EDITORIAL : THE AUSTRALIAN, AUSTRALIA

ABC on song when Ita's on TV

PAPER Giants showcases talent telling Australian stories.

Ita Buttrose was so surprisingly popular that in 1980, when she was editor of The Australian Women's Weekly and recognised mainly from that magazine's television commercials, the bad boys of rock, Cold Chisel, released a hit song singing, "How could I not believe, when Ita tells me to?" Now, decades on, her life has fascinated younger generations through a television mini-series. The ABC's Paper Giants covered the earlier part of Ms Buttrose's career when she was the founding editor of Cleo magazine. Part biopic, part drama and part social history, the series captured something of the early 1970s social, sexual and political revolutions. Well written and directed, with seamless interweaving of nostalgic footage of Sydney, the production benefited from exceptional acting performances. It captured the essence of the events and the characters without being unsympathetic to the late media moguls, Frank Packer and son Kerry, or hiding something of the resolute toughness of the young mother and editor. The Australian congratulates the ABC and all those involved for a clear and successful example of the corporation fulfilling part of its charter and for providing an entertaining showcase of creative Australian talent, as it exists now and as it contributed to our nation then.

Joyce returns to state of origin

THE Queensland senator is destined to be the next Nationals leader.

Like a political jouster, the senator from St George is heading off to try to slay the dragon. Barnaby Joyce, for all his faults and legions of detractors, is an irresistible political force. His move to the house of government has been touted for years and now looks likely to occur south of the border, which will disappoint his Queensland supporters. But the fact it pits him against the former Nationals hopeful and now independent MP Tony Windsor, who has infuriated his former colleagues by installing a Labor government, only makes the story of the state-of-origin crusade all the more dramatic. Senator Joyce, born in Tamworth and with strong connections in the New England region, knows better than most how formidable Mr Windsor could prove.

Known around the nation by his first name alone, Barnaby is a backwoods politician with an instinct for popular sentiment who has had a powerful impact in just six years in parliament. Australia's most vocal National since Tim Fischer, he is cut from similar cloth and probably one day is destined to assume his party's leadership, should he successfully make the transition to the House of Representatives. This means there is a likelihood, should the Coalition win government, that in the next five or six years he could become deputy prime minister. That thought both amuses and frightens the urban Left but Prime Minister Julia Gillard needs to contain any mocking tones. Ridiculing Senator Joyce could be a trap for Labor because it might further alienate those Australians who oppose the carbon tax and admire politicians who are prepared to speak their minds.

All the same, Senator Joyce will need to temper some of his more eccentric observations and, more importantly, rethink some of his interventionist economic leanings. If he is to become an effective leader he will need to be consultative, economically consistent and open to compromise. He was found short as opposition finance spokesman and has since improved his performance. He needs to understand it is possible for mavericks to become leaders, but leaders can't be mavericks.

With Labor's fate hinging on the carbon tax, it will be aware that Senator Joyce was a prime mover in the game-changing events that reversed the Coalition's climate change policy and installed Tony Abbott as leader. The senator has been far more effective in attacking the government's emissions trading and carbon tax plans than the government has been in selling them.

Labor's workplace system is undermining economy

INDUSTRIAL relations reform is now an urgent imperative.

If Tony Abbott uses part of his Easter break to reflect on the big issues facing the Australian economy, he should revisit his old ministerial stamping ground -- industrial relations. Eighteen months after Labor's system took effect, Julia Gillard's mantra that it "will be good for productivity" has proved so patently false that an overhaul of workplace relations to restore flexibility is now a first-order issue, more important to the nation's prosperity than the carbon tax, mining tax or welfare reform.

As the system stands, trade unions are enjoying most things their own way -- including the fact that seven of the past eight appointees to Fair Work Australia are former union officials or others with backgrounds in the labour movement.

After giving Labor's system a go, industry leaders have begun pointing out its pitfalls. Australian Industry Group chief executive Heather Ridout, who has worked constructively with the government, has called for an overhaul of the Fair Work Act, citing the problem of unions using clauses falsely badged as "job security" to restrict the hiring of contractors. That ruse, which worked for the Transport Workers Union in the road transport industry, has been extended in a militant push to curtail the use of outside labour by Qantas. Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce is right to brand it a "kamikaze campaign" because of its potential to drive customers to other brands and destroy jobs.

Ms Ridout also opposes Fair Work Australia's "strike first, negotiate later" decision in relation to Sydney waste management company J. J. Richards & Sons. That issue, which has major implications for all industries, including mining, is being pursued in the tribunal by the AIG, the Australian Mines and Metals Association and the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Opposition workplace relations spokesman Eric Abetz admits that the Coalition does not have a "policy document on the table" and says the legislation needs to be given time to "bed down". The Coalition remains haunted by the fatal political damage inflicted by Labor and the ACTU over Work Choices in 2007. But the national interest demands that Mr Abbott move off the sidelines with an effective policy well before the next election. Among other points, he must show how the system can be tightened to ensure the wage boom in the mining sector does not flow to sectors struggling with a strong dollar, such as manufacturing. He is right to support sharper teeth for the building industry watchdog, which under the Howard government boosted productivity by billions of dollars in that industry.

Gold Coast backbencher Steve Ciobo has made a sound case as to why businesses employing up to 20 fulltime workers should not be subject to the unfair dismissal laws. And his South Australian colleague, Jamie Briggs, is right to favour employers not being forced into unsustainable wage rises beyond productivity gains and the reinstatement of 1996-style individual workplace agreements, which predated Work Choices by more than a decade.

If business is to succeed in leading the IR debate it must explain why restricting the ability of companies to adapt to change, restructure and maintain flexible workforces according to the business cycle will undermine community prosperity. In some ways, it is a harder and more complex case to sell to voters than the "your rights at work" anti-Work Choices campaign. But business has the resources to show that independent contractors are losing out, and to help the public understand how and why unfair dismissal laws impact on small and medium business and discourage employment. Small business should also emphasise that rigid awards are keeping students out of casual work by forcing employers to pay for longer shifts than many shopkeepers can afford.

As the debate progresses, the Coalition must draw up a policy that excludes the worst excesses of Work Choices while restoring flexibility and linking pay rises to productivity gains. It is a faint hope that Labor will amend its system. But pressure should be applied debunking Ms Gillard's claims that no one would be worse off under Labor's system and that the economy would reap productivity gains. After 18 months, the economy, companies and some workers are the losers.