The Australian Labor Party’s (ALP) recently released industrial relations policy will, if the party is elected, produce a raft of reforms that will continue to test the ability of employers to keep up with ongoing changes to the IR landscape. The proposals involve an interesting mix of:

• evolution of the existing Federal IR regulatory environment, including further development of some of the Work Choices reforms introduced by the Howard Government last year;
• a roll back of some of the more controversial aspects of those reforms; and
• arguably, some revolution as well.

On 28 April 2007, the Federal opposition leader, Kevin Rudd, released his party’s Industrial Relations Policy at the ALP’s National Conference. Entitled, ‘Forward with Fairness’, it proposes the establishment of a new industrial relations system for Australia that is “fairer, simpler and more productive.” The policy proposals involve:

• building upon the national industrial relations system initiated by the Work Choices reforms;
• elaboration of the current Federal safety net, including the return of something akin to the “no disadvantage” test in the bargaining sphere;
• abandonment of Australian Workplace Agreements as a form of industrial regulation;
• a move back toward collective agreements as the ’Rolls Royce’ of industrial instruments, with fewer content and procedural restrictions, although agreements will be subjected to an administrative approval process;
• the creation of a ‘one-stop’ regulatory shop – Fair Work Australia – to oversee the new system, with both administrative and judicial functions; and
• reinvigoration of the unfair dismissal jurisdiction, including dramatic changes to the way unfair dismissal proceedings will be run.

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