Heavy hitters take Abbott to task on IR
At the same time, a younger member of the business elite called for corporate leaders to keep their mouths shut.
Speaking at a lunch in Melbourne, Lend Lease chairman David Crawford and Asciano chairman Malcolm Broomhead seized on Mr Abbott's inaction on workplace issues.
Mr Broomhead said it was "absolute madness" to defer reforms until 2016 at the earliest. The 2016 date was nominated by Mr Abbott in August, when he launched a set of pre-election workplace policies that left the Labor Party's Fair Work Act largely unchanged.
His one significant change will be to revive the Australian Building and Construction Commission, but for most companies not involved in the construction industry, little has changed.
Mr Crawford, who sits on the BHP Billiton board with Mr Broomhead, said putting off more extensive workplace reform was "extremely disappointing".
He said Mr Abbott had made a political decision to help get elected. "I think he has lost an opportunity to deal with the fundamental issue which, as you said, has been identified by just about everybody in business," he said. "We need to have industrial relations reform, and it needs to be done in a way that will lead to productivity growth and will lead to infrastructure development."
The 2016 date should coincide with Australia's next federal election, and Mr Crawford said Mr Abbott should be wary of assuming voters will give him another chance.
"It's a very brave move to assume . . . that you are going to get a second term and you are going to put off addressing the difficult decisions until that second term," he said. "They'd have lost effectively three years of trying to get their reforms through."
Among the companies that have opposed Labor's workplace settings in recent years, BHP has been one of the more outspoken, with chairman Jac Nasser calling for the policies to be "reversed".
The workplace portfolio was one of the most delicate for Mr Abbott before the election because of public fears of a return to the WorkChoices legislation that was introduced under former PM John Howard.
The comments came as National Australia Bank chief executive Cameron Clyne called for business leaders to keep their mouths shut about reform discussions, saying it was counter-productive to provide a running commentary. He said the government needed "clear air" to introduce long-term reforms, a luxury he said the Rudd and Gillard governments were not afforded.
"The previous government was often criticised for lacking consultation," he said. "It didn't. I can certainly think of two occasions where there was a genuine attempt for consultation, only to have that quickly breached by a number of participants bursting out the door to provide their views on it. That perhaps scared them away from future consultation."
Mr Clyne said reform was never easy, and people were wrong if they thought the reforms of the Hawke-Keating era were achieved seamlessly.
"It has always been hard," he said. "The harsh reality of real reform is there will be winners and losers.
"The challenge business faces is we are not going to win everything. If we descend into the individual wants of each industry then we are going to be very, very susceptible to dividing and conquering.
"Therefore we must speak with a united voice and recognise in some cases . . . while we may not benefit from an individual industry perspective, we will benefit from the rising tide of a growing economy."
Frequently Asked Questions about this Article…
Senior executives including Lend Lease chair David Crawford and Asciano chair Malcolm Broomhead said deferring industrial relations reform until 2016 was disappointing and risky. They argued the delay wastes years of potential reform, that Abbott missed an opportunity to boost productivity and infrastructure development, and called it “absolute madness” to push major changes so far out.
The article quotes Lend Lease chairman David Crawford and Asciano chairman Malcolm Broomhead speaking at a Melbourne lunch, notes BHP’s outspoken stance with chairman Jac Nasser calling for policies to be reversed, and includes comments from National Australia Bank chief executive Cameron Clyne about how business should engage in reform discussions.
Tony Abbott said he would revive the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC), a change aimed primarily at the construction sector, while leaving much of the Labor-era Fair Work Act unchanged for other industries.
David Crawford said industrial relations reform is essential to drive productivity growth and enable infrastructure development—outcomes that everyday investors watch closely because they affect company performance and the broader economy.
Cameron Clyne urged business leaders to avoid a running public commentary on reform debates, saying it can be counter‑productive. He argued the government needs ‘clear air’ to introduce long‑term reforms and that businesses should try to speak with a united voice.
BHP has been one of the more outspoken companies opposing Labor’s workplace settings, with former BHP chairman Jac Nasser publicly calling for those policies to be “reversed.”
David Crawford warned it’s risky to assume voters will give the government a second term and said postponing reforms until a potential second term effectively sacrifices about three years of progress toward those changes.
No — Cameron Clyne reminded listeners that reform is always difficult. He said past reforms (like those in the Hawke‑Keating era) were not achieved seamlessly, that real reform produces winners and losers, and that business must accept trade‑offs and avoid fragmenting into competing industry demands.
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