The Guardian 28 June, 2006
Peter’$ Principle$
Forget John Howard. The force behind WorkChoices is Peter Costello. The Prime Minister-in-waiting has devoted a lifetime to undermining the security and living standards of Australian families.
Twenty years ago, high above Melbourne’s bustling streetscape, an ambitious lawyer was burning the midnight oil. His rooms, at Owen Dixon Chambers, reeked of privilege. They had long been home to members of the southern capital’s elite — high flyers who would go on to become cabinet ministers and, at least one, a Governor-General.
But Peter Costello was a radical, some would say a revolutionary, who wanted to tear up the social contract that set his country apart.
The Carey Grammar Old Boy was an odd radical, at least by the standards of the day. He didn’t sacrifice personal comforts, challenge wealth or privilege, and he certainly didn’t look like Che Guevara.
But, back in the 1980s, Costello was labouring on the New Right’s grand project.
He and his backers aimed to redraw Australia in the image of corporate America. They would strip workers of a century of rights to act together to protect their interests, and usher in the complete dominance of big business.
Their plot set out to destroy collective bargaining and the arbitration and conciliation system that, for generations, had protected working families from unfettered market forces.
The intellectual core of their argument was old, reaching back centuries to the days when "masters", owned and disposed of "servants" as they pleased.
Costello and Co chorused "freedom of contract", arguing that Australian workers were parties to contracts, like any corporation, with the same powers, rights and responsibilities. The Industrial Relations Commission (IRC), arbitration and conciliation, therefore, were "privileges" that undermines the "rule of law".
Ditto for collective bargaining. Their ideology held that business should freely contract for services at the lowest possible price, with the fewest conditions attached.
Outside Owen Dixon Chambers, however, notions of egalitarianism and a fair-go still thrived. To change Australian values, Costello and his associates adopted strategies from the classic revolutionary handbook.
Costello had sharpened his political teeth in the cut and thrust of university debate. He then formed the HR Nicholls Society, to bring together Right Wing radicals and co-ordinate the spread of their ideas through political parties, pressure groups and, importantly, the media.
Costello was a co-founder of the Society and drafted its constitution. He presented a paper at its first meeting. Among fellow-travellers at that Toorak meeting were millionaires, senior civil servants, chief executive officers, legal luminaries and key political advisers. They hatched a long-term plan to influence the Liberal Party and win Opposition leader, John Howard, to their vision.
Business Review Weekly blew the HR Nicholls Society cover on December 5, 1986.
"As John Howard denies being led by the New Right, he is allowing its members to draft a new industrial relations strategy", award-winning journalist, Pamela Williams, wrote.
"Unbeknown to most Liberal MPs, members of HR Nicholls Society are quietly drafting the policy which includes radical measures to redirect the Arbitration Commission, undermine trade unions, and reshape the way in which Australians are hired and fired."
The young barrister told Williams how the group operated. "We are looking to influence the debate as much as possible", Costello said.
"There are not many of us, so the ideas keep coming from the same people. Basically, we come up with ideas. The Liberals and others say: ‘Oh no, that’s too radical for us. We have to get re-elected.’ So we put them out into the public debate, writing articles and so on and the newspapers publish them and gradually people begin to talk about the ideas.
"Then the Liberals suddenly say, ‘This sounds like a good idea. Who can we get to help us on this?’ And the natural choice is one of us."
In addressing the ideas of Costello and the New Right, Williams outlines legislation that will be passed 19 years later. She also trips across the double talk that will be used to sell it.
Although their 1986 dream Bill allowed for a minimum wage, one HR Nicholls Society member confided this was a ploy to give "wets" the impression minimums would be set.
"The policy’s hidden agenda is really the scale of deregulation which will be possible", he admitted.
But, Costello was doing more than talking. He was earning plenty whenever the courtroom could be used to hold down wages or limit job security.
He made his name from the Dollar Sweets dispute where a Melbourne company won damages against a small Confectionery Workers’ Union and several rank and file members. At one point, it sought judgement against people, already sacked, that would have cost them their family homes.
Costello also held briefs for operators of the Seymour Abattoir, the Wagga Wagga Abattoir and mining giant Peko-Wallsend. He appeared for Odco Troubleshooters who argued that the workers it supplied to construction jobs did not have an employer.
Efforts by the Building Workers’ Industrial Union (now part of he CFMEU) to stop this ruse undermining safety and living standards were fought in the court of commercial law with the union eventually having to write a cheque for $1.3 million. Hawke Government attempts to subject the Troubleshooters model to workplace law were beaten off by Costello’s allies in the Senate.
Many of these 1980s disputes had a certain symmetry.
First and foremost, they followed the HR Nicholls line by brushing established industrial forums. Costello, and Houlihan, directed clients into formal courts rather than less-expensive, less-formal industrial relations commissions.
Secondly, through skilled use of the media and contacts in farmers and business groups, they politicised their cases and tried to transform clients into class heroes.
Their HR Nicholls Society even struck a medal in honour of Peko’s millionaire boss, Charles Copeman, after he ignored an IRC recommendation, sacked 1100 Australians and locked the gates.
They used the media, and their own publications, to eulogise Mudginberri owner Jay Pendarvis, Dollar Sweets boss Fred Stauder, and Seymore Abattoirs’ Bill Matthews.
But whenever the workplace revolutionaries tired of their champions, they seem to go bust.
Mudginberri shut its doors within two seasons, Stauder lost the business his father built up to Malaysian interests, and Matthews tried to cheer himself up with a stint in the funeral industry.
Australian Rail Tram and Bus Worker, December 2005