Bosses moving closer to Labor

Australia's main employer group is attempting to mend fences with the Rudd Government after suffering heavy criticism from Labor for providing partisan support to John Howard before last year's election.

The new chief executive of the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Peter Anderson, has declared business wants a "mature" relationship with the Government.

In a speech overnight to the general assembly of the International Labour Organisation in Geneva, Mr Anderson said mature relationships involved common interests as well as competing policy tensions.

"The relationship between business organisations and governments needs to be close enough to be effective, but not too close to be compromised," he said.

Mr Anderson's comments are significant considering the wholehearted support his chamber gave the Howard government's Work Choices laws, including funding for anti-union advertisements before the election that supported the Coalition's cause.

The chamber's former chief executive, Peter Hendy, came under fire from Labor for being too partisan. Senior figures including Julia Gillard and Wayne Swan referred to his past as an adviser to former Howard minister Peter Reith.

Many in Labor believed their criticisms were confirmed when Mr Hendy quit the chamber's top job immediately after the election to become Brendan Nelson's chief of staff.

As well as mending fences with Labor, Mr Anderson is relieved to have secured re-election for the chamber as one of 14 international employer representatives allowed voting rights on the ILO's governing body.

Mr Anderson's position was at risk if the Government had lobbied hard for a rival employer organisation, the Australian Industry Group.

The AIG stayed deliberately neutral during the election campaign, refusing to provide funding to any anti-Labor ads. Its chief executive, Heather Ridout, is highly regarded by Kevin Rudd and she sits on a number of government committees.

Mr Anderson told the ILO in Geneva that his chamber was modernising and needed to build new relationships.

He said that, while the organisation was a firm supporter of open markets, it would adhere to four complementary social values not inconsistent with the Rudd Government's own.

"These are an economically responsible social safety net, a proper role for government, the work of the corporate sector as part of society and freedom of association," Mr Anderson said.

Like Mr Hendy, Mr Anderson is a former staffer for Mr Reith.

Source: Brad Norington, The Australian