The Australasian Labour Law Reforms

The 1990s saw the end of Australia and New Zealand's comprehensive conciliation and arbitration systems. Governments on both sides of the Tasman have found a rigid labour market to be incompatible with an ever more open and dynamic economy. This book covers all jurisdictions. It collects the detail of the reforms with contributions on a national level and State by State in Australia. It analyses the nature of the reforms, their consequences and their prospects. The editor, Dennis Nolan, provides an international perspective and a comparison to American labour law reform. In New Zealand, the Employment Contracts Act 1991, described as the most radical labour relations reform in the industrialised world in half a century, removed the old ways in one move. In Australia the federal system has meant a more diverse approach as the Commonwealth and States have experimented with various forms of deregulation.