“If we roll back WorkChoices, which is what Labor will do if it wins at the end of this year, it will be the first time in a generation that a major economic reform in this country has been reversed,” the Prime Minister told Radio National this morning.

“That will send a terrible signal to the business community in this country, to investors abroad.”

But only yesterday he made the unusual move in Question Time of stepping in to answer a question from Julia Gillard directed at Workplace Relations Minister Joe Hockey, about whether hospital funding would be made conditional on nurses being offered AWAs.

“Let me assure her we have no proposal to do any such thing,” Mr Howard said.

If AWAs are so good, why isn’t he insisting that that nurses and doctors and any other staff in the health service be on them?

Last year university funding was tied to the introduction of AWAs for university staff.

Everyone’s concerned about waste and duplication in health services. Wouldn’t AWAs cut a little fat, make sure money goes to patient care?

Or has this got nothing to do with health services or “major economic reforms” and everything to do with re-election?