The SAG circular doesn’t constitute an official strike authorization vote — even though it contains a polling card that asks members to “continue to fight for a fair deal” or sign on to accept the final offer from the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers. “We need your guidance,” SAG notes on the card. “Tell us what you think.”

While the construction union last night said the Australian Building and Construction Commission had a record of attempting to smear building workers with false allegations, Industrial Relations Minister Julia Gillard said the abuse of ABCC inspectors was “grossly unacceptable” and that the industry’s “tough cop” would be retained.

This week was a time for new beginnings. In the US, Barack Obama accepted the Democratic Party nomination, while Republican John McCain the little-known Sarah Palin as his running mate. In Australia, the Liberal leadership speculation entered an even more confusing stage, while the Labor Party outlined a number of new policies.

If Kevin Rudd can get the punters to stay awake while he makes the states and the Jurassic education unions line up where successive Howard government ministers failed, then that’s terrific. After all, there’s no copyright on decent policies in Parliament, where one man’s plagiarist is another’s visionary.

While the messages are various, the stands taken by Kevin Rudd this week will send a few shudders through state government and the unions. They’ll also suggest to the “battlers” that on some things, not all that much has changed from the former Howard government.

As Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and his deputy Julia Gillard began the hard sell of tough new measures to improve school standards, the trade unions continued to flex their muscles behind the scenes over a number of policy measures.

The Prime Minister must now seek agreement from the states to reveal the performance of their schools from next year, with individual school reports available to parents within three years that detail their child’s results and a comparison against a group of comparable schools.

The head of the Australian Building and Construction Commission, John Lloyd, dismissed union claims that his investigators acted as secret police or that he should wind back his activities given that Labor won last November’s election. “My role is to ensure that the ABCC carries out its functions in accordance with the act,” he said.

Rudd and Gillard will not under any circumstances break Labor’s pre-election promises, and certainly not at this early stage. Anyway, the stand-off over the building industry watchdog could turn out to be an electoral plus, as the militant construction union has a reputation for thuggery and is hardly popular.

Union leaders have unveiled plans for a three-week advertising blitz highlighting the fact that the Australian Building and Construction Commission is empowered to fine individual workers up to $22,000 for stopping work, or jail them for six months for simply refusing to answer questions about union activities.