Employer and employer association matters in Australia in 2015

Abstract

Employers and their associations were enthusiastic participants in a year of public discussion about the future of industrial relations (IR). Employer associations put forward a set of carefully considered views about their preferred IR policy and regulatory settings in detailed submissions to the major IR Inquiry of the Productivity Commission. They also engaged in an ongoing public relations campaign to support those employers seeking changes to employee entitlements, in particular through penalty rates reforms. As was the case last year however, the realisation of the employers’ IR agenda, many aspects of which are supported by the Coalition Government and the Productivity Commission, remains either stalled in a divided Federal Parliament, or otherwise are reforms that must await the outcome of the forthcoming federal election.