Anthony Albanese hoses down Chris Ellison’s industrial relations criticisms while Michaelia Cash pounces

The Prime Minister has batted away Chris Ellison’s comments about Federal Labor’s controversial reforms, as the Opposition seizes an opportunity to highlight the country’s growing workforce woes. Meanwhile, WA Premier Roger Cook said he is “comforted” and “thankful” for Mr Ellison’s words. The chief of Mineral Resources on Wednesday said the Albanese Government’s controversial union-friendly laws and environmental reforms could cause serious damage to WA’s powerhouse mining industry. “In terms of industrial relations and environmental-land access, I don’t think they (the Albanese Government) get that,” Mr Ellison told The West Australian in an exclusive interview. “I think that if they (the Albanese Government) have a look at what the Labor Government’s done in WA over here over the last few years — how they manage the State — I think they could take a lesson from the Cook Government. “I think having another layer of Federal politics is just not needed, not required. I mean, let the Cook Government manage WA.” PM Anthony Albanese was complimentary of the MinRes boss on Thursday, but defended his Government’s industrial relations reforms. “Chris Ellison I know well and I caught up with him last time I was in WA just a couple of weeks ago,” Mr Albanese said. “He (Ellison) is an example of someone who I know values his employees. “Well, we value every worker. And the legislation that we’ve put forward has seen, for example, industrial disputes are less under us than they were working days per capita, and the loss to industrial disputes are less than they were under the former Coalition government.” Amid BHP’s looming battle with a trio of union groups trying to infiltrate the company’s Pilbara iron ore mines — stoked by the Federal industrial relations reforms — Mr Ellison on Wednesday said “there is no doubt” the union-friendly laws will “do some damage” to WA’s economy. Coalition employment and workplace relations spokeswoman Michaelia Cash on Thursday said the industrial reforms are “drowning” the economy and referred to recent comments made by Business Council of Australia chief executive Bran Black. “Whilst the unemployment rate in Australia remains steady at 4.2 per cent, when you look behind the figures it is quite disturbing for the Australian people . . . the unemployment figures show today is that the economy is shedding full-time jobs.” “Mr Black has said the Labor Party just cannot manage the economy, their industrial relations changes are having a chilling effect across Australia. “You’ve seen now since Labor was elected, 19,000 small businesses in this country have gone under. They are literally drowning under the red tape that has been imposed on them by this Government.” Mr Ellison said Mr Albanese personally “gets WA”, which was reiterated by Mr Cook on Thursday. “I’m really obviously comforted and thankful for Chris Ellison in relation to saying that Western Australia’s government has got it right,” he said. “And just yesterday, of course, I was able to acknowledge the work by the Prime Minister to take the climate trigger out of their Nature Positive proposed laws. “I think he understands Western Australia in a way that no prime minister in many years has done so.”