Breaking the Gridlock

This website contains policy material issued by the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations on behalf of the federal government. The material examines the case for a simpler national workplace relations system in Australia based on different constitutional foundations.

The website aims to promote a constructive debate across Australia among those who are familiar with the workplace relations system and those who are not familiar with the system.

Three discussion papers in the series Breaking the Gridlock: Towards a National Workplace Relations System are on the website.

The first, The Case for Change, explains some of the problems with the present workplace relations system in Australia – which is in fact multiple overlapping systems. It raises for consideration an alternative basis for a national system, and estimates the proportion of all Australian employees a new system could cover.

The second paper, A New Structure, looks at strategies for reform using the existing corporations power in the Australian Constitution and sets out in broad terms the shape a new federal system might take.

The third paper, A Focus on Agreement Making, released on 17 November 2000, explains the role of agreement making in stimulating workplace reform and looks at how agreement making could operate in a workplace relations system based on the existing corporations power.

The Information Kit includes an overview of the papers and a set of twenty questions and answers. Both have been written with an emphasis on non technical language so that the broader community can participate in this debate, not just workplace relations practitioners. There is also a flowchart which outlines the process of making minimum award standards under the present system.

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