By Professor Michael Barry, Griffith Business School
The Howard Government is (in)famously remembered for introducing radical industrial relations changes (known as WorkChoices) that profoundly diminished aspects of workers’ long-established rights, and led that Government to its electoral loss in 2007. Nevertheless, an enduring and profound effect of the Howard Government was to take control of industrial relations away from the states under the power granted to the Commonwealth to regulate corporations (s20 of the Constitution).
The outcome is that Queensland’s industrial relations system now regulates only unincorporated entities and public sector industrial relations. Therefore, the Government’s own pay bargaining outcomes, and increases in the size of the public service as forecast in the Budget, are key employment issues affecting overall government expenditure.
Aside from this, the Queensland Government’s main responsibility for employment relations is through its regulation of occupational health and safety. OHS regulation and workers’ compensation are vital features of any employment