The usual suspects return in a View from the Arch

Employment Stats bring on the spin - in all corners

Some consider linking information from the Australian Bureau of Statistics to government policies as a risky manoeuvre, given the potential for a reversal of fortunes if the link is proven tenuous.

But the release of data which showed the National unemployment rate fell 0.1 per cent to 4.5 per cent, while Western Australia's fell from 3.1 per cent to 2.7 per cent - the lowest on record - was irresistible for some.

Prime Minister John Howard jumped at the opportunity this week to link the scrapping of unfair dismissal laws, as part of its reforms to Industrial Relations legislation, to the national falling jobless level.

"I de believe after a year, and in a year in which 276,000 new jobs have been created, it is reasonable to assert that one of the contributions made to this spectacular growth in employment has been the removal of the unfair dismissal provisions under Work Choices," he told reporters in Canberra.

Mr Howard said small businesses were more likely to take a chance on a new staff member if they knew they could sack them if they did not work out - accounting for 96 per cent of the new jobs being full-time positions.

The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry agreed, saying that Work Choices had been good for the economy.

For its part, the Federal Opposition has yet to finalise his position on unfair dismissal, having earlier vowed to scrap Australian Workplace Agreements.

"Pigs Might Fly", says Rudd

But Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd did hit back at the Prime Minister's claims, describing them as "pigs might fly".

He said the mining boom was throwing $55 billion into the economy every year and most of the jobs growth had been in the resource-rich states like Western Australia and Queensland.

The discrepancy is there, with WA's 2.7 per cent unemployment and Queensland's 4 per cent unemployment compared with the 5.3 per cent rate run by South Australia and Tasmania.

Mr Rudd says the government should be concentrating on fireproofing the economy against the inevitable end of the boom.

But Federal Workplace Relations Minister Joe Hockey disagreed, saying that the most jobs growth in the past 12 months had been in construction, followed by hospitality.

It's all about WA, according to Carpenter

While not disagreeing with the Opposition Leader's claims, Premier Alan Carpenter was very careful to avoid any discussion of the resources boom at all, instead preferring to focus on what he said was the State's strong economic management.

"(The) figures vindicate the State's reputation as the powerhouse economy of Australia, and a great place in which to work and live," he said in an announcement.

"My Government is making decisions for the future and is working to ensure our strong economy delivers jobs and opportunities for all Western Australians."

We won't be fooled by bribes, says Gillard

For her part, Federal Opposition Industrial Relations spokeswoman Julia Gillard accused the government of bribing Australian businesses to push the WorkChoices packages through paid advertising, after Fairfax newspapers reported that 40 industry, business and employer groups had received $20.7 million for education programs on the packages.

The accusation came after the Prime Minister said that while the Government could pay for advertising to explain policy, it was not ethical to spend taxpayers' money on a campaign attacking Labor and the unions.

"I would hope that the business community that supports these policies would see it as important, if they want the policies kept, that they might invest some money in an advertising campaign to explain that unemployment is at a 32-year low, that real wages continue to go up and that strikes are the lowest they've been since 1913," Mr Howard said on April 5.

Ms Gillard said she had no problems with educational advertising.

"What I do have a big problem with is the government saying here's some taxpayers' dollars and now we expect you to go out and put up TV advertising to say vote Liberal," she said.

"In their Canberra-based arrogance, now they think they can get away with anything and they think through some smart political footwork they can fool the Australian people about this."

We won't be fooled by "Lackeys", says Omodei

Meanwhile, today's unconfirmed reports of the appointment of the former national secretary of the Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous workers' union, Helen Creed, to the new position of Fair Employment Advocate in the State Government has inflamed criticism from the Opposition and business community.

Premier Alan Carpenter had previously described duties of the role being to highlight "cases of clear exploitation to raise public awareness of the pitfalls and traps of the new Federal legislation."

State Opposition Leader Paul Omodei said the appointment was disgraceful, and accused the Premier of being a "lackey of the union movement."

"If the Labor Party and the union movement want Helen Creed to lead their fight for survival, they should pay her themselves and get their hands out of the pockets of WA taxpayers," he said.

CCI (WA) policy director Deidre Willmott said there was no need for such an appointment, and if there were, it would be a job for the WA Industrial Relations Commission.

"The proposal by the State to duplicate existing agencies with the aim of trying to find fault with WorkChoices can only be regarded as a negative and unnecessary step," she said in an announcement.

"It amounts to taxpayer funding and state sponsorship of a union advocate job."

COAG congratulations

While all this was going on, the Prime Minister and State Premiers had been gearing up all week for the last meeting of the Council of Australian Governments before the Federal Election.

Topping the agenda this time was climate change, with Premier Alan Carpenter telling media before making the flight that it was a top priority of his.

But the announcement of plans to establish a Commonwealth-funded Climate Change Adaptation Centre weren't enough for the Premier.

The centre would cost $26 million to establish, with a further investment of $100 million over five years. The Commonwealth also committed to give an extra $44 million to the CSIRO for research of the impact of climate change.

Mr Carpenter said he was disappointed little had been achieved on climate change, calling for emissions targets and deadlines to be set.

Another upshot of the COAG meeting was a Commonwealth resolution to provide $100 million to address diabetes with the states and territories to match the funding.

Bits and Pieces.

• Federal cabinet has reached a tentative position on the future of Australia's wheat export marketing system, but will consult further with government backbenchers before making an announcement.
• A meeting of State and Federal Education Ministers has rejected a Federal Government push for performance-based pay for teachers, labelling it rash and unfair. They did, however, agree to national consistency in school curricula, though they could not agree on a school starting age.
• Australia will have 950 personnel in Afghanistan by June, including members of the Perth-based Special Air Service Regiment, after Defence Minister Brendan Nelson announced an increase in troops to be deployed. 500 Australians are currently stationed there.

The Final Word

In a week when the launch of an Opposition children's development policy went awry as the pile of policy documents available turned out to be props for the cameras, the final word goes to Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd.

Channel Seven's Sunrise program had planned to stage an early dawn service at Long Tan on Anzac Day to coincide with the show's peak viewing period, at 4:15 WST (and Vietnamese) time, rather than the actual sunrise of 5:15 WST.

The decision raised the alarm of an official at the department of Veterans Affairs, who sent an email to Mr Rudd's office telling him any plan to alter the time of a dawn service was likely to offend War Veterans.

That email was sent two weeks before Mr Rudd strenuously denied having any knowledge of an earlier service.

Today, on Sunrise, Mr Rudd admitted the email, but said it had not been brought to his attention, despite it being sent to his personal secretary.

Arch has heard that one before.