Australian Labour Law - History

History

See also: History of labour law, WorkChoices, and Fair Work Australia

In disputes involving a company in a single state either, a union or industrial organisation will rope them into a federal award by arguing that they are part of an industry in which a dispute extending beyond the limits of any one state exist. (This can be done by finding another company which did similar work and serving them with a log of claims concurrently or by virtue of a company's membership of a peak industry body.) Alternatively, if the company was not covered by a federal Award it would be covered by the various States' industrial relations systems, and disputes are conciliated or arbitrated by the state industrial relations commissions which would create an industry rule Award.

Since 1993 the Australian federal government has increasingly used the corporations power contained in s51 (20) to enact labour law legislation. This power allows the federal parliament to make laws with respect to "trading and financial corporations formed within the limits of the Commonwealth", as well as 'foreign' corporations. The Coalition Government of John Howard announced plans in 2005 to further use this power to override State systems and unify the industrial relations system under the Federal umbrella. The proposed changes also included the introduction of an independent Australian Fair Pay Commission to set wages, and enhanced powers for the Office of the Employment Advocate and a corresponding lesser role for the Australian Industrial Relations Commission.

WorkChoices came into operation in 2006, it gave effective control of 85% of the Australian labour law system to the Federal Government. The constitutional validity of the legislation was challenged in the High Court of Australia in New South Wales & Ors v Commonwealth. The Court decided by a majority of 5–2 (Kirby and Callinan JJ dissenting) in November 2006 that all of the reforms were valid, The case was also a significant constitutional law decision in the area of Federal-state relations.

Workchoices eventuated in the demise of the 11 year old government of John Howard. A comprehensive election defeat on this issue showed that he had pushed to issue more right than the Australian electorate were willing to accept. Howard became only the second Prime Minister to lose his seat.

Fair Work Australia (FWA) is the new government industrial relations institution created by the Federal ALP Government's Fair Work Act 2009. It commenced operation on 1 July 2009.