No Turning the Clock Back on Workplace Reforms

The first anniversary tomorrow of the introduction of the federal government’s WorkChoices legislation has proved opponents of the vital reforms were wrong, Business Council of Australia President Michael Chaney said.

Mr Chaney said scare campaigns that WorkChoices reforms would slash jobs and wages have been proved unfounded by data showing 260,000 new jobs have been created and wages have grown by 1.8 per cent in real terms since the reforms were introduced.

“As we reach the one-year anniversary of the WorkChoices reforms one thing is obvious: opponents’ claims that the sky would fall in and Australian workers would suffer have not materialised,” Mr Chaney said.

“Fears about WorkChoices have proven to be as unfounded as those that accompanied previous reforms like tariff reductions, the floating of the dollar and earlier deregulation of the workplace.

See full Press Release.