The industrial dispute between Qantas and three of its unions can be seen in the context of Qantas’ attempts to remain viable in a highly competitive domestic and international aviation environment. This note details the background to the enterprise bargaining disputes in 2011 between Qantas and three of the unions with traditional membership coverage in...

Responsibility for implementing workers‘ compensation schemes and workplace health and safety in Australia has traditionally resided with state and territory governments. This paper chronicles the growing role of the Commonwealth.

The term unfair dismissal is taken to mean the dismissal of the employee due to stated unsatisfactory employment performance but which is later found to be ‘unfair’. Callus and Sutcliffe defined unfair dismissal as: “A situation in which an employee, who has been dismissed summarily from a job, is subsequently found by a court or...

Labour hire is an alternative form of employment to the direct employer-employee relationship. Labour hire involves relationships between a principal, an employment agency and the person performing the tasks. While labour hire arrangements have been a feature of the Australian labour market for decades, the relatively recent data now being compiled on this sector suggests...

Over 1997-98 the Commonwealth Employment Service and its related agencies and labour market programs were terminated, with employment assistance services instead being delivered through a collection of for profit and community-based providers (the Job Network). The first contract with these providers came in at May 1998, the second early 2000, and the third contract commenced...