Bill Shorten to hold urgent summit with unions, business as first act
Labor leader Bill Shorten will bring business and unions together for a summit on wages and the economy within weeks of coming to office, and has left the door open to offering former foreign minister Julie Bishop a job if Labor wins government.
In a pitch to West Australian voters at a business breakfast on Wednesday, Mr Shorten said the business and unions summit would be held in Perth in June.
"I want to get business, unions, small business in the same room at the same time," he said, adding it would not be like the formal wages "accord" that former prime minister Bob Hawke made with the Australian Council of Trade Unions in the 1980s.
In a bid for the business community's support, Mr Shorten also told the breakfast he would bring his cabinet to Perth and seek to amend the Fair Work Act to extend "greenfields agreements" for mega projects - such as mining ventures - with the aim of providing certainty over pay and conditions for multi billion-dollar projects with a life-span of more than three years.
"Whatever your politics may be, if you think that's a good idea you should vote for me on Saturday," he said.
"I want to ask you as leaders to exercise your judgement ... is our nation currently heading in the right direction?"
Five seats are considered to be in play in Western Australia, including four held by the Liberal Party.
Mr Shorten also kept the door open to offering former foreign affairs minister Julie Bishop, a popular Perth local, a government position if Labor was to win government on Saturday.
Asked if she would be offered the position of ambassador to the United States when it becomes vacant next year, Mr Shorten replied, "I'll certainly be talking to her ... I will always rate her very highly".
Mr Shorten will campaign in the electorate of Pearce in outer Perth later on Wednesday, before travelling back to Sydney where he will give his last major address of the campaign on Thursday.
Pearce is held by Attorney-General Christian Porter on a margin of 3.6 per cent, another Liberal-held seat being targeted by Labor where it is running former police officer, Kim Travers.