Kevin Rudd will keep individual contracts and bring back unfair dismissal for small business.There are 2 million small businesses in Australia who employ millions of Australians.They work on very low margins and have to cope with the preditory price wars of the big boys,not to mention all the State Govt regulation,OH&S,taxes,competition from cheap imports,which make most of our businesses marginal operations at best.

Both the major parties believe in the reduction of tarrifs which has given us an abundance of cheap imports,but as commodities have become cheaper more available money has made housing and the cost of Govt very expensive.

We have a balance of payments deficit well over $500 billion or half our GDP even with record sales of our energy and resources.To really address this we have to become more competitive to keep industry here.The Coalition embarked on an ill planned IR and will probably lose the election because of it,however,at least they are being honest in trying to confront a shallow economy that just relies on a big hole in the ground to survive.

The Labor Party are not confronting the real issues.We have these a clear options,we either have IR reform that makes us more competitive or we raise tarrifs and pay more for products that may well be inferior.Some in their party have mooted picking winners in industry and giving them tarrif protection but history does not support this philosophy.

It is about time this debate was aired in the media,then the general public will come to realise the real cost of that Plasma TV,CRV,granite kitchen,or the bathroom with Italian tiles.

rj, how about this: do away with all tariffs except one.

and that is: every dollar that leaves the country has to pay an exit fee of x%. set the value of x quarterly, to balance trade deficits.

so you don't have to pick winners, trade balance takes care of itself, and the money recovered will pay for schools, hospitals, roads.

hmmmm Demos... if you add cost to OUTward product... you make it less competitive.

By avoiding INward tarifs, (on certain countries of origin, mainly CHINA 'finished goods' only not components) you make our domestic product less attractive.

There are many ways of tackling the issue..and none of them HAVE to be just one approach. A strategic mix would work.

-Punish finished goods inward where artificially low and unfair labor rates prevail.

-Reward inward components which make our exports of finished goods cheaper and more attractive.

I just get my wife and kids to help in my business.. I'll kick and scream the house down if I ever have to employ someone these days...it just plain costs TOOOOoooooo much, and the market is so volatile, you don't know if you will even have work next month, let alone next year...

If its good enough for "employERS"to have to face the Bank Manager over their mortgage during uncertain times, then its good enough for employEES to have to do the same.

Making it hard to dis-employ someone will just mean more like me.. NO employing.
I'll go straignt from 'hands on' with just family help, to 'mass production' and still use family help but change the processes in large runs so the product is much easier to make.

Arjay sorry not point scoring, it is you who are in denial.
Workchoices, even you have said, was poorly thought out and even worse in its implementation, serial style.
Rudd has not in any way said his system will be other than the reform this country needed but got workchoices instead.
Enterprise Bargaining, the words are self explanatory, is the base of that reform.
As it was when the ALP first used it, the return to EBA agreements sees increased productivity and better safer work methods before wage increases.
Achieving both cuts costs not increases them, wage costs while increases take place are less if productivity increases.
And the lies, come is it not clear Rudd has no intention of granting three wishes to the union movement?
Have you not noticed the left unions asking for greens and even the dead Democrats to get the senate vote?
Lies and fear are not going to turn this election ,now we hear the mining boom will end if Labor wins?
Is conservative Australia fear filled at the prospect of having to sell policy's? even late developed ones rather than fear and lies?
Rebuilding will take brand new leadership and much reviewing of this folly.

I think you will find that there are more dollars leaving the country as dividends to overseas owners of privatised companies than were leaving as interest payments on government debt.

Now we have the added thrill of massive personal indebtedness to foreign banks and all our public assets have been sold off.

We had the choice about 10 years ago whether to compete on products and intelligent services or on labour costs. India and Ireland took the smart road and we have been left to compete for labour in that part of the world that offers the cheapest labour of all - and with diminished skills as well.

I think IR will be the least of our worries in the coming years because it ultimately won't solve these problems.

Rache makes some good points.Consider also as India and China consume more energy and resources,prices will climb steeply.It lowers also our domestic living standards since cheap energy and abundant resources underpin our present living standards.

China has ample supplies of coal and some oil,however because we are willing to sell our gas and coal at bargain prices,they'll use ours first.Japan in the past has stock piled our coal to keep prices constant in periods of high demand.

I do not see an energy substitute for fossil fuels in the near future that will provide us with enough energy to sustain our present living standards.In the light of this,we should consider keeping the natural gas for Australians instead of flogging it off cheaply to China.Natural gas is the least pollutive of the carbon fuels and this will maintain our living standards,however which party has the guts to stand up to the likes of BHP Billiton?

Too many of our pollies have raised the white flag in the face of Global economics and don't have the spine to put their country first.This is why we have a nation of managers who cannot lead.Globalisation is just an excuse for all manner of poor decisions and neglect.We have decided that such a small country cannot achieve in it's own right and will ride the coat tails of the Asian boom;thus we will be servants to those who have the courage to achieve.