Turnbull steals a march from absent Rudd

A bullish Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull has tried to steal a march on an absent
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on Labor's first anniversary in government.
A proposal by Mr Turnbull on Monday to make shareholder votes on executive salaries
at annual general meetings binding was welcomed with an offer to give it
consideration by Acting Prime Minister Julia Gillard.
Mr Turnbull put the idea - one of Mr Rudd's hobby horses - in an address to the
National Press Club where he accused the government of failing to take any hard
decisions in its first year, barring the "symbolic" apology to indigenous
Australians and signing the Kyoto protocol.
Mr Rudd, who is on his way back to Australia after the APEC summit in Peru,
announced last month the government would work with the Australian Prudential
Regulation Authority on ways to curb executive salaries.
This had in part been prompted by public reaction to salaries such as that received
by retired former Macquarie Bank chief Allan Moss, who pocketed $26 million in
salary this year, down from $33.5 million last year.
In parliament, Ms Gillard took the opportunity to take a swipe at Mr Turnbull's
merchant banking background.
"Can I say, when a poacher turns gamekeeper it's always interesting to hear what
they've got to say ... I'm happy to say we'll consider it," Ms Gillard said.
Mr Turnbull told the press club that many Australians were appalled by the level of
executive salaries and even more astonished that shareholders' opinions could be
ignored at company annual general meetings.
"The law should be changed so that the shareholders' resolution on the remuneration
report, or at least that part relating to the chief executive as well as directors,
is binding," Mr Turnbull told the press club.
"This would clearly place the remuneration of senior executives and directors
directly in the hands of shareholders. It is their company, and nobody else's."
While Mr Turnbull accused the government of failing to act decisively in its first
year, he spent half of his appearance dodging questions, including three on whether
he would support legislated individual contracts.
Mr Turnbull declared Work Choices to be dead but declined to answer until he had
seen the government's new Fair Work bill to be introduced into parliament by Ms
Gillard on Tuesday.
Mr Rudd will return to parliament on Wednesday and will be busy bedding down major
funding agreements on a range of areas, including health and education, in the
lead-up to Saturday's Council of Australian Governments (COAG) meeting with state
and territory leaders.
The prime minister was buoyed on Monday with the latest Newspoll which saw his
standing as the nation's preferred leader increase one point to 63 per cent while Mr
Turnbull's fell one point to 21 per cent.
Shortly before he left Peru for his return trip to Australia via Easter Island, Mr
Rudd told reporters he was proud of his team but warned they needed to keep proving
their mettle.
He also warned that next year would be both tougher and harder.
"It's going to involve a lot of hard work and a very tough year ahead - not just for
the government. For the economy, Australian people, families, this will be a very
tough year," Mr Rudd said.