ABC News online 19 July 2010:
On Saturday, as the election was being called, Mr Abbott moved to neutralise that scare, promising that WorkChoices was "dead, buried and cremated" and to make sure a Coalition government would keep Labor's law, The Fair Work Act, in place for its first term in office.
"The Coalition won't change the Fair Work Act, at least for the duration of the next parliament, at least for the three-year life of the next parliament," he said.
On Saturday Mr Abbott told Melbourne radio 3AW he will put the death of WorkChoices in writing if it will help.
"Give me a bit of paper, I'll sign it here. Dead, buried, cremated," he said.
But this morning on ABC's AM, Mr Abbott caused confusion by saying he would never, ever make changes to the Fair Work Act, rather than giving a guarantee of three years.
"We have no plans, no plans whatsoever to make any changes to the legislation. Not now, not ever," he said.
"As far as I'm concerned, I have no plans for any change to the laws, not now, not next year, not the year after, not ever."
However the issue of WorkChoices did not die. Just an hour later on 3AW he was not giving that guarantee.
When asked how long he would guarantee not to touch the laws, Mr Abbott said he could not say that he would never change them.
"Obviously I can't say that there will never, ever, ever, for 100 or a 1,000 years time be any change to any aspect of industrial legislation, but the Fair Work Act will not be amended in the next term of the government if we are in power," he said.
This afternoon he was back to saying Labor's law would stay in place beyond just one term.
"You cannot bring back WorkChoices, other than through legislation," Mr Abbott said.
"The legislation will not change, not today, not tomorrow, not next year, or the year after, not in three years time, not in ten years time."
Abbott's doorstop on 19 July did not rule out a return of regulations similar to those which accompanied the Howard Government's WorkChoices which allowed for punitive individual employment contracts and summary dismissal in certain circumstances.
On the same day elsewhere in the mainstream media:
The Essential Report for 13-18 July 2010 reports these polling statistics from 932 respondents:
40% approve Tony Abbott’s performance as Opposition Leader and 44% disapprove.
Since this question was asked 2 weeks ago, approval has increased
by 3% and disapproval decreased by 3%.
82% of Liberal/National voters approve and 10% disapprove.
Among Labor voters, 19% approve and 69% disapprove.
There were some differences by gender ‐ men 45% approve/43% disapprove and women 35% approve/46% disapprove.
Abbott in The Age on 20 July 2010:
Asked about a pledge in his budget reply to remove the unfair dismissal burden from the back of small business, he said: ''I think that there are provisions within the existing legislation to make our workplaces fairer and more flexible.''
Then on 21 July Abbott exposed his political rear by saying he will create law which supersedes certain provisions of Fair Work legislation.
The Daily Telegraph reported on 24 July 2010:
Support for the coalition has fallen over the past fortnight, with the latest Nielson poll putting Labor ahead 54-46 on a two-party preferred basis. Labor also leads 58-42 per cent among women voters, and is tied 50-50 with men.
