Australian Workplace Agreements could be abolished by Easter after the Coalition again caved in and dropped a push for a longer Senate inquiry into Labor's workplace relations transition bill.
The further capitulation came as Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, again used question time in Parliament to attack the Opposition saying it harboured a secret desire to revive AWAs and WorkChoices if it wins the next federal election.
Workplace Relations Minister, Julia Gillard, said a private meeting of the Senate committee which will investigate the bill decided the inquiry would report on March 17, a date supported by Opposition senators even though they had argued last week for a reporting date of April 28.
There was now no reason, Ms Gillard said, barring obstruction by the Opposition, why the bill could not pass through both houses of Parliament by the Easter break beginning on March 21.
Despite being forced by her shadow ministry to drop her support for AWAs, Deputy Opposition Leader and workplace relations spokeswoman Julie Bishop was still talking up the benefits of AWAs yesterday as she moved an amendment to extend the life of the interim agreements Individual Transitional Employment Agreements in Labor's transition bill from two to five years.
She said AWAs had been instrumental in creating much-needed workplace flexibility.
"It was critical in allowing the economy to weather the economic storm for the Asian financial crisis, it was critical in weathering the tech bubble burst and other economic challenges," Ms Bishop said.
Later in question time, Mr Rudd accused the Opposition of being in "a fuddle" after their "flip, flop and flap" over AWAs on the previous day.
They were confused about where they stood on AWAs, first introduced by the Howard government in 1996.
"WorkChoices, dead one minute, back the next," Mr Rudd said.
"Waiting for the next election, you can almost see them waiting with the defibrillator prongs, they're waiting to bring back WorkChoices to life, zap, zap, the day after the election, bang, it's back into life."
Ms Gillard joined in claiming to have a secret Coalition document advising the party to drop its support for AWAs now so that it could "do some deals" with business in the future.
She issued an analysis of 1748 AWAs by the Workplace Authority which showed 89 per cent of AWAs excluded at least one protected award condition and that 71 per cent excluded four or more award conditions like penalty rates or overtime.
She said the figures also showed that 75 per cent of AWAs analysed did not guarantee a wage rise.
The transitional agreements would give employers who already use AWAs continuity until all individual statutory agreements expire at the end of 2009.
The Senate inquiry will take public submissions until February 29, it will hold public hearings on March 6 and 7, and will report to the Senate on March 17.
Ms Gillard and Small Business Minister, Craig Emerson also announced two advisory groups, from big and small business, to become part of the consultation process for the industrial relations bill to be introduced into Parliament later this year. The small business advisory group will be involved in devising a Fair Dismissal Code.