Abbott dupes voters: IR changes key to jobs, according to Mad Monk

Tony Abbott says dealing with
"industrial lawlessness" is the key
 to driving the economy

PRIME Minister Tony Abbott has put ridding the country of "industrial lawlessness" at the heart of his plan to grow the economy and improve the budget.

As parliament resumed on Monday, Labor leader Bill Shorten accused the prime minister of being a "wimp" when it came to standing up for jobs in the wake of manufacturing plant closures.

The comment parodied Mr Abbott's description of Immigration Minister Scott Morrison as not being a "wimp" when it came to border protection.

Mr Abbott told parliament he deeply regretted recent job losses, but it was his job in government to give businesses a fighting chance of flourishing.

"I am doing what I can in this parliament as prime minister to remove the taxes, and the regulation and industrial lawlessness which is damaging the job prospects of decent Australian workers," Mr Abbott said.

"I will do that for as long as there is breath in my body."

The prime minister found some support from Business Council president Tony Shepherd, who told a forum in Melbourne that labour costs accounted for a third of cost blowouts on infrastructure projects.

The chairman of the national commission of audit said the reinstatement of the Australian Building and Construction Commission should help control such costs.

The government sees infrastructure spending as one of the drivers of growth, to help bring the budget back to surplus and meet its target of one million jobs created over the next five years.

Environment Minister Greg Hunt accused Mr Shorten of ordering an "industrial go-slow" in the Senate, which is blocking the repeal of the carbon tax.

In a bid to pressure Labor over the repeal, Mr Hunt has issued a ministerial determination to stop carbon emission permit auctions before June 30.

As the government considers a 900-page report from its commission of audit, Labor deputy leader Tanya Plibersek asked the prime minister whether he could guarantee one of the areas of budget cuts being considered was pensions.

"There is a big challenge and we will address it in ways that are consistent with our election commitments," Mr Abbott said.

Labor families spokeswoman Jenny Macklin said the prime minister couldn't bring himself to use the word pension.

"This is a broken promise to every Australian pensioner who took the Prime Minster at his word on polling day," she said.

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24.2.14

Redcliffe swing equates to an extra 54 seats for Labor in 2015

Yvette Dath - new Member for Redcliffe

Yvette D'Ath scored an impressive 16.3% swing to the ALP in the Redcliffe by-election, on figures released at the close of counting on Saturday night.

She easily took the seat off the LNP following the forced resignation of the former member Scott Driscoll last year.

If that swing is repeated uniformly across Queensland in the 2015 state election, the Labor Party would gain an extra 54 seats as well as the 8 seats it now holds.

Ministers and one-term backbenchers would all be given the collective Royal Order of the Boot.

Labor would win office with 62 of the 89 seats in the Queensland Parliament.

Swings are rarely uniform and political fortunes can change dramatically but those figures are reminiscent of the days when Peter Beattie ruled Queensland with a massive majority.

What seems to be certain is that Campbell Newman will be facing impossible odds to hold his seat of Ashgrove which he won with 55.7% of the vote when Labor fortunes were at their lowest ebb since 1974.

If Campbell Newman panics and switches to the safe LNP seat of Moggill, the sitting member Bruce Flegg - who is no fan of Campbell - would almost certainly stand as an independent and win on ALP preferences.

Either way, Campbell Newman would join an array of single term conservative premiers which Queensland has had since 1859.

24.2.14