Australian Government Changes "unpopular name"
from abc.net.au
*Govt drops 'WorkChoices' from IR hotline*
The Federal Government has dropped the name 'WorkChoices' from its industrial relations telephone hotline.
The hotline is now called the 'Workplace Infoline' and telephone operators have been told to change all references from "WorkChoices" to "workplace relations".
Federal Minister for Workplace Relations Joe Hockey says the Government is not ashamed of the name WorkChoices but he says the Opposition's "scare campaign" has worked.
"The unions and the Labor Party have put in a million-dollar scare campaign against WorkChoices," he said.
"It has resonated because it's been the most sophisticated and political campaign in the history of this country."
Labor's industrial relations spokeswoman Julia Gillard has seized on the decision.
"So ashamed is he of these laws that he has told the public service to no longer use the terminology," she said.
But Mr Hockey says the terminology has been changed because the newly-introduced 'fairness test' is different to the existing WorkChoices laws.
And he denied being ashamed of WorkChoices.
"We're not ashamed of higher employment, we're not ashamed of higher wages,, we're not ashamed of the lowest strike action since 1913," he said.