THERESE REIN

Therese Rein is the managing director and founder of the Ingeus Group of Companies an international human services provider with a strong focus on welfare-to-work services.

Ingeus has approximately 800 employees in 61 offices across Australia and the United Kingdom. The group includes:

WorkDirections Pty Ltd,
an employment services provider delivering welfare-to-work programs in Australia and in the UK

Clements Recruitment Pty Ltd
recruitment services focusing on executive, IT, corporate and office and administration (permanent and temporary) placements and labour-hire Inergise Australia Pty Ltd corporate health and injury prevention and management

Invisage Australia Pty Ltd
nationally-accredited vocational and management training

The Ingeus Group of Companies had its beginnings in 1989 when Therese formed Work Directions and was the sole employee. Therese remains the majority shareholder of Ingeus.

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the present controversy being played out by a jittery liberal government losing ground in public polls is…

Rudd’s wife embroiled in worker entitlements claim

[ http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2007/s1931726.htm]

AM – Thursday, 24 May , 2007 08:00:00

Reporter: Chris Uhlmann

TONY EASTLEY: Two News Limited newspapers are reporting this morning that a company owned by Therese Rein, the wife of Opposition leader Kevin Rudd put workers on individual contracts that stripped them of key award conditions.

The common law contract reportedly removed penalty rates, overtime and allowances for an extra 45 cents an hour.

The company Work Directions Australia Pty Ltd is a subsidiary of Ms Rein’s company Ingeus.

AM and ABC News have been trying since early this morning to get a comment from the Opposition leader but without success.

A short time ago his office said the Company would be making a statement later this morning and that no one in the Labor Party would be available to comment.

Workplace Relations Minister, Joe Hockey, is certainly available and he’s in the studio and he’ll be speaking to our Chief Political Correspondent, Chris Uhlmann.

CHRIS UHLMANN: Joe Hockey good morning.

JOE HOCKEY: Good morning Chris.

CHRIS UHLMANN: Now what do you know about this company and the way that it’s been operating?

JOE HOCKEY: Well look, Chris, I only saw the report early this morning about the Company. There seems to be a lot of questions that need to be asked about this matter. We’ll endeavour to get some more information during the day.

CHRIS UHLMANN: Now these were common law contracts, which means that they are meant to mirror the Award. Would it be against the law to remove conditions from a common law contract?

JOE HOCKEY: Yes it would. For a common law contract to remove conditions from the applicable award would be unlawful. But look, as I said, I need to get more information and that’s the appropriate way to handle these matters.

I wish the Labor Party had have followed that same principle only yesterday in relation to the Lilac City Motel, where from early in the day Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd were attacking the Company on the basis of a report and yet it turns out that the Company had a very human story behind it.

It employs 15 people in Goulburn. They failed to contact the company. They made all sorts of allegations about the company, which has had a material impact on the future of the company.

CHRIS UHLMANN: Now of course there are other questions about this that we would like to put to the Labor Party but at this stage can’t, and that is the conflict of interest that might be involved with Mr Rudd and his wife’s companies. Of course I think they get something like $58 million worth of Commonwealth money.

JOE HOCKEY: Well that is through the Job Network. The conflict of interest issue is for Mr Rudd to deal with, it’s not for us. Obviously the company has tended for Government Job Network contracts in the past, it continues to provide Job Network services.

Other than that when it comes to industrial relations Mr Rudd has said that “you’re not giving people a fair go if you take away their penalty rates,” and a range of other things, therefore I’ll leave it to Mr Rudd to explain.

CHRIS UHLMANN: Of course there is another question and that question goes to the way that the Labor Party leader is being handled at the moment, and he is not available to speak this morning and no one from the Labor Party is available to speak to this morning.

What would be the reaction do you think if this was a company run by Janette Howard?

JOE HOCKEY: Well, very different obviously. You could never stop the Labor Party from commenting about other people businesses and they do it without consulting those businesses. They’ve waved around contracts and AWAs in parliament.

They’ve certainly never held back in giving comment on other people’s businesses. I would hope and expect that they would have an opinion on this as well.

CHRIS UHLMANN: Joe Hockey, thank you.

JOE HOCKEY: Thank you.

TONY EASTLEY: The Workplace Relations Minister Joe Hockey with our Chief Political Correspondent Chris Uhlmann.

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My viewpoint: My understanding is that it was Therese Rein herself who developed the so called ‘common law contracts’ in question- these were obviously unfair and have been proven to be so, hence the repayment of over $70,000.00 to the workers effected. So she was a ‘tight-arsed’ employer and poster-girl for capitalism.

The fact that this occurred in context of her husband trying to paint his political foes as appealing to the lowest common denominator in terms of employer power, shows a certain lack of foresight and perhaps even over-weaning greed. If it was me I would have done my best to appear as the workers friend- after all it was obvious that Therese Rein’s business dealings would eventually come under close scrutiny.

What is it going to sound like when a journalist gets close enough to ask Therese Rein about her opinions on her husbands policies on workers conditions etc…

HYPOCRISY  that’s what….