Interrogating Arbitration: Reflections on Work, Nation and History

Abstract

When the various Australian jurisdictions adopted industrial arbitration at the turn of the twentieth century, they created not just a 'new province for law and order', to use Higgins' famous term. They also created a new arena in which workplace contests could be fought, a new space in which discourses could be elaborated and a stage on which power relationships could be performed. The articles in this thematic section engage with all of these dimensions, drawing on the transcripts of proceedings as well as other written and oral evidence to explore the many levels on which the courts operated.