THE Liberals have struck the first sharp blow in their campaign to win government at the October election for the ACT Assembly.

In addition to the series of constant minor blows the ACT Liberals have inflicted to the body of the government, this is an uppercut directly to the chin. Andrew Barr’s government will reel with the impact.

The relentless pounding on the light rail should have the government worried. The issue is damaging in two ways. Firstly, a large expenditure appears to be focused on one part of the community – Gungahlin. Secondly, there is the perception that the project is the price that Labor paid for accepting Greens Party support for their government. The perception created is that Labor is not so much its own government as one that is at the behest of Shane Rattenbury.

The importance of long-term infrastructure projects over short term budget issues is lost in the political debate. No matter how regularly the government has held up its guard, no matter how often they have counter attacked, no matter how important this is to the future of Canberra – the attack from the Liberals has slowly sapped Labor’s strength.

Then comes the uppercut. Opposition Leader Jeremy Hanson has launched a weighty blow by illustrating that the Barr government is not only dependent on the Greens – but is also acting at the behest of the unions.

Hanson saw his opportunity with the release of a Memorandum of Understanding with UnionsACT which, amongst other things, states: “Prior to any contract being awarded: The list of tenderers for each contract will be provided to UnionsACT” and later “only providers/performers of works and services who meet the set criteria will be pre-qualified”.

No matter how much the government tries to block or downplay the impact of this release – it will be a serious problem for Barr’s election prospects.

The public perception is that unions are already on the nose. Preceding the PM’S threat of a double dissolution, the Federal Liberals under Tony Abbott have made sure they are punch-drunk. The Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption, under Commissioner John Dyson Heydon, has successfully exposed instances of corruption that, unfortunately, reflect badly on all unions. The flipside has not entered the general consciousness. If there are corrupt union officials – there must also be corrupt businessmen prepared to part with the money.

Big business was quick to come to the aid of the Liberals by introducing the corruption aspect. The executive director of Master Builders ACT, Kirk Coningham, started with soft punches: “Giving unions the right to veto contractors for ACT government work if they don’t comply with unions demands, as well as allowing unions to test whether potential contractors meet union requirements before tenders are let, makes a mockery of the competitive tendering process”.

He is right. However, the king punch came with Coningham levelling accusations of corruption to already vulnerable unions stating: “Now we see it is a three-way process that also involves a union tip off and pay off”.

Then Robyn Hendry, Canberra Business Chamber CEO, drew attention to poor government processes arguing: “Additional, unnecessary and undisclosed hurdles in the ACT government procurement process, such as review by a non-government entity, seem to add little to the process, while potentially compromising it”.

With the government struggling to remain on its feet, the Chief Minister argued on minor points such as whether this was a “secret deal” or not, how long it had been in place and how rarely it had been invoked. He did raise valid concerns around occupational health and workplace safety. However, the fundamental issue is whether or not the government is in control.

Similarly, UnionsACT argued suggestions of power of veto was just “headline grabbing”. UnionsACT secretary Alex White denied the MoU gave unions any veto over government contracts.

“I know it’s a great headline, unions would love to have that power but we don’t,” he said.

“The MoU obliges the government to consult with us, and that is the extent of what it does.”

No matter what they argue, the Labor government and the unions are on the back foot on this one. The Liberal Opposition has them off balance and on the ropes. It will only take one more serious thump to make it nigh on impossible for the Barr government to recover enough to win the election.

Michael Moore was an independent member of the ACT Legislative Assembly (1989 to 2001) and was minister for health.