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1
Schofield-Georgeson, Eugene, and Michael Rawling. "Industrial legislation in Australia in 2019." Journal of Industrial Relations 62, no. 3 (April 2, 2020): 425–45. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0022185620911682.
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In this 2019 electoral year, a federal Morrison Liberal Government was returned to power with little in the way of an industrial agenda. It failed to implement its key legislation, which mainly included reform to union governance and changes to religious freedom in the workplace. Meanwhile, the state governments, particularly the Victorian Andrews Labor Government, reviewed a swathe of labour law, including wage theft, industrial manslaughter, owner–driver legislation and workers' compensation laws and implemented a host of progressive changes. This year has also seen the continuation of a key policy trend, observable at both state and federal levels of government, towards regulation of aspects of industrial relations by the state that were once exclusively the province of employers and trade unions through a twentieth-century system of conciliation and arbitration.
2
Hall, Richard. "The Politics of Industrial Relations in Australia in 2007." Journal of Industrial Relations 50, no. 3 (June 2008): 371–82. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0022185608089994.
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Industrial Relations proved to be one of the dominant issues in the 2007 federal election campaign with the Government at first defending, and then moderating, their Work Choices legislation. The Labor Opposition benefited greatly from the successful Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) campaign against Work Choices and established a significant electoral advantage on the issue. Labor introduced its own IR policy alternative under the banner `Forward with Fairness' and then spent a good deal of 2007 trying to sell its policy to business. The final policy adopted by Labor, and set to become law over the next few years, represents something of a calculated political compromise. When the detail of the policy is considered the influence of the Work Choices laws is still very much apparent.
3
Sgrò, Silvana. "Health workforce policy and industrial relations in Australia: ministerial insights into challenges and opportunities for reform." Australian Health Review 38, no. 4 (2014): 471. http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/ah14027.
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Since the Productivity Commission released its research report Australia’s Health Workforce in 2005, there has been a significant increase in government funding and policy capacity aimed at health workforce reform and innovation in Australia. This research paper presents the results of semistructured interviews with three key stakeholders in health policy formation in Australia: (1) The Honourable Lindsay Tanner, former Federal Minister for Finance and therefore 100% shareholder of Medibank Private on behalf of the Commonwealth; (2) The Honourable Daniel Andrews, former Victorian Minister for Health and current Victorian Opposition Leader; and (3) The Honourable Jim McGinty, former Minister for Health and Attorney General of Western Australia and current inaugural Chair of Health Workforce Australia. The paper examines key issues they identified in relation to health workforce policy in Australia, particularly where it intersects with industrial relations, and conducts a comparative analysis between their responses and theoretical methodologies of policy formation as a means of informing a reform process. What is known about the topic? Australia is experiencing an increasing demand for ever-improving health services and outcomes from an increasingly health-literate public, coupled with significant workforce shortages across some key categories of healthcare professionals. Health costs are also increasing. As a result governments in all nine jurisdictions in Australia are seeking to rein in those costs without negatively impacting on quality, safety or continued improvements in health outcomes. They are simultaneously seeking to minimise any political controversy or negative electoral repercussions associated with health reform. What does this paper add? This paper further informs an understanding of how health workforce policy is formulated and implemented by presenting the results of interviews with two former Ministers for Health and the former Federal Finance Minister on health workforce policy reform in Australia. It analyses their responses and their decision-making processes against theoretical frameworks of health policy formation, including agenda setting, and the political reality of policy formation at a ministerial level. What are the implications for practitioners? This paper provides a unique and original analysis for practitioners of policy formation. It also illustrates and analyses ministerial insights into the current health workforce reform agenda being developed and implemented by the Council of Australian Governments and contributes to an evidence base of the reform process going forward.
4
GRAY, ANTHONY. "PRECEDENT AND POLICY: AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS REFORM IN THE 21ST CENTURY USING THE CORPORATIONS POWER." Deakin Law Review 10, no. 2 (July 1, 2005): 440. http://dx.doi.org/10.21153/dlr2005vol10no2art286.
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<div class="page" title="Page 1"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><span>[</span><span>This article will discuss the topical issue of whether the Commonwealth, in Australia’s federal system of government, can rely on its so-called “corporations power” in order to pass planned industrial relations laws. The Federal Government has recently indicated its plans to introduce a national system of industrial relations regulation in Australia. While the detail of the proposed legislation is not currently to hand, the planned changes raise a controversial issue whether the Australian Government would permit such regulation. This article considers the corporations power as justification for the proposed laws.</span><span>] </span></p></div></div></div>
5
Burgess, John, Kerry Brown, Adrian Wilkinson, and Keith Townsend. "Has Australias Road to Workplace Partnership Reached a Dead End?" International Journal of Comparative Labour Law and Industrial Relations 29, Issue 2 (June 1, 2013): 239–56. http://dx.doi.org/10.54648/ijcl2013016.
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Over the last fifteen years, a number of developed countries have pursued an agenda seeking to develop more collaborative management-union arrangements often labelled as partnerships. This article reviews the Australian road to partnerships by situating it within the context of developments in the UK and New Zealand. In 2009, Australia's then Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Workplace Relations, Julia Gillard, suggested that Australian Industrial Relations were about to undergo a shift towards a new model of workplace interaction that included more collaboration and partnerships. We argue that rather than a substantial shift, this approach can be viewed as an evolution from the Accord years, disrupted for a period by the Howard Government. However, unlike similar regulatory regimes in the United Kingdom and New Zealand, the Australian Government has done little to entrench a system of partnerships at the workplace level. This article assesses the extent to which collaboration and partnership in Australia's modern IR system provides a roadmap to a new Australian IR landscape, or whether the failure of policy-makers to act has led to a dead-end for Australian partnerships. The practical implications of this agenda for the conduct of industrial relations are considered.
6
Cooper, Rae. "Forward with Fairness? Industrial Relations under Labor in 2008." Journal of Industrial Relations 51, no. 3 (May 20, 2009): 285–96. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0022185609104298.
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The Rudd government was elected in late 2007 after a national election campaign centred squarely on industrial relations. In 2008, with a massive mandate, the government presented key pieces of legislation to the Australian parliament, aimed at moving away from the Howard government's Work Choices and toward implementing the `Forward with Fairness' election policy. The government's substantive industrial relations legislation — the Fair Work Bill — was introduced late in 2008 to widespread, though not universal, approval from trade unionists and, at first, muted acceptance and, later, and in the face of deteriorating economic circumstances, sharper criticism from employer groups.
7
Cook, Peter. "The Labor Government's Industrial Relations Policy: Flexibility with Equity." Economic and Labour Relations Review 3, no. 1 (June 1992): 112–25. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/103530469200300108.
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The fundamental objective of the Government's industrial relations policy is to encourage and assist Australian companies and their employees to adopt work and management practices that will strengthen their capacity to compete successfully both in domestic and international markets. To this end we support co-operative and equitable workplace bargaining, with wage increases being linked to the reform of work practices and attitudes. Our support for decentralised bargaining is aimed at improving productivity by fostering a new workplace culture of striving for continuous improvement. We emphatically reject the view that such an outcome will be achieved by wholesale deregulation and reliance on unfettered market forces. The Government is committed, for both equity and efficiency reasons, to maintaining the Accord approach to wages policy. We are also committed to an independent Australian Industrial Relations Commission playing the vital role of protecting lower paid employees through the safety net of minimum award wages and conditions.
8
Knox, Angela. "Better the Devil you Know? An Analysis of Employers' Bargaining Preferences in the Australian Hotel Industry." Journal of Industrial Relations 51, no. 1 (February 2009): 25–44. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0022185608099663.
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The pursuit of regulatory reform is ongoing in Australia. To date, research has examined the purposes and outcomes associated with these regulatory reforms, while the actual preferences of employers seem to have been overlooked. This is particularly remiss given that the Government has founded much of its reform agenda, including Work Choices, on the supposed `needs of employers'. Given this oversight, this article examines employers' bargaining preferences and experiences in a sample of Australian luxury hotels. The findings deepen our understanding of employers' regulatory preferences and subsequently challenge the rationale and direction of Government policy in Australia.
9
Cutcher-Gershenfeld, Joel E., and Joe Isaac. "Creating value and mitigating harm: Assessing institutional objectives in Australian industrial relations." Economic and Labour Relations Review 29, no. 2 (April 9, 2018): 143–68. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1035304618767263.
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The degree to which legislation on labour relations and other societal institutions creates value and mitigates harm is explored in this article through a framework designed to guide both the authoring and the analysis of objects of such legislation. Creating value and mitigating harm are typically explicit in the objects of public policy and implicit in adjudication, administration and adherence under public policies. Although conceptually distinct, creating value and mitigating harm can be both complementary and detrimental to each other. This article reviews various combinations of legislative objects over more than a century of Australian labour and employment relations policy. The objects examined include the prevention of industrial disputes, the introduction of a social minimum wage, the expansion of enterprise bargaining, expansion or curtailment of tribunal powers by government and other developments. Questions of ‘for whom?’ value is created or harm is mitigated are key. As an inductive study, the article concludes with hypotheses to guide future research, including implications that reach beyond Australia and employment legislation. JEL Codes: K31; K38; M14; M52
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Clibborn, Stephen. "Australian industrial relations in 2018: Inequality, policy stagnation and a brewing storm." Journal of Industrial Relations 61, no. 3 (June 2019): 318–25. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0022185619848372.
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This article introduces the Journal of Industrial Relations' Annual Review of Industrial Relations in 2018. Providing an overview of the other articles contained in the Annual Review issue, this article discusses industrial relations policy stagnation, and manoeuvring for change from both employer and employee representatives. With leadership uncertainty and change within the federal government, it has been a quiet year for industrial relations reform, although some key decisions from courts and tribunals are examined and some states’ return to private sector regulation noted. A number of questions are raised regarding potential for reform in 2019 and for how to conceptualise industrial relations change.
11
Timo, Nils. "Future directions for workplace bargaining and aged care under a post 2005 Howard government." Australian Health Review 29, no. 3 (2005): 274. http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/ah050274.
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ON THE 1ST OF JULY 2005, the Howard Government took control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate and substantial reform of the nation?s industrial relations framework is likely to proceed. In order to understand the implications of the proposed industrial relations (IR) reform agenda on aged care, it is necessary to briefly revisit the past. Historically, the ability of the Commonwealth Parliament to regulate industrial relations was construed in the context of Section 51 (xxxv) of the Australian Constitution Act 1900 (Cwlth) that enabled the Commonwealth to make laws concerning ?conciliation and arbitration and the prevention and settlement of industrial disputes extending beyond the limits of any one state?. Since 1904, the Commonwealth, with the states following shortly thereafter, established a regime of industrial tribunals responsible for third party independent conciliation and arbitration, overseeing a system of legally binding industrial awards covering wages and employment conditions. This system, in the words of one of its chief architects, Justice Higgins, ? . . . would substitute for the rude and barbarous processes of strike and lock-out?1 (page 2). By 1991, Australian wages policy gradually shifted from centralised arbitration, elevating workplace agreements to the status of government policy on both sides of politics.2 This process accelerated labour market deregulation, shifting industrial relations and human resource issues to the enterprise level.3 The shift towards workplace agreements post 1990?s was underpinned by a bold reinterpretation of Section 51 (xx) of the Constitution Act that enabled the Commonwealth to regulate the affairs of ?trading or financial corporations formed within the limits of the Commonwealth?, thus, by definition, including regulating employee relations of corporations. The use by the Commonwealth of these powers has extended the jurisdiction of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission (AIRC) to include the making and approving of certified agreements made by constitutional corporations or in settlement of an industrial dispute. Other types of employers such as sole traders, churches and charities, partnerships and unincorporated associations remained covered by state industrial jurisdictions. (On these powers of the Commonwealth, see State of
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Stanton, Pauline, and Tim Bartram. "Howard's way: seeking conflict or building commitment?" Australian Health Review 29, no. 3 (2005): 270. http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/ah050270.
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WHILE MANY COMMENTATORS are describing the Federal Government?s industrial relations reform package as radical or even revolutionary there is very little in it that is a complete surprise. Further reduction in the power of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission (AIRC), greater simplification in the making of awards and agreements, an increase in anti-trade union legislation, and weakening of unfair dismissal provisions have been on the government?s wish list for some time. The move to a national industrial relations system has also been on the government?s agenda. The impact of these developments on the health industry is difficult to predict beyond saying that it appears to be a recipe for conflict and division. However, our main focus is not to discuss the detail and merits of the proposed changes but instead to ask whether these policies in any way address the major workforce issues facing the Australian health care sector in the twenty first century.
13
Oliver, Damian. "Australian Unions in 2007." Journal of Industrial Relations 50, no. 3 (June 2008): 447–62. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0022185608089999.
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Australian unions will remember 2007 as the year that their `Your Rights at Work' campaign contributed to the defeat of the Coalition Government. Industrial relations dominated the election campaign and remained at the centre of public policy and media debates throughout the year. Employers used the Howard government's Work Choices legislation to refuse to bargain with unions and to prevent lawful industrial action. Union officials and members were prosecuted for unlawful industrial action. In response, unions conducted a highly resourced and professional campaign aimed at changing the government and repealing Work Choices. However, the Australian Labor Party under new leader Kevin Rudd announced it would keep certain contentious aspects of Work Choices. Notwithstanding the defeat of the Coalition, barriers remain to unions' future growth and strength.
14
Macneil, Johanna, Mark Bray, and Leslee Spiess. "Unions and collective bargaining in Australia in 2019." Journal of Industrial Relations 62, no. 3 (April 21, 2020): 380–402. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0022185620908907.
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Early in 2019, in anticipation of a change in Federal government, the fate of unions and collective bargaining in Australia appeared likely to take a new direction. However, the re-election in May of the Morrison-led Coalition government changed all this. This article reviews the year in three main sections, focusing respectively on unions and union strategy; collective bargaining and collective agreements; and public policy, unions and collective bargaining. Despite some interesting twists, the overall themes are more of the same – the continuation of political partisanship towards unions and collective bargaining, and the reinforcement of adversarialism in the workplace.
15
Eccleston, Richard. "The Significance of Business Interest Associations in Economic Policy Reform: The Case of Australian Taxation Policy." Business and Politics 2, no. 3 (November 2000): 309–25. http://dx.doi.org/10.2202/1469-3569.1013.
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Taxation reform has dominated Australian politics over the past twenty-five years. Despite this prominence on the political agenda, until recently Australian governments have lacked the capacity to consolidate key elements of this tax reform agenda. While the problematic nature of Australian tax reform can be explained in part by macro-level variables, this protracted policy deadlock has also influenced historical patterns of business-government intermediation. The article argues that the evolution of the Australian tax policy network over the study period was prompted by both associational and state actors reassessing their strategies in the context of the political failure of tax reform proposals. These developments provide empirical insights into the ongoing debate relating to the factors which lead to the formation and evolution of sectoral level policy networks. The article concludes that while the increasing levels of business mobilization experienced over the study period enhanced the electoral viability of reform proposals, these new patterns of sectoral business politics should be regarded as a consequence of the policy deadlock relating to tax reform rather than primary cause of policy change.
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Nyland, Chris, Elizabeth Ann Maharaj, and Anne O'Rourke. "Australia/US/China Preferential Trade Negotiations: Building Alliances and Realizing Workers' Rights to a `Voice at the Table'." Journal of Industrial Relations 49, no. 5 (November 2007): 647–72. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0022185607082213.
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When the Australian and Chinese governments announced their intention to negotiate a bilateral trade agreement this news generated apprehension among employee bodies. This was because many workers believe China's competitiveness is underpinned by its government's refusal to allow China's workers to realize basic labour rights and because Australian labour and the wider community has been unable to participate in the debate surrounding the proposed agreement. The latter concern is the focus of this article. We accept organized labour has a right to `sit at the table' when trade policy is being determined and that the union movement needs to forge effective alliances if it is to achieve this goal. To assist this process we draw on submissions generated by the United States—Australia (AUSFTA) and Australia—China (ACFTA) trade agreements to argue that Australian unions and civil society groupings can influence the outcome of bilateral trade negotiations and in so doing offer suggestions regarding the issues likely to be most conducive to alliance building.
17
Peters, Michael David. "Governing in a trust deficit." Business and Politics 18, no. 3 (October 2016): 199–223. http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/bap-2014-0052.
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A key component in the exchange relationship between government and business in modern liberal democracies is the level of public trust that each institution enjoys. However, trust does not affect both equally. A fall in trust for government is likely to diminish a government's policy discretion much more than an equivalent fall in trust for business will diminish a business actor's capacity to make profit or shape public policy. In addition, there are good reasons to believe that government will tend to find it more difficult than business to maintain trust from its stakeholders, or to recover it when lost. In this paper, I insert a role for public trust dynamics into Lindblom's theory of the structural power of business. I then return to the debate in this journal on business power and the 2010 Australian mining tax I show that the existing accounts omit the role of trust in the conflict and as a result “discover” much more incompetence from the Australian government than really existed.
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Bennett, Laura. "Women, Exploitation and the Australian Child-Care Industry: Breaking the Vicious Circle." Journal of Industrial Relations 33, no. 1 (March 1991): 20–40. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/002218569103300102.
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In Australia in the 1990s, a complex combination of industrial and political factors interact with gender to produce the exploitation of child-care workers. Examination of the industry reveals the crucial role that government funding and policy play in determining working conditions. Analysis of the child-care industry also highlights the extent to which conditions in the industry are determined by a complex regulatory apparatus comprising legislation, regulations and departmental guidelines specific to the industry in addition to awards. Concentration on the characteristics of a distinctly female dominated industry reveals some of the limitations of mainstream industrial relations theory. It is clear that neither industrial relations nor feminism has yet provided the theoretical tools necessary not simply to explain the exploitation of women workers in such industries but also to overcome it.
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Lewis, Philip E. T., and David J. Spiers. "Six Years of the Accord: An Assessment." Journal of Industrial Relations 32, no. 1 (March 1990): 53–68. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/002218569003200104.
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For six years the Accord has been the cornerstone of the Australian Government's economic strategy. It has taken many different forms and has displayed considerable adaptability. An assessment of the success of the Accord is important not only for Australia but because of its implications for macro-economicpolicy generally. It may be that the Australian experience has a much wider effect on discussions of appropriate policy formation in other countries. Recent developments in award restructuring have implications for micro-economic policy also. In this paper the evidence regarding the impact of the Accord is assembled and critically evaluated. The general conclusion is that the Accord has had very important beneficial effects on employment and industrial relations. This supports the view that incomes policy is a viable instrument for economic policy.
20
Dwyer, Judith, and Sandra G. Leggat. "Relations with the health care workforce, industrially and otherwise." Australian Health Review 29, no. 3 (2005): 261. http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/ah050261.
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IN THIS ISSUE we present three commentaries addressing the likely impact on the health care system of the industrial relations reforms proposed by the national government. Whether you believe that the reforms will control wages, increase flexibility and improve productivity, or that they are more likely to cost jobs and create an un-Australian two-tiered system of employment protection, there is no doubt of the importance of these changes.
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Mourell, Mark. "Accounting and Accountability for Australian Federal Unions." Economic and Labour Relations Review 16, no. 1 (July 2005): 95–115. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/103530460501600106.
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The amendments to Schedule 1B of the Workplace Relations Act have given the government substantially new means of controlling the internal affairs of industrial organisations. At the government's behest, the Review of Current Arrangements for Governance of Industrial Organisation (the review), used concepts borrowed from the Corporations Act as a basis for recommendations regarding union accounts, accounting procedures, fiduciary obligations of office-holders and organisational rules. This study is a critique of the review and the consequent amendments. It argues that notions borrowed from the Corporations Act are inappropriate for unions and will cause problems for them. The amendments also contradict the government's avowed policy of deregulation of labour market institutions.
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Sutherland, Carolyn. "Industrial Legislation in 2008." Journal of Industrial Relations 51, no. 3 (May 20, 2009): 297–311. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0022185609104299.
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In March 2008, the Rudd Government started to dismantle Work Choices. The Workplace Relations Amendment (Transition to Forward with Fairness) Act 2008 (Cth) reintroduced agreement-making safeguards, and removed the option of making Australian Workplace Agreements. The legislation also provided the legal framework for the creation of `modern awards', paving the way for the more far-reaching reforms that are outlined in the Fair Work Bill 2008 (Cth). The first section of the article examines these transitional measures. The second section briefly considers the key features of the Fair Work Bill, concluding that its content and relative simplicity are broadly consistent with the promises made by the Government in its pre-election Forward with Fairness policy. Finally, the article highlights some of the legislative developments at the State level in 2008.
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Guthrie, Robert, and Kevin Purse. "Business Regulation and Workers’ Compensation: A National Framework for Workers’ Compensation in Australia?" International Journal of Comparative Labour Law and Industrial Relations 25, Issue 4 (December 1, 2009): 395–410. http://dx.doi.org/10.54648/ijcl2009026.
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Labour law in Australia is undergoing an unprecedented transformation. Fuelled by demands from big business and a dramatically changing constitutional landscape, the locus of regulation is shifting from the states and territories to the federal government. The most conspicuous illustration to date has been in the mainstream industrial relations arena as epitomized by the Howard Conservative Coalition Government’s Work Choices legislation. More recently, the Rudd Labour Government has championed a national approach to occupational health and safety law based on its ‘cooperative federalism’ agenda. Though less pronounced, workers’ compensation for injury at work has also been the subject of growing business demands for greater national regulation. In examining this issue, this paper will first of all outline previous attempts to develop a national workers’ compensation framework before turning to a consideration of more recent policy and legal developments, which have contributed to the emerging regulatory realignment of workers’ compensation laws and policy. The paper will also identify the major constraints on the drive for a national regulatory framework.
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O'Brien, John, and Michael O'Donnell. "Government, Management and Unions: the Public Service Under the Workplace Relations Act." Journal of Industrial Relations 41, no. 3 (September 1999): 446–67. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/002218569904100306.
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The paper argues that when governments seek to regulate the working conditions and wages of their own employees in n decentralising industrial environment there is potential for tension between the roles of government as employer ; as policy generator and as financial controller. The paper discusses the federal coalition govern ment's agenda in the Australian Public Service under tbe Workplace Relations Act 1996, and the potential for tensions to arise from a process that simultaneously insists on oversight from the centre and requires the exercise of greater responsibility by agency managements. Moreover; the paper examines the ability of the Community and Public Sector Union to retain its legitimacy at a workplace level in this contradictory environ ment, and its capacity to counter managerial attempts to marginalise the union during the first round of agreement making.
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Barry, Michael, and Kevin You. "Employer and employer association matters in Australia in 2016." Journal of Industrial Relations 59, no. 3 (May 22, 2017): 288–304. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0022185617693873.
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Employers and their associations were hopeful that the double dissolution election in 2016 would end continuing policy deadlock, which had hitherto stalled progress on their desired industrial relations reforms. But the coalition’s less than convincing victory at the polls dashed any hope that such progress would be swift and comprehensive. Towards the end of the year, the government was finally able to secure the passage of the contentious Australian Building and Construction Commission and Registered Organisations bills that triggered the election. But action on other fronts, like implementing the recommendations of the Productivity Commission’s 2015 Inquiry, had been slow. The Fair Work Commission’s much anticipated deliberation on Sunday penalty rates is also delayed, creating more uncertainties for award-reliant employers at the end of 2016. To aggravate matters further, unions are continuously trying to chip away various key features of casual working arrangements, through Fair Work Commission test cases and by pushing strongly in favour of the inclusion of casual deeming provisions in modern awards.
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Prakoso, S. G., W. Lie, and M. P. I. Cahyani. "The importance of politics on precautionary principles’ implementation in the environmental sector: cases and examples of Indonesia and Australia." IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science 905, no. 1 (November 1, 2021): 012005. http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/905/1/012005.
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Abstract The United Nations’ arrangement to establish the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development in 1992 can be perceived as an effort to enforce sustainability efforts in the environmental sector. The declaration’s main principles are about the interdependent and indivisible relations between peace, development, and environmental protection. The Rio Declaration also mentions the term precautionary principle that could be implemented by the industrial actors in the countries but not limited to them. Countries that put ratification on it are directly binding to hold the mandate as one of the main actors in control of environmental protection. This study attempted to examine some countries’ government action toward formulation and implementation of environmental policy regarding the precautionary principle as the embodiment of the Rio Declaration 1992. This study will use descriptive qualitative methodology with data based on cases in Indonesia and Australia. The findings will explain the direct and indirect correlations within the government and industrial actors about the precautionary principle in the action. In addition, the result of this study indicates how politics plays a powerful role in the implementation of the precautionary principle.
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Louie, Amber M., Aleck S. Ostry, Michael Quinlan, Tessa Keegel, Jean Shoveller, and Anthony D. LaMontagne. "Empirical Study of Employment Arrangements and Precariousness in Australia." Articles 61, no. 3 (February 6, 2007): 465–89. http://dx.doi.org/10.7202/014186ar.
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Much research on precarious employment compares permanent workers with one or two other broadly-defined employment categories. We developed a more refined method of examining precariousness by defining current employment arrangements in terms of job characteristics. These employment arrangement categories were then compared in terms of socio-demographics and self-reported job insecurity. This investigation was based on a cross-sectional population-based survey of a random sample of 1,101 working Australians. Eight mutually exclusive employment categories were identified: Permanent Full-time (46.4%), Permanent Part-time (18.3%), Casual Full-time (2.7%), Casual Part-time (9.3%), Fixed Term Contract (2.1%), Labour Hire (3.6%), Own Account Self-employed (7.4%), and Other Self-employed (9.5%). These showed significant and coherent differences in job characteristics, socio-demographics and perceived job insecurity. These empirically-supported categories may provide a conceptual guide for government agencies, policy makers and researchers in areas including occupational health and safety, taxation, labour market regulations, the working poor, child poverty, benefit programs, industrial relations, and skills development.
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Baird, Marian, Myra Hamilton, and Andreea Constantin. "Gender equality and paid parental leave in Australia: A decade of giant leaps or baby steps?" Journal of Industrial Relations 63, no. 4 (May 2, 2021): 546–67. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/00221856211008219.
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The year 2020 marks the 10th anniversary of the Australian Paid Parental Leave Act 2010. Using Baird’s orientations typology and Brighouse and Wright’s equality framework, with evidence from the Workplace Agreements Database and the Workplace Gender Equality Agency, this article assesses changes in policy, bargaining and company provisions over the decade. We find that policy changes may enable more fathers and partners to take leave, although the period is short and barriers to uptake exist. In bargaining and company policy, we find modest growth in the proportion of agreements with paid primary and paid secondary carer leave provisions, but no movement in the duration of the leaves, with secondary carer leave much shorter. We conclude that although these changes suggest growing attention to improving women’s working conditions and fathers’ access to parental leave, short secondary carer leaves set normative standards of fathers as ‘supporters’ rather than recognising substantive involvement in care. Consequently, the changes do not promote gender-egalitarian sharing of parental leave. While the introduction of the government scheme was a ‘giant leap’, the 10 years since have seen modest ‘baby steps’ towards greater gender equality in the availability and potential use of paid parental leave.
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McGavin, P. A. "The Introduction of Wage Indexation under the Whitlam Government." Journal of Industrial Relations 27, no. 1 (March 1985): 17–37. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/002218568502700102.
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The framework in which the Whitlam government argued the case for wage indexation is examined and critically reviewed. Particular critical attention is devoted to the appropriateness of automatic adjustment of wages for price changes and to the direction of causality in the inflationary process. It is argued that the government's wage indexation policy contributed to a wage outcome above what would otherwise have occurred; a slowing of the process of adjustment to economic imbalance in the Australian econorny; and a socially undesirable economization in the use of labour services. The employment implications of these conclusions are necessarily unfavourable.
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Hundley, Greg. "The Law and Union Membership in US State and Local Government." Journal of Industrial Relations 30, no. 2 (June 1988): 248–57. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/002218568803000204.
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State and local government workers in the United States are covered by a wide variety of collective bargaining laws, thus providing a rare opportunity to analyse the effects of the law on union membership. Analysis of a large micro-data sample shows that several aspects of bargaining laws, particularly provisions relating to exclusive jurisdiction and union security, have a pronounced effect on the probability that a worker will be a union member. An individual covered by the right to strike is less likely to be a union member than an individual covered by a compulsory arbitration law. Estimates indicate that deregulation of an industrial relations system that provides incentivesfor unionism similar to those that exist in Australian policy would produce a dramatic decline in membership.
31
Sari, Komang Ayu Kartika. "Prostitution Legislation Reforms in Western Australia: What Indonesia Can Learn." Public Health and Preventive Medicine Archive 2, no. 1 (July 1, 2014): 92. http://dx.doi.org/10.15562/phpma.v2i1.130.
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Prostitution is still a complicated problem worldwide including in Western Australia. It is estimated that there are 1700 sex workers and 38 identified brothels in Western Australia1 and prostitution legislation is still an ongoing debatable issue in the state. There has been a significant change in prostitution laws and enforcement practices, which is due to the rising worldwide problem of sex trafficking and its relation to prostitution.2 The Liberal or National Government of Western Australia planned to introduce the prostitution legislation reforms, which were intended to make brothels to be the “only viable” and legal workplaces for sex workers, to make sex workers have no opportunity to work privately in residential areas and to force them to work for the third parties or to relocate them to industrial areas.3 It would be implemented through a brothel licensing policy, which in turn will make non brothel-based sex workers considered illegal. Brothels are indeed more organized and easier to provide health care and education than the street4 and based on research in the Norwegian capital5, an existing law can make people have more negative attitudes towards buying sex. However, particular form of regulation and practice may result in worse situations and can undermine the health and well-being of sex workers. This article will discuss in details why the prostitution legislation reforms released by The Liberal/National Government in WA should not be fully supported and what we can learn based on the context of Indonesia
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Chapman, Bruce. "The Accord: Background Changes and Aggregate Outcomes." Journal of Industrial Relations 40, no. 4 (December 1998): 624–42. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/002218569804000407.
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Over the last several decades tbe role of incomes policy has been a critical issue in an understanding of Australian workplace and macroeconomic relationships. A significant institutional reform was the Prices and Incomes Accord, which began with the election of the Labor government in 1983, and ended with the change of govern ment in 1996. What follows is a discussion of the circumstances that led to the adoption of the Accord, and an analysis of some of its consequences for strikes and wages. Several themes are explored. One is that the success of incomes policies depends on economic, political and industrial relations factors. A second is that the origin and maintenance of the Accord depended on the Labor government's commitment to wage restraint, which had its intellectual underpinnings in corporatism. The Accord changed over thirteen years, and the industrial system became more directed to enterprise bargaining. While this might imply that it became increasingly difficult to have low strike and wage outcomes, the changes in industrial and economic relationships seem to be permanent. Conjectures are offered to explain this outcome.
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Marshall, Shelley, and Richard Mitchell. "Enterprise Bargaining, Managerial Prerogative and the Protection of Workers? Rights: An Argument on the Role of Law and Regulatory Strategy in Australia under the Workplace Relations Act 1996 (Cth)." International Journal of Comparative Labour Law and Industrial Relations 22, Issue 3 (September 1, 2006): 299–327. http://dx.doi.org/10.54648/ijcl2006016.
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Abstract: Since the beginning of the 1990s successive Australian national governments (from both right and left of the political spectrum) have overseen a shift in the regulation of employment relations from one based on centralised arbitrated awards to one of enterprise bargaining. The ostensible purpose of this policy was to facilitate the development of workplace-focused systems of regulation which were sensitive to the need for flexible production and employment systems in the context of the global economy. The evidence suggests that whilst many of the objectives of the enterprise bargaining project have been attained (particularly the goal of greater flexibility in employment systems), the law has been less effective in protecting the interests of workers, particularly their power to influence decision-making at the place of work. The major impact of enterprise bargaining upon the workplace, the paper proposes, has been the restoration of managerial prerogative which previously had been mediated through arbitration or the power of trade unions. Finally, the paper draws conclusions on the changing role of the institutions which regulate Australian industrial relations. Historically, Australian industrial tribunals have combined the features of judicial bodies and regulatory agencies. The paper concludes that a shift is occurring in Australian labour law from a mixture of self-regulation and centralised ?command and control?, to ?enforced self-regulation?, thus signalling a systemic and profound reorientation in regulatory policy and technique in Australian labour market regulation
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Creighton, Breen. "Government Procurement as a Vehicle for Workplace Relations Reform: The Case of the National Code of Practice for the Construction Industry." Federal Law Review 40, no. 3 (September 2012): 349–84. http://dx.doi.org/10.22145/flr.40.3.3.
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The use of public procurement as a vehicle for achieving public policy objectives can conveniently be traced to the Fair Wages Resolution which was adopted by the British House of Commons in 1891. This technique was subsequently adopted in many jurisdictions, and finds clear expression in the International Labour Organisation (‘ILO’)'s Labour Clauses (Public Contracts) Convention 1949 (No 94) (‘Convention No 94’).1 This article describes the British model and its international progeny, and then examines a controversial and unusual Australian mutation in the form of the National Code of Practice for the Construction Industry (‘Code’) and the various iterations of the associated Implementation Guidelines (‘Guidelines’) which have been adopted since 1998. It suggests that the Code and Guidelines, especially under the Howard Government, constitute a perversion of the traditional use of public procurement as a vehicle for the implementation of public policy in the industrial context. That is because they were directed to the curtailment of the rights of workers and their organisations rather than protecting employment standards and promoting collective bargaining. The article argues that the Code and Guidelines sit uneasily with accepted notions of the rule of law in a number of respects, and with certain aspects of Australia's obligations in international law. It also discusses the Fair Work Principles (‘FW Principles’) which have applied to all aspects of procurement by the Commonwealth since January 2010, and suggests that they embody an approach to public procurement and the promotion of social objectives which is rather more in keeping with international best practice than that reflected in the Construction Industry Code and Guidelines.
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Macdonald, Fiona, and Sara Charlesworth. "The Decent Work Agenda and the Advancement of Gender Equality: For Emerging Economies Only?" International Journal of Comparative Labour Law and Industrial Relations 31, Issue 1 (March 1, 2015): 5–25. http://dx.doi.org/10.54648/ijcl2015002.
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The International Labour Organization's Decent Work Agenda offers a valuable alternative to the traditional framing of most contemporary employment regulation. It moves beyond the standard employment relationship to include workers in non-standard employment and the attainment of gender equality has a central place, illustrated in the ILO's 2009 campaign around 'gender equality at the heart of decent work'. While most OECD countries have endorsed the Decent Work Agenda (DWA), few have taken it up at the domestic level, apparently seeing it as something of benefit to emerging economies only. Our article draws on interviews with key government, employer, union and civil society stakeholders in Australia, Canada, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, and an analysis of relevant policy documents to tease out this 'othering' of the DWA and how different understandings of gender (in)equality relate to views about its utility in the national context. We argue that assumptions that the DWA has little to offer developed economies represent a missed opportunity to rethink the gendered policy underpinnings of domestic employment regulation that are shaped by and contribute directly to gender inequality.
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DONOVAN, GUY. "LESS THAN THEY BARGAINED FOR: UNION BARGAINING FEES IN CERTIFIED AGREEMENTS- A MATTER OF LAW, POLITICS OR PUBLIC POLICY?" Deakin Law Review 10, no. 2 (July 1, 2005): 408. http://dx.doi.org/10.21153/dlr2005vol10no2art285.
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<div class="page" title="Page 1"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><span>[</span><span>The High Court of Australia’s decision in </span><span>Electrolux No 3</span><span>, combined with the Australian government’s changes to workplace relations law, has en- sured that unions are prohibited from charging bargaining fees. The gov- ernment claimed to have prohibited the fees on the basis that they offend the principle of “freedom of association”. However, the government failed to consider other policy considerations and considerable international precedents that suggest if bargaining fees are limited to an amount cover- ing bargaining services alone, they provide unions with a beneficial source of financial security, whilst also overcoming the free-rider problem and maintaining respect for the concept of voluntary unionism. Therefore, it is perhaps incorrect to suggest that the prohibition of bargaining fees was prescribed by the government on the basis of some overriding concern for the freedom of association. Rather it seems more realistic to suggest that freedom of association was the guise under which the government was able to further marginalise the role of unions in industrial relations in or- der to promote its own ideological and economic agenda</span><span>.] </span></p></div></div></div>
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Ben, Lawrence, and Alistair McLaren Sage. "Talking about non-union collective agreements: A union perspective." Journal of Industrial Relations 64, no. 1 (December 8, 2021): 147–59. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/00221856211051396.
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In a recent contribution in this journal, Mark Bray, Shae McCrystal and Leslee Spiess posed the question, ‘Why doesn't anyone talk about non-union collective agreements?’ Surveying business, government and union perspectives, the authors identified the need for greater attention and research to understand their effect on contemporary Australian industrial relations. This article serves as a response to this concern. Two case studies illustrate how non-union agreements work in practice under the Fair Work Act 2009. We outline further examples of how unions have been talking about non-union agreements through a legal and policy strategy rather than public advocacy. Assessing employer motivations for pursuing non-union agreements, as well as bargaining outcomes for workers, we conclude that there is an urgent need for reform.
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Miller, Pavla, and David Hayward. "Social policy ‘generosity’ at a time of fiscal austerity: The strange case of Australia’s National Disability Insurance Scheme." Critical Social Policy 37, no. 1 (August 22, 2016): 128–47. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0261018316664463.
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In a climate of fiscal austerity, Australia’s neo-liberal government is continuing to fund and implement an expensive National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). This article presents a demographic, funding and policy context for the introduction of the NDIS. Its success, we argue, must be situated in the context of development of a post-industrial workforce, and owes a lot to its embrace of social investment, marketisation of welfare services, and cash for care. We then look at two tensions unfolding during the scheme’s implementation: increasing demand for care work alongside a shortage of care workers, and the market-driven reform of the Australian vocational education and training system. The changes to vocational education, we conclude, have produced more problems than they solved. Since they anticipate key aspects of the NDIS, they raise questions about the intent and future of Australia’s National Disability Insurance Scheme.
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Macdonald, Fiona, and Sara Charlesworth. "Regulating for gender-equitable decent work in social and community services: Bringing the state back in." Journal of Industrial Relations 63, no. 4 (March 24, 2021): 477–500. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0022185621996782.
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This article explores the potential of regulatory and policy reform for gender-equitable decent work in social and community services, a rapidly growing sector of female employment in many Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries. Along with other feminised sectors, employment in this sector is marked by low rates of unionisation, poor pay and fragmented, insecure working hours. Internationally, gig economy work is now appearing in the sector. A distinguishing feature of the sector is employers’ reliance on government funding through contracted services or via direct payments to individuals. The distance of government from accountability for workers in publicly funded services directly contributes to gendered undervaluation and poor working conditions. However, the presence of the state also provides options for regulatory reform. This article considers the different roles played by government, as employment regulator, as funding and bargaining actor and as market manager and care regulator. Adopting a broad conception of regulation, it canvasses options for bringing the state back in to address gender inequality and precarious work. In the Australian context, it examines potential for rebuilding state accountability for gender-equitable decent work in individualised social care in which the gender inequalities and poor working conditions present in social and community services are amplified.
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Isaac, Joe, and Gudrun Biffl. "Globalisation and Core Labour Standards: Compliance Problems with ILO Conventions 87 and 98. Comparing Australia and other English-Speaking Countries with EU Member States." International Journal of Comparative Labour Law and Industrial Relations 21, Issue 3 (September 1, 2005): 405–44. http://dx.doi.org/10.54648/ijcl2005020.
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Abstract: In the wake of globalisation, certain ILO Conventions have assumed greater prominence in recent years. This paper focuses on ILO principles related to trade union rights and collective bargaining embodied in ILO Conventions No. 87 and No. 98. It is argued that some countries have enacted legislation and tolerated industrial behaviour incompatible with these standards. In the absence of effective international enforcement powers, governments in some countries have ignored the requests of the ILO for adherence to its principles with impunity. This issue is discussed in connection primarily with recent Australian experience and with brief observations on that of a number of English-speaking countries. The policy and practices of these countries on Conventions 87 and 98 are contrasted with those of the continental EU countries. Finally, the question is raised as to whether some of the ILO?s principles underlying these Conventions need to be re-examined.
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Rimmer, Malcolm. "Enterprise Bargaining, Wage Norms and Productivity." Journal of Industrial Relations 40, no. 4 (December 1998): 605–23. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/002218569804000406.
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Since 1991 Australia's arbitral system of wage determination has developed into a bybrid supplemented by the processes of collective and individual bargaining at the workplace level. This paper seeks to examine the development of that bybrid. First it seeks to estimate the extent to which enterprise bargaining displaced award-based wage adjustment between 1990 and 1995. Second, it looks at the prospects for the further growth of enterprise bargaining within the existing regulatory System. Third, it looks at the use of workplace productivity as a criterion in wage fixing relative to the previous norms developed under wage indexation and the Accord. Fourth, the paper looks at some arguments and evidence on the role of enterprise bargaining in inducing workplace productivity growth. The paper concludes tbat major institutional changes bave taken place since 1990 largely because of government policy. However, the role of the new institutional framework in linking pay to productivity and in inducing productivity growth remains limited and uncertain.
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Wright, Chris F. "Australian industrial relations in 2017." Journal of Industrial Relations 60, no. 3 (April 20, 2018): 287–97. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0022185618766679.
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This article introduces the Journal of Industrial Relations Annual Review of Industrial Relations in 2017. It discusses the Fair Work Commission's decision to reduce Sunday and public holiday penalty rates for workers in the retail and hospitality industries, the growing problem of low wages, and the Turnbull government's policy changes relating to the employment of temporary migrant workers. It then provides an overview of the other articles contained in the Annual Review issue.
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Payne, Graeme Edward, and Greg Fisher. "Consumer-directed care and the relational triangle." Employee Relations: The International Journal 41, no. 3 (April 1, 2019): 436–53. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/er-06-2017-0130.
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PurposeFollowing a recent government initiated change to a consumer-directed care model across the Australian community aged care sector, the purpose of this paper is to explore frontline home support workers’ perceptions of relational changes with clients in power and subordination within the triadic relationship between employer, employee and client.Design/methodology/approachContextual interviews were held with managers (n=4), coordinators (n=10) and semi-structured face-to-face interviews with support workers (n=17) in three organizations. Interview transcripts were analyzed.FindingsSome workers did not perceive a power change in their relationships with clients. Others perceived minimal change but were concerned about the incoming client generation (baby boomers) that were more aware of their rights. Others felt subordinated to the client, perceived a loss of control or that felt treated like an employee of the client. Consistent with the philosophy of consumer-directed care, senior staff encouraged clients to treat workers in this way.Research limitations/implicationsFurther research is recommended on worker and client perceptions of relationships within the context of a consumer or client focused model.Practical implicationsA clear and realistic understanding of the locus of power within a triadic relationship by all actors is important for positive workplace outcomes.Social implicationsThe increasing ageing population makes it essential that workers’ relationships with clients and with their organization are unambiguous.Originality/valueThis study makes a contribution to theories about change and power transfer in the implementation of consumer-directed care through the perceptions of support workers. Examination of power and subordination transfer through the perceptions of the actors of rather than through the prism of organizational policy deepens the understanding of frontline service work and relationships.
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Yellowlees, Peter. "Government relations, government regulations: Jumping through the hoops." Journal of Telemedicine and Telecare 8, no. 3_suppl (December 2002): 83–85. http://dx.doi.org/10.1258/13576330260440970.
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summary Over the last decade, telehealth in Australia has been primarily facilitated and driven by government funding. The government now has a major policy initiative in online health. However, in pursuing the broad initiative there is a danger that some of the smaller components can get lost, and this is probably what has happened to telehealth. There appear to be a number of steps required if telehealth in Australia is to keep up the pace of development that occurred in the 1990s, as we move into what is now being called the era of e-health, involving broadband Internet health service delivery. This area is changing extremely rapidly and is increasingly migrating away from the public sector in Australia, where most of the developmental work has occurred, and into the private sector. Many of the issues that require consideration within the domain of e-health in Australia are also relevant to other countries. E-health will significantly change the way that health-care is practised in future, and it is clear that it is the human factors that are more difficult to overcome, rather than the technological ones.
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Davis, Glyn. "Book Reviews : Government and Business Relations in Australia." Journal of Industrial Relations 36, no. 4 (December 1994): 564–66. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/002218569403600413.
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Rawling, Michael, and Eugene Schofield-Georgeson. "Industrial legislation in Australia in 2018." Journal of Industrial Relations 61, no. 3 (May 1, 2019): 402–20. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0022185619834058.
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It has been a quiet year like last year for the passing of federal industrial legislation (due to a number of factors, including the political turmoil of the federal coalition government and their lack of an overall labour law reform agenda). This article examines key federal industrial legislative developments including the Modern Slavery Act 2018 (Cth). The article identifies that the federal Act contains much weaker compliance measures than the counterpart New South Wales legislation also passed in 2018 – the Modern Slavery Act 2018 (NSW). Also, although the Coalition government has attempted to continue to prosecute its case for further union governance measures, this agenda has been less successful than in previous years, with key government Bills not yet passed by the Parliament. The stagnation in the federal Parliament continues to motivate certain State Parliaments to address worker exploitation, and the article goes on to examine key State industrial legislation passed in 2018 including the Victorian labour hire licensing statute. In light of the continuing dominant position of the federal Labor opposition in opinion polls and an impending federal election in 2019, the article concludes by briefly considering the federal Labor opposition's agenda for industrial legislation.
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Timo, Nils. "Book Reviews : Industrial Relations Reform: a Policy for Australia." Journal of Industrial Relations 31, no. 1 (March 1989): 130–32. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/002218568903100113.
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Forsyth, Anthony. "Industrial legislation in Australia in 2016." Journal of Industrial Relations 59, no. 3 (May 22, 2017): 323–39. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0022185617693876.
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After three years of trying, the Coalition Government finally succeeded in obtaining passage of several key workplace reform statutes in 2016. This followed the outcome of the federal election held on 2 July, delivering the Government a differently composed Senate and a new opportunity to secure support for its legislative program. This review article explains key aspects of the industrial legislation passed by federal Parliament in 2016, including statutes abolishing the specialist road transport industry tribunal, re-establishing the Howard-era regulator for the construction industry, and setting up a new agency to enforce enhanced governance and accountability standards for registered unions and employer organisations. Legislative amendments aimed at resolving the long-running bargaining dispute in Victoria’s Country Fire Authority are also considered, along with the Government’s muted response to the 2015 Productivity Commission review of the workplace relations framework. The article then examines developments at state level, including a major rewrite of Queensland’s industrial legislation, structural changes in New South Wales, and proposed changes to long service leave and the labour hire sector in Victoria. It concludes by noting the irony that just as the federal Government has tasted some success after a long legislative ‘dry spell’, its labour law reform agenda appears limited and piecemeal.
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Rawling, Michael, and Eugene Schofield-Georgeson. "Industrial legislation in Australia in 2017." Journal of Industrial Relations 60, no. 3 (April 20, 2018): 378–96. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0022185618760088.
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This article examines key industrial legislation passed by federal Parliament in 2017. The main development in federal industrial legislation for this year, which passed with bipartisan support, saw a weakened Coalition Government (forced from its traditional industrial relations (IR) stance) act to improve protections for vulnerable workers. This initiative introduced extended liability provisions regulating franchisors and holding companies. However, these provisions are a narrow response to an economy-wide problem because they do not establish measures to better regulate supply chains, labour hire and gig economy arrangements for the protection of vulnerable workers. Back in more familiar territory, the Coalition Government managed to implement part of its agenda to further regulate unions by establishing legislation that criminalises bargaining payments by employers to unions. A constitutional crisis over the citizenship status of federal Parliamentarians prevented the Coalition Government from passing legislation designed to curtail trade union activities. The article also considers significant State legislative developments including the introduction of mandatory labour hire licensing laws in South Australia and Queensland, industrial manslaughter laws in Queensland and regulation of ridesharing arrangements in Victoria. The article concludes by contrasting federal criminal penalties against union activity with civil penalties for businesses that exploit vulnerable workers, before suggesting future directions in industrial legislation.
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YUAN, Jingdong. "Australia–China Relations at 50." East Asian Policy 14, no. 02 (April 2022): 93–108. http://dx.doi.org/10.1142/s1793930522000149.
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Australia–China relations are at a turning point 50 years after diplomatic recognition. While the past five decades have witnessed extensive growth in economic exchanges, in recent years, bilateral ties have experienced serious deterioration. Australia’s alliance with the United States, domestic politics—in particular the two major parties’ approaches to foreign policy—and economic interdependence are important variables in Canberra’s approach to China. There will be no exception for the incoming Australian Labor Party government to deal with these.