For Australian industrial relations, no major legislation was passed and few significant judgements were handed down in 2015, but several inquiries held over the course of the year and the consequences arising from political leadership changes might ultimately be seen as ‘critical junctures’ from which important developments subsequently unfolded. In particular, the Productivity Commission’s inquiry into the Workplace Relations Framework and the Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption recommended several major changes that may eventually come to fruition. This article analyses the implications of these inquiries and emerging issues in the low-wage sector, and provides an overview of the articles in the 2016 Journal of Industrial Relations Annual Review issue.
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