Australian telly is a wonder to behold. One of the recent highlights has been an advertising campaign funded by the Australian Chamber of Commerce and the Business Council of Australia. Both now available on youtube, the first ad starts:

It hasn't been easy, but over the past two decades, we've gone from a system designed in 1904 to a system where employees and employers are now choosing to work in smarter, more flexible, more productive ways.

We're treated to a list of statistics - my favourite being that 'Australia's economy has grown by nearly 4%', accompanied by entirely disconnected, sky-rocketing graph. Everything is better, apparently: 300,000 more jobs, 10% more exports - and 'higher dividends are being paid to ordinary shareholders.' The pleasantly surprised-looking lady who opens her shares statement certainly looks pleased. That's what I like to see: an ad campaign defending the ordinary shareholder.

But... 'what will happen if workplace reform is scrapped?' (Switch to default menacing music used also on all crime programmes...) We hear that 'it will be like trying to unscramble an egg' - accompanied, bizarrely, by a close-up of an empty shop-front painted with the words, 'gone out of business because of union bosses'. Then more graphs: 'independent research shows our economy will suffer; our standard of living will fall from 8th best in the world to 14th!'

Gosh. But the second ad is really something. I actually woke up this morning thinking I'd dreamed it, and only really believe it now I've found it on youtube. This one tells us that since workplace reform, over 300,000 small businesses have started up... 'but what will happen if workplace reform is scrapped?' (This is illustrated by an almost amusingly violent assault on a piece of paper.)

Well, if it's scrapped, it seems that three huge, gnarled neo-nazi-like 'union bosses' will stomp into your small business, stare at you and then turn your power off, whilst generic-menacing music is played. Don't say you haven't been warned.

The ads have met with criticism, as you might expect - not just from 'union bosses', but other business groups. It also turns out the 'independent' campaign might have been a quid pro quo for earlier government funding to business groups. The same website also notes that these ads look a lot like the kind of thing American PR companies have been making for a while.

The Australian Council of Trade Unions is hosting three American workers at the moment. Two of them are working more than one job and failing to survive. The examples on this site are horrendous: low pay, no holidays, no sick-leave, and they can't afford health insurance or a decent home for their families. I'm guessing these people don't come into the 'ordinary shareholder' category. But, from the point of view of employers, they're certainly more flexible and productive.