7
Australia’s Industrial Relations Singularity
Phil Lewis
Australia’s enduring approach to industrial relations is judged by both its
champions and its critics as being unique. For most of the twentieth century,
Australia’s system of wage determination and industrial relations had only
one or two counterparts in the industrialized world. (Singapore and, until
1992, New Zealand were very similar to the Australian system.) While Austra-
lia’s system was considerably relaxed between the 1980s and early 2000s, it
was significantly reregulated by Labor governments after 2007, with little
attempt to reverse this by the incoming Liberal and National Party (LNP)
government in 2013. Thus, Australia’s unusual system still largely prevails.
While praise is heaped on Australia’s centralized system by its supporters for
the alleged superior outcomes, particularly with respect to‘fairness’, its
opponents point to its impediments to economic efficiency. While most (or
at least many) economists argue that the Australian industrial relations system
is an historical vestige in a modern free market, service-based economy,
support for it is still very much entrenched in the Australian psyche and
attempts at reform have, at times, meant political suicide for those attempting
to change it.
The intention of this chapter is to provide a sketch of the current system,
how Australia got where it is, how Australia compares with other countries,
and the implications of the current system with respect to the most important
issues facing the labour market.
7.1 Origins
Australia’s industrial relations system had its origins in the pre-Federation col-
onies,inthemidstofanumberofbitterindustrialdisputesinthe1890s(Mitchell