The NSW election has thrust industrial relations to centre stage in the federal election campaign, with Labor insisting a large part of its weekend victory was due to fear of the new workplace regime.
While Premier Morris Iemma said he had no doubt the return of his unpopular Government was a message for Canberra, Prime Minister John Howard led a chorus of federal ministers rejecting the contention.
"As I go around the community, I keep hearing these criticisms, but I'm not coming across people who are affected," Mr Howard said.
He seized on Mr Iemma's contention that Menai voters had cited industrial relations, saying there had been a 7.5 per cent swing to the Liberals in that seat.
Mr Howard has also devoted his weekly radio message, broadcast today, to WorkChoices, hailing its effect on continuing low unemployment and rising real wages.
Mr Howard's state election appraisal also gave fuel to those within the Liberal Party thinking that state leader Peter Debnam may have to be replaced over his inability to defeat an unpopular 12-year-old Government.
"Although it's a matter for the state parliamentary party to run its own race, I might give the gentle advice that from Monday the party works very hard in delivering a clear and detailed policy position on the major issues," Mr Howard said.
However, he added that "the remedy lies not in looking at personalities but rather looking at policy development".
Mr Iemma hammered the message that fear of WorkChoices had been critical to his success.
"It's a piece of legislation workers and families hate. There is a clear message to Canberra and they will ignore it at their peril," he said.
Workplace Relations Minister Joe Hockey said Mr Iemma had polled best 10 days out from the election but had dropped votes in the last week when he had targeted industrial relations in his advertising.
Contending that NSW Labor had spent four times as much on re-election as the federal Coalition in 2004, Mr Hockey said, "The union bosses have to be held accountable to their members for the massive amount of money, particularly wasted money, that was spent."
Mr Howard said Opposition to WorkChoices was "driven out of a desire to re-establish union power".
"We can be certain that if at the end of the year, at the time of the federal election, a Labor government is elected, there will be Labor governments everywhere, there will no checks and balances as now exists between state and federal," he said."Even more importantly and even more dangerous, that will be a union-dominated Labor government."
He noted ACTU secretary Greg Combet had been touted as a potential recruit into a safe federal Labor seat, where he would join former ACTU presidents Simon Crean, Martin Ferguson and Jennie George. On top of this, Australian Workers Union chief Bill Shorten was already preselected for a safe seat and Doug Cameron, of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union, had been mentioned as a potential candidate.
Special Minister of State Gary Nairn said Mr Iemma's industrial-relations message was "absolute nonsense. I was on booths all day yesterday and not one single person raised WorkChoices with me".
"The nearest thing to IR in that campaign was the way the Labor Party verballed the Coalition about their so-called 20,000 job cuts in the public service."
While it had been made clear that these were bureaucratic positions that would not be refilled when people left them, Labor had portrayed them as the removal of nurses, teachers and police.
Federal Labor frontbencher Stephen Conroy had no doubt industrial relations had been a big issue. "Independent polls [taken during the campaign] demonstrated that this was a critical issue to the return of the [federal] Liberal Government," he said.