Just as uncivilised elements can spoil a good Australia Day party and sully our image as fun loving people, so too can construction workers damage the way the world sees us.
The current strike action by well-paid workers on the site of Woodside’s Pluto project has the risk of doing as much damage to Australia’s commercial reputation as the flag flying thuggery of recent years has done to the wider world’s view of this country.
Investors in resources and buyers of commodities will be watching the action in the Pilbara closely to see how far the federal Labor government will allow the union movement to go. That is assuming the government has any control of the situation, given the union movement has bankrolled Labor and is operating under new laws which are already proving weak when it comes to reining in industrial action.
Huge strikes over which room a worker gets to sleep in appear massively trivial and will jeopardise Australia’s reputation as a costly but safe place to invest. Well paid people downing tools over something so embarrassing will cause astonishment in places where many people count their annual income in three figures.
Interestingly, the news that more than 1,600 are on strike at a critical project that will help underpin the nation’s long term revenue barely rates a mention in the national press.
Why Labor is allowing its union rulers to potentially kill the golden goose will bewilder most in business who have been wondering for some time when the new industrial storm was going to hit them.
It is here now, wrapped up in a Eureka flag.