Dead, Buried and Cremated.... and Resurrected?

And on the third electoral cycle WorkChoices will be raised again.

Since the days of Bob Hawke, every Australian government has made a radical change to the dynamic of the nation's employment relations system. Hawke and Keating oversaw  the Accords, Rudd and Gillard introduced Fair Work Australia and Howard fell on his own sword to implement his neo-liberal WorkChoices legislation. WorkChoices was an amendment to the 1996 Workplace Relations Act which sought to further individualise the employment relations system by encouraging individual bargaining agreements and giving businesses far more flexibility in hiring and firing. Wen the law was met with vitriol from many workers in 2006 and is pointed to as a major factor behind the electoral defeat of the Liberal Party in 2007. So now that the Liberals are back in office, could we see a shift in the current 'Third Way' regime of Fair Work Australia towards a more neo-liberal approach?

Tony Abbott, a member of Howard's executive during the WorkChoices era, has been very quick to deny any claims that the controversial policy will make a return under his Prime Ministership. During the 2010 election, the first campaign with Abbott serving as Opposition Leader, Abbott went as far as to say that WorkChoices were 'dead, buried and cremated'. In the same interview Abbott went so far as to say that 'we have no plans, no plans whatsoever to make any changes to the legislation. Not now. Not ever'. 

Tony signing a 'contract' in 2010 to confirm he would not bring back WorkChoices

Interview and photo can be found at: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/tony-abbott-signs-contract-on-work-choices-but-muddles-message-on-workplace-laws/story-fn59niix-1225893906267

If 24 hours is a long time in politics, then three years is an eternity. So it is of little surprise that Tony's position on making changes to the Fair Work Act shifted significantly by the time the next election rolled around. Abbott claimed that his party would 'retain and improve the Fair Work Act'. So what exactly does "improving" entail Tony? There has been rumours that the newly elected government would remove protection for workers to strike over an enterprise bargaining dispute with an employer. This is an example of the landscape of the employment relations system shifting away from the more employee friendly Fair Work regime towards greater power to big businesses. 

Source of quote: http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2013/s3755847.htm   

In my unqualified opinion, it would take someone of incredible stupidity to reintroduce WorkChoices after it was so resoundly rejected by the Australian people in 2007. Despite popular opinion, I do not think Abbott is a 'dumb' politician (sharing different beliefs to you does not automatically make them 'dumb') and has in the past rrecognizedthat it would be unfair to reintroduce the amendments after the result of the 2007 election. Could Tony and his boys introduce elements of the 2006 law however? Definitely. Will they? Probably. Should they? That's an argument for another time. But to sumarise the answer to the question I pondered in the question: will WorkChoices be reintroduced to Australia? No.