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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 CANBERRA 001410 
 
SIPDIS 
 
NOFORN 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/13/2016 
TAGS: PGOV ELAB AS
SUBJECT: ORGANIZED LABOR THROWS DOWN THE GAUNTLET 
 
REF: CANBERRA 1172 
 
Classified By: DCM Michael P. Owens. REASONS 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
 ¶1. (C/NF) SUMMARY.  At a September 13 luncheon speech at the 
National Press Club, Greg Combet, the Secretary of the 
Australian Confederation of Trade Unions (ACTU), fiercely 
attacked the Howard Government and its labor reforms saying 
that the new industrial relations laws were unfair and 
calling the Government deceitful. Before a large number of 
Labor Party (ALP) politicians -- and a sympathetic crowd 
brought in to provide a cheering section -- Combet said the 
ACTU would campaign against the workplace legislation as long 
as necessary, keeping its ads on TV, defending people in the 
workplace, mobilizing in the streets, campaigning in the 
marginal seats, and building a movement for change. 
Responding to post-speech press questions that tried to draw 
out policy differences between the ACTU and the ALP, Combet 
repeatedly emphasized that the ACTU strongly supported Kim 
Beazley and the ALP.  While the ACTU's opposition to the 
Government's labor reforms is not new, the large ALP 
attendance at the lunch and the strong support voiced by 
Combet indicate that Beazley's efforts to reengage unions 
(see Ref) are starting to bear fruit: Organized Labor and the 
ALP will fight the 2007 Federal elections together. END 
SUMMARY 
 
¶2. (U) Greg Combet, the Secretary of Australia's umbrella 
trade union organization the ACTU, gave a combative speech at 
the National Press Club on September 13.  After a 
demonstration/pep rally/press conference in front of the 
venue before the speech, Combet went on the offensive, 
charging that the Government lied about refugees throwing 
their children overboard in 2003; took the country to war in 
Iraq over weapons of mass destruction that did not exist; 
spent $55 million on advertising to promote the industrial 
relations (IR) laws; and in the last election campaign, made 
misleading claims about interest rates. He said unions do not 
want to go down the U.S. road.  They do not want "widening 
inequality and social dysfunction."  Combet vowed unions 
would not be intimidated by the Government.  Their campaign 
against the IR laws would continue and grow. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Calm, measured and well-spoken, Combet gave a 
partisan speech to an enthusiastic audience of rank-and-file 
labor supporters and ALP politicians -- observed by two 
tables of senior journalists, and a TV audience.  Questions 
were confined to the journalists, who spent their time trying 
to find policy differences between the ACTU and the ALP and 
its leader Kim Beazley.  Combet dispelled any idea of a split 
on the IR laws and went out of his way to emphasize his 
agreement with Kim Beazley's statements.  (NOTE: Judging by 
Government ministers' attacks on Combet and on Beazley's 
alleged obeisance to the ACTU at that afternoon's 
parliamentary question-time, Coalition politicians appear to 
have been very interested observers. END NOTE)  The final 
question at the lunch was reserved for a prize-winning 
student journalist, who asked Combet if he had any political 
ambition, to which he responded "not now." 
 
¶4. (C/NF) COMMENT: The political atmosphere, the big ALP 
turnout, and Combet's emphasis on the ACTU's common cause 
with the Labor Party suggest strongly that the ACTU and the 
ALP will fight the 2007 elections together.  In 2004, the ALP 
under Mark Latham and the ACTU were not as united.  Combet's 
presentation provided an early sign that Beazley's overture 
to the unions is paying off.  The jury is still out as to 
whether this partnership will help the ALP win next year.  As 
the Australian Financial Review pointed out in a subsequent 
editorial, unions represent only one in six private-sector 
workers, and two-fifths of union members voted for the 
Government in the last elections anyway.  It also appears 
that the new IR legislation may actually be responsible for 
job creation.  Current unemployment figures are the lowest in 
30 years.  On the other hand, the new IR laws have generated 
much negative publicity and the ALP is heavily targeting 
those two-fifths of the union members it lost last time. 
 
¶5. (C/NF) While the ALP must welcome the ACTU's support, they 
also must worry that Organized Labor will pull them left and 
away from the political center where elections are won. 
While Combet emphasized the closeness of the ALP's and the 
ACTU's IR policies, the reality is that the ACTU would like 
to go further than the ALP and not only repeal the new laws, 
but put unions back at the heart of workplace bargaining, 
 
CANBERRA 00001410  002 OF 002 
 
 
whether or not a majority of a company's workers are so 
inclined. 
MCCALLUM