Beyond Industrial Relations: WorkChoices and the Reshaping of Labour, Class and Commonwealth

By Bradon Ellem

How new is WorkChoices?
No prime minister was less likely to throw away the opportunities presented by the control of the Senate than John Howard for whom industrial relations 'reform' has been an article of faith throughout a lifetime in politics.

Whereas the deliberations concerning the first national law to regulate industrial relations (the Conciliation and Arbitration Act passed almost exactly 101 years earlier) had consumed the Commonwealth parliament for years, Howard moved quickly. His government's policy was formally outlined in late May 2005 and on 7 December, WorkChoices, as the legislation was now badged, was passed by parliament after a hurried Senate inquiry and with only minor amendments.

Of course, it is the case that, amid a raft of social, economic and legislative changes, many of the structures and processes developed under the legislation of 1904 had been eroded since the late 1980s, beginning with the introduction of the 'two-tier' wage-fixing system. Does this mean that WorkChoices was a mere continuation of these trends and a corollary of those other policy changes? To answer this question, to decide just how far-reaching are the changes in and consequent upon the legislation, is the core task that this commentary sets itself. To do so, it is necessary to explain and contextualise the new Act.

There are inevitable historical continuities in the making and the form of WorkChoices but the new legislation also represents a thoroughgoing attempt to rework the regulation of the employment relationship - and more besides.

The context in which WorkChoices has emerged is both a break from, and resonant with, the past. Social norms, family structures and the shape of labour markets are, of course, different from a century ago. There are, however, continuities: questions about the place of a small economy in a global setting were and remain important; questions about the training and growth of a skilled labour force, and questions of family and immigration were and remain important.

WorkChoices is no less ambitious than the policies which melded together in the early part of the twentieth century; it is no less intertwined with other areas of policy and law. The introduction of arbitration in 1904 was inseparable from immigration and population policy and, in effect, was a family policy. Immigration was designed to build a 'white Australia', rendering invisible the original inhabitants and keeping Asian workers (and their products) beyond the borders. The importance of these connections can hardly be overstated. Throughout the early years of the twentieth century, there were Royal Commissions and inquiries into labour shortages, birth rates and women's work. Nor were men exempt from state concern: policy makers worried about manhood, impotency and 'seminal loss'; parenthood became a national duty; avoiding fatherhood was 'unmanly'.26 Today, WorkChoices is about much more than industrial relations, though that would be radical enough. It is at once a dramatic reflection of changes in Australian society, and an attempt to reshape still further not only the regulation of employment but also class and power in Australia.

(Evatt Foundation. Papers. Posted 20 June 2006)