Shouts from the desert

The ALP is foreshadowing very detailed changes to industrial relations legislation if they win in this year's federal election. The problem with such detailed legislative changes is they often have unforeseen effects, sometimes good and sometimes bad. For example, the Workchoices legislation, despite being positioned as pro business, created significant additional administrative burdens for business, and gave some workers a better deal than they had under existing laws.

Rudd's policy is positioned as giving rights back to workers, but depending on the detail he may be taking rights away from workers whose common law rights are more favourable than the ones he plans to write into legislation.