Australian PM Threatens Early Elections over Union Row

Local Editor

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull threatened Monday to hold early general elections, which his conservative government would likely win, if parliament fails to end a deadlock over legislation on unions.

Turnbull, who grabbed power in a ruling Liberal party coup last September, pledged better management of the economy, however he has failed to push ahead with fiscal and industrial relations reforms.

In a political ploy, Turnbull said the election would be held on July 2 unless the upper house, where crossbenchers hold the balance of power, agrees to pass deadlocked legislation on unions.

The bills has already been rejected by the Senate, one of them was rejected twice, and several key crossbenchers said Friday they would still not budge, potentially triggering a "double dissolution" of both houses of parliament.

The union laws aim to bring back the Australian Building and Construction Commission, a watchdog scrapped by the former Labor government and loathed by union leaders.

A government inquiry into trade union corruption in December found "widespread" and "deep-seated" misconduct, but the opposition accused the coalition of exploiting the royal commission to conduct an anti-union witch-hunt.

In the meantime, the Parliament is scheduled to be recalled from April 18 to pass the legislation. But if that fails, both houses would need to be dissolved by May 11 to allow for a July vote.

The changes to Australia's transferable ballot system, where voters rank parties or candidates according to preference, are aimed at reducing the number of micro-parties who have successfully blocked government policies over the last three years.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team