Beasley clears the air

Kim Beasley has set the ground rules for the next election. It is a vote for the Coalition or a vote for the Unions.

KIM Beazley’s about-face on workplace agreements has won him a reprieve from leadership pressures and kept alive Stephen Smith’s chances of keeping his frontbench job as Opposition industrial relations spokesman.

Maybe, but I can’t see it presenting a reprieve from the voters. The Coalition wil suffer in the polls over the immediate future as the Unions throw millions into an emotive and selective TV assualt programme but in the long term, as the economy gets even better, the voters will see benefits. Kim hasn’t just rolled over for the unions; he has also rolled over for the mad left wing with Albanese getting centre stage with his anti-nuclear ranting On Insiders, he makes his position clear. While the rest of the country are busy counting the billions to be made from uranium sales dear Anthony is angling towards phasing them out

BARRIE CASSIDY: Now, I know that you maintain that it’s a mistake to refer to Labor’s policy as a three mines policy. You say it’s not. It is genuinely an anti-uranium policy? ANTHONY ALBANESE: Well, it’s a no new mines policy. It’s a policy that I believe gets the balance right in that it recognises the problems with the nuclear fuel cycle, but also recognises that an economically responsible position is to guarantee all existing contracts. So, in effect, it’s a phasing-out policy. BARRIE CASSIDY: So, when current contracts run out, that’s it? ANTHONY ALBANESE: That’s right.

The Left wing – the gift that keeps on giving The Nuclear debate has a long time to run in Australia and I for one wouldn’t like to preempt the result but with the ALP’s position being ‘close down the mines’ then it at least leaves the debate to more rational thinkers…the Coalition and the electorate.