The present WorkChoices legislation marks a radical departure in scope and philosophy from the past. This lecture by Joe Isaac reviews the new legislation in the context of the history of industrial regulation in Australia and the requirements of an economically efficient and socially fair industrial relations system. The Australian industrial relations system, based on legally constituted industrial tribunals, has undergone significant changes over the last 100 years. Through most of this period, changes in principles and procedures have been incremental and, at the federal level, generated mostly by the tribunals themselves guided by prevailing economic and industrial circumstances. More recently, fundamental changes have been driven by legislation. The present WorkChoices legislation marks a radical departure in scope and philosophy from the past. The Lecture will review the new legislation in the context of the history of industrial regulation in Australia and the requirements of an economically efficient and socially fair industrial relations system.