CONCERNS about Tony Abbott's ability to withstand the rigours of an election campaign are rippling through Coalition ranks after the Opposition Leader struggled to get his lines straight on his promise that Work Choices was ''dead, buried and cremated''.
As Labor and the Greens confirmed a Sydney Morning Herald report yesterday of a preference deal between the two parties covering all but six of more than 50 marginal seats, Mr Abbott was haunted all day by the ghost of the policy that helped bring down the Coalition government in 2007.
In a series of interviews, he continued to leave open the possibility the Coalition would change aspects of the industrial relations system, especially the removal by regulation of unfair dismissal protections for small business employees.
As well as worrying colleagues and leaving business groups unimpressed, Mr Abbott emboldened his rival, Julia Gillard, who claimed his pledge about Work Choices made on day one of the campaign had already unravelled.
''The camouflage that Mr Abbott tried to create hasn't even lasted two days and it's abundantly clear that if Mr Abbott became prime minister, the worst aspects of Work Choices would be back,'' she said.
''And for hard-working Australians, that means pressure on family budgets as they lose basic entitlements, like the entitlement to penalty rates.''
On the day the election was called, Mr Abbott said that if elected, for the first three-year term he would not touch Labor's Fair Work Act, the legislation that replaced Work Choices and restored workers' entitlements.
On morning TV yesterday, Mr Abbott said, ''I have an election to win'', when asked what would happen after three years.
Then, on ABC radio, he said he had no plans to change the legislation ''not now, not ever''.
Later, on Fairfax radio in Melbourne, Mr Abbott said: ''I can't give an absolute guarantee about every single aspect of workplace relations,'' before signing a pledge in the studio saying Work Choices was ''dead, buried, cremated''.
''We've had a lot of change over the last few years, I think what business needs is a period of certainty and stability. And that's what they'll get," he said.
At a subsequent news conference, Mr Abbott did not rule out changing the regulations which would remove the unfair dismissal protections Labor had reintroduced.
Asked about a pledge in his budget reply speech to remove the unfair dismissal burden from the back of small business, Mr Abbott said: "I think there are provisions within the existing legislation to make our workplaces fairer and more flexible." He then called an abrupt end to his news conference.
Inconsistencies and mistakes have a serious impact in election campaigns. As well as concerns about Mr Abbott's ability to ''stay on message'', some Liberals wondered why their party's campaign headquarters would not be operational until tomorrow, believing the party had been taken by surprise.
A Newspoll published yesterday showed Labor had opened a strong 55 per cent to 45 per cent two-party preferred lead over the Coalition but strategists on both sides said they felt the contest was much tighter. Ms Gillard claimed the contest was on a ''knife-edge''.
Mr Abbott said his job would be made harder by the preference deal negotiated nationally between the Greens and Labor.
Labor will give the Greens its Senate preferences in every state and territory, enhancing the Greens' chances of winning the balance of power in the upper house.
The Greens will direct preferences to Labor in more than 50 marginal seats.
Greens officials in six seats refused to abide by the deal. These are Lindsay and Gilmore in NSW; Herbert, Blair and Dawson in Queensland; and, in South Australia, Sturt, held by the Liberal frontbencher Christopher Pyne.
Labor sources said they would try to strike deals at a local level in each of the seats but overall were very happy at the size and scope of the arrangement.
Despite being a beneficiary of the deal, the Greens leader, Bob Brown, was sensitive to concerns among some of the party's grassroots members.
''I don't like backroom preference negotiations with other parties. In fact, I'm sick of it,'' he said.
The Nationals senator Barnaby Joyce claimed the Greens policy agenda would dominate.
''The Greens will have the right to put their stamp on every piece of legislation which goes through our Parliament,'' he said.
''That would be, for me, a very dangerous place for us to live because you would have … the nuttiest emissions trading scheme that's ever been dreamt up.''
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