to the World Trade Organisation is at a critical stage, Shadow Trade Minister Senator Peter Cook said on Friday.
03 April 2000 [Read More]
Labor Push for Quarterly Super
Labor's Shadow Assistant Treasurer, Kelvin Thomson, will introduce a private member's bill into the Parliament to require employers to pay workers' superannuation contributions quarterly.
27 March 2000 [Read More]
Labor Calls for GM Inquiry
There must be an immediate investigation into the serious allegations raised by the Saturday Age about a poorly monitored genetically modified trial of canola being undertaken near Mt Gambia," Mr. Gavan O'Connor, Shadow Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries & Forestry and Mr. Alan Griffin, Parliamentary Secretary to the Shadow Minister for Health said today.
27 March 2000 [Read More]
Alston's Last Resort Safety Net
Shadow Minister for Communications, Stephen Smith, said today that the Government's announced changes to the Universal Service Obligation were high on rhetoric which did not stack up to detailed crutiny of the proposed changes.
24 March 2000 [Read More]
PM Must Upgrade Dyeworkers Package
The Prime Minister must intervene to upgrade the package offered by Peter Reith to Fabric Dyeworks workers to equal that offered to workers at National Textiles, the company chaired by the Prime Minister's brother, Shadow Assistant Treasurer, Kelvin Thomson, said today.
23 March 2000 [Read More]
Labor To Deliver Europe Trade Treaty
Labor in Government will deliver the trade treaty that John Howard promised, Shadow Trade Minister, Senator Peter Cook said today.
23 March 2000 [Read More]
Howard Rort - Telstra Inquiry Rigged
Shadow Minister for Communications, Stephen Smith, today said that the Government's proposed Telstra Inquiry was a John Howard rort and rigged from the start.
20 March 2000 [Read More]
Howard Snubs another UN Body
Australia has again been found in breach by an international body, Shadow Trade Minister, Senator Peter Cook last night told the Senate.
17 March 2000 [Read More]
Howard Must Help Dye Workers
The Labor Member for Wills, Mr Kelvin Thomson, today called on the Prime Minister to provide a guarantee to workers who lost their jobs today at the Fabric Dye Works in Coburg Melbourne.
17 March 2000 [Read More]
Farmers Can Blame Reith
The finding by the International Labour Organisation's committee of experts that Australia is in breach of the Convention on Collective Bargaining may well be used against us in future trade negotiations, Shadow Trade Minister, Senator Peter Cook, said today.
15 March 2000 [Read More]
UN Condemns Mandatory Sentencing
The United Nations Reference Paper released today confirms that the Northern Territory and Western Australian mandatory sentencing regimes offend a number of significant human rights principles, particularly the appropriate treatment of juveniles.
13 March 2000 [Read More]
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