Economic Growth and Government Wage Regulation: The Australian Problem

Abstract

Australian industrial relations present peculiar features, owing to the fact that the Constitution of the country permits extensive federal interven tion in this field. The result has been the creation of a system of governmental agencies and regulations which have had a checkered career and undergone many changes in the last fifty years. The latest reorganization occurred in 1956, when a statute was passed dividing responsibility and functions among three agencies, a Commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Commission, a Court of Concilia tion and Arbitration, and an Industrial Court. The major problems facing these bodies are discussed.—Ed.