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February 2nd, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda The federal Labor government and opposition are reaffirming their commitment to the manufacturing industry, as the sector shed almost 300 more jobs.
But the minority government continues to be dogged by ongoing speculation of a comeback by former leader Kevin Rudd and claims of political interference in a Fair Work Australia (FWA) investigation into ALP backbencher Craig Thomson.
As Prime Minister Julia Gillard visits a high-tech aviation business in Melbourne on Thursday, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott is meeting with his shadow cabinet in Canberra to discuss industry assistance.
Almost 200 workers are set to lose their jobs by July after Reckitt Benckiser – the maker of Mortein and Dettol – announced plans to shut down its only Australian manufacturing facility in Sydney’s northwest.
Carmaker Holden has also said it would axe about 100 casual and temporary jobs at its Elizabeth plant, north of Adelaide.
The coalition plans to cut $500 million from car industry assistance if elected to office, but says this will merely take it back to the position under the former Howard Coalition government and not disadvantage the industry.
“This is a serious amount of support,” Mr Robb told ABC Radio ahead of the shadow cabinet meeting.
“It’s Labor who’s cut $1.4 billion … and any ad hoc assistance that Labor will give, if it does give any more, will be whipped out of course by the carbon tax.”
Industry Minister Greg Combet said the job cuts were driven by “wide factors” and the government was committed to manufacturing.
Mr Combet also rejected backroom talk that Ms Gillard’s leadership is on the line, following consistently poor polling since early 2011.
Mr Combet said the government understood the necessity to better communicate its agenda.
“We’ve got a huge job to do and I focus on my job and I think all of my colleagues do their best to focus on theirs,” he told ABC Radio.
“I lose patience with people who are talking to journalists and there’s no name attached to it and you wonder who on earth it was.”
Liberal deputy leader Julie Bishop told the opening of the shadow cabinet meeting on Thursday Mr Rudd would soon get his revenge against Ms Gillard, who ousted him in a coup in June 2010.
“I expect there will be a challenge to Julia Gillard’s leadership in the next few weeks,” she said, adding it would be before the Queensland election on March 24 in which Mr Rudd is taking an active campaign role.
Ms Bishop described the government as “divided dysfunctional rabble”.
The opposition has also called on Labor to reveal whether any ministers or government officials had intervened in a Fair Work Australia probe into the Health Services Union, which Mr Thomson led between 2002 and 2007.
“The government has to release all of the details of all of the contact between ministers, prime ministers, their offices and Fair Work Australia,” Mr Abbott said.
Ms Gillard has previously admitted that when she was workplace minister in April 2009 her chief of staff Ben Hubbard had asked FWA about its inquiries into the HSU, but this did not amount to government intervention.
FWA has now released a series of emails detailing other government agency interest in its inquiries over three years.
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