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The Sydney Morning Herald reports that Prime Minister Kevin Rudd considers last year’s election a referendum on the 2005 workplace relations law. Mr Rudd says his win is a mandate to roll back the 1996 workplace relations law and he’ll go back to the polls early to get it done.
Mr Rudd refused to explain whether the 1998, 2001 or 2004 elections were a referendum on workplace-relations laws because he’s not a constitutional lawyer. But according to at least one reading of section 128 of the constitution, last year’s election wasn’t a referendum on anything.
But despite the tough talk, ending his first term early could just be Mr Rudd’s way of honouring the legacies of Gough Whitlam, Malcolm Fraser, Bob Hawke and John Howard.
Recent history records many new Prime Ministers going back to the polls early to prove that the last election was a referendum on such-and-such. John Howard thought there’d been a referendum about workplace reform at the 1996 election; Bob Hawke thought there’d been a 1983 referendum about sacking workers celebrating an America’s Cup victory; and Gough Whitlam was under the impression that he’d been elected as part of the October Revolution.
Historians note that early elections are generally seen as a good way to piss off the electorate and erode your majority. “The Liberal Party should reflect on their own future when it comes to this extraordinary act of contempt,” Mr Rudd quipped.
