Understanding Australian labour law

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the legal framework with in which employment conditions are established in Australia. Comparative studies in the field of employment relations can promote understanding of the factors and processes that determine such phenomena and can generate a better understanding of our own country's institutions and practices. The need for such understanding is becoming more urgent in the context of globalisation and the quest for some understanding of what might be deemed as socially responsible employment conditions. However, comparative international employment relation's study also presents particular challenges, as there are international differences in terminology as well as problems in distinguishing between the law and actual practice. This paper aims at assisting the development of comparative employment relations study by providing a detailed but simplified examination of Australian labour law which might form the bases for future comparative study.