A remarkable IR vision for remarkable times

But, as Australians have now been told far too many times to count, these are extraordinary times.

The biggest challenge facing the PM in his attempt to achieve the ambitious goal he outlined on Tuesday will be to persuade the players he is sincere and his government will act in good faith.

A generation has passed since the last time an Australian leader attempted to bring about consensual industrial relations reform on this scale. That was when Bob Hawke, a former ACTU president, hit the reset button at a time of recession and despair in 1983.

Comparisons between Mr Morrison's announcement and Hawke's accomplishment were immediate. Sabra Lane's first question was: "Is this Accord Mark II?"

If so then this is a remarkable political turnaround for a PM who, last November, was fighting tooth and nail to get union busting legislation through the Senate.

That, for the record, now appears to have gone the way of the dinosaurs with Mr Morrison saying: "In good faith we've decided that the government will not pursue a further vote in the Senate on the Ensuring Integrity Bill".

While this has been welcomed in many quarters, it is not as great a back-flip or sacrifice as it sounds. The bill had been squarely aimed at one union - indeed one individual, and, in light of recent events, is now very much a second or third order concern.

It is also a fact that given there has been no change in the composition of the Senate, and no significant shift in the mood of the cross bench, the bill had little chance of getting up before the next election in any case. The PM has, rather cleverly, made a virtue out of a necessity.

That said, the axing of "Ensuring Integrity" is an olive branch nonetheless. If it had been kept on the table it would have been a major impediment to the spirit of consensus the PM says he is trying to achieve.

This is the rub. There will be a lot of people, particularly within the union movement, who will be implacably cynical about all of this. That is to be expected given they have spent decades fighting WorkChoices, Ensuring Integrity, the roll-out of new technologies at a massive cost to jobs, and the casualisation of the work force.

It will be difficult for the industrial warriors who have survived these shifts and campaigns to take what appears to be a radical departure from the Coalition's longstanding IR platform at face value.

Mr Morrison said he is trying to build on the success of the understanding that has evolved between the ACTU and the government in bringing about necessary changes to preserve jobs during the coronavirus crisis.

That has been best exemplified by the productive working relationship between Sally McManus and the Industrial Relations Minister, Christian Porter.

While it is far to early to predict whether or not this green shoot will sprout into a workable framework for a post-COVID-19 economy, the PM deserves credit for making the attempt.

The 1983 Wages and Incomes Accord, despite excluding employers, was an outstanding example of what can be achieved for the greater good when all sides come together in good faith with a common goal.

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Given that only a few months ago Mr Morrison seemed to be a man in search of an agenda, he now has a great opportunity to create a lasting legacy if he gets this right and learns from the lessons of the recent past.