The Hancock Report: The Last Hurrah of the Past

Abstract

The Hancock Report is disappointing despite the quality of its research. It fails because of its lack of vision and imagination, its excessive preoccupation with the status quo, and its unwillingness to critically examine the degree of union power in Australia. The reasons given for the Committee's decisions are all negative ones concerning possible alternatives. No positive case is made for the arbitration system. The Committee's views are fundamentally conservative and risk-averse, despite the unsatisfactory state of industrial relations in Australia. The one concession to a less third-party-regulated environment—a revision of Part X 'opting out'—is not expected by the Committee to attract much use. The dynamic effects on productivity of 'opting out' seem likely to make this option attractive, contrary to the Committee's assessment of such effects as 'pure speculation.' In short, the Report represents the last hurrah of the past rather than a blueprint for the future.