Tony Abbott must feel pretty lucky. He wins a leadership ballot at the end of 2009 in which he initially had no intention of even nominating, and just more than a term later is prime minister.

Australia promptly win the Ashes in a 5-0 clean sweep.

Illustration: Rocco Fazzari

Then, after he ducks serious industrial relations reform for fear of sparking a difficult war with the unions post-Work Choices, the nation's most powerful union leader offers to help him do just that.

Australian Workers Union national secretary Paul Howes even goes as far as to validate employer complaints by admitting unions had demonised Work Choices for their own propaganda purposes and had abused their workplace leverage to achieve unsustainable wages growth in some sectors.