Tony Abbott has let the cat out of the bag on WorkChoices, only hours after declaring it ‘dead, buried and cremated’.

When the date for the federal election was set last Saturday, Mr Abbott rushed to assure voters that he would not bring alter the Fair Work Act and bring back WorkChoices.

Within hours, however, the Liberal Party’s IR spokesperson Eric Abetz, went on radio to say that this didn’t mean the Liberals wouldn’t ‘tweak’ the IR legislation.

By Monday, Abbott couldn’t help himself, and released a list of promises that included attacking making workers pay for the cost of secret ballots for industrial action – a change which would mean amending the Fair Work Act.

AMWU National President, Paul Bastian, said that no-one could believe Tony Abbott when it came to his promises on IR laws.

“WorkChoices is a Liberal Party article of faith. He couldn’t keep his promise for one full day as opposition leader, and that promise will be in shreds if he is elected next month.”

Mr Bastian said the AMWU would be campaigning to ensure workers understood exactly what rights they would lose if the Fair Work Act was taken away.