I would have thought that the AWA's has given federal ALP an issue to cut through on and to force the Howard Government onto its own turf--industrial relations. Isn't that cutting through, or as Geoff Pryor suggests getting the message out?

I appreciate that Big Business has gone in hard, with its key message that the ALP is taking Australia in the wrong direction --back to the past, whereas the future is towards a deregulated workforce and direct relationships between employee and employer.

But the ALP now has a toehold in the national economic debate--it can talk about the skills crisis and productivity, can it not? This is a doorway to address the issue of the enterprise culture based on the furthering of competitveness, creativity and innovation.

That is no small achievement for the Beazley ALP, which used to be roundly condemned for providing a small target---for pissing on the opponent and then pissing off.