NT News 'Jay's National threat to CLP'
3 November 1986
NT News 'Jay's National threat to CLP'. Jay Pendarvis was the owner of the Mudginberri Abbatoir and an iconic Territory figure. He had enjoyed strong support from the CLP Government during the Mudginberri dispute. The abattoir was the focus of a major industrial relations dispute from 1983 to 1985. The employees at Mudginberri had negotiated their own employment contracts without any union involvement and most refused to support the picket. Most of the workforce were members of the AMIEU but had little contact with the union. Ian McLachlan was President of the National Farmers Federation (NFF) during the dispute and later a Minister in the Howard Government. He later wrote that Mudginberri "turned the tide" against union power and "changed the nature of industrial relations in Australia". John Howard, then leader of the Opposition, urged the creation of many more Mudginberris. Barrister for Pendarvis and the NFF was Peter Costello, who was to later co-found the H. R. Nicholls Society, act in the Dollar Sweets dispute and go on to become the federal treasurer in the Howard Government and a prominent architect of the Howard Government Industrial Relations reforms.
- Document type: Media
- Time period: Pre Legislative Assembly
- People: Joh BJELKE- PETERSEN, Paul EVERINGHAM, Graeme LEWIS, Jay PENDARVIS
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