Peter Reith would have appreciated the irony. In the week that the former industrial relations minister died, federal politics was yet again consumed with a highly charged debate over workplace changes.
Industrial relations is one of the perennial fault lines in Australian politics. As some battles get settled, fresh ones arise, often involving similar issues, in the enduring argument about growing and sharing the economic pie.
When he held the portfolio in the Howard government, Reith was both negotiator and warrior. In 1996 he and Cheryl Kernot, then leader of the Australian Democrats, who were the crossbench power wielders of the day, stepped their way to a compromise on a package of reforms.
