Unions
AFR advocates “permanent industrial relations overhaul”, including health
Never a group to miss an opportunity in a crisis, the business lobby is dusting off old agendas of IR reform – and nurses and midwives would not be exempt.
In an editorial titled: “Crisis opens door for pro-growth agenda at last” the Australian Financial Review urges the Morrison government to take advantage of the coronavirus crisis to wade into “supposed political no-go zones such as permanent industrial relations overhaul or by cutting Australia’s internationally uncompetitive 30 per cent company tax rate”.
“The COVID-19 shock opens the political door for a policy reset that the Morrison government must now commit to fully walking through,” it said.
Health should not be exempt says the AFR: “The focus must also be on sharpening up health spending to be as cost-effective as possible.”
While the AFR conceded that the coronavirus gives Australians reasons to appreciate Medicare it says the aftermath requires “tackling some of Australia’s own health sacred cows”.
“Making Medicare sustainable may also require taking on the provider capture that plagues public health systems globally. This means the state-wide, rigid, union-negotiated industrial award agreements for public hospital doctors, nurses and other operational staff,” the AFR editorialised.