http://www.thepunch.com.au/author-bios/michael-keenan/ Michael was elected to the House of Representatives for Stirling, Western Australia in 2004. From November 2007 he served as Shadow Assistant Treasurer and Shadow Minister for Superannuation and Corporate Governance and in October 2008 was promoted to the Shadow Cabinet to take up the role of Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations. He has degrees from Murdoch University, Charles University in Prague, the Australian National University and Cambridge University. Michael worked in small business before entering politics. en Copyright 2012 The Punch penberthyd@newsltd.com.au penberthyd@newsltd.com.au Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:49 +0000 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:49 +0000 Politics, opinion, world news, sports news, latest news, views, Barack Obama, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Nathan Rees, Malcolm Turnbull, Peter Garrett, Barnaby Joyce, Australian, federal politics, opinion polls, election, The Punch, thepunch, punch ExpressionEngine 1.6.7 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 15 http://www.thepunch.com.au/images/punch-logo-rss.png http://www.thepunch.com.au/ 144 70 Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. Search The Punch keywords http://www.thepunch.com.au/search/ http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/no-award-for-gillard-on-her-overhaul-of-awards/ The Australian system of industrial awards and related legislation (the documents that set minimum conditions of employment) are perhaps the most complex in the world. Only the most dedicated students of industrial relations could possibly cope with trawling through these insanely confusing documents day after day. The former Howard Coalition government knew that this was a problem for business, in particular small business. The confusing red tape that stops enterprise and workers from getting on with the job simply had to be cut back. The Coalition decided that we would overhaul the complex system of awards, to reduce complexities and make things simple – we called it “award rationalisation”. Unsurprisingly, given Kevin Rudd’s “me too” agenda in the 2007 election, a similar proposal came from Labor – except they called it “award modernisation.” feedback@thepunch.com.au (Michael Keenan) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/no-award-for-gillard-on-her-overhaul-of-awards/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/no-award-for-gillard-on-her-overhaul-of-awards/#item975 Thu, 20 Aug 2009 19:25:57 +0000 Michael Keenan | Author bios | The Punch