The Hancock Report: Tradition Triumphant

Abstract

The Report of the Committee of Review into Australian Industrial Relations Law and Systems is in many ways an impressive document. It is the product of a great deal of expert knowledge and hard work. It deals with many aspects of our industrial relations system and, with a few notable exceptions, its proposals would be an improvement on the present situation. If, as seems likely, the federal government legislates to give effect to nearly all of its recommendations, we shall be much better off as a result. Nevertheless, it is a disappointment and a lost opportunity. It retains too many aspects of the federal conciliation and arbitration system that were always misconceived and are now entirely outdated. In some respects, it takes us further down the wrong path, entrenching the legal and court-type institutions and practices that have been the fundamental anomalies of the system. While it provides more flexibility in some respects, it could with advantage have gone very much further. It will leave us with far too rigid a system at a time when we need to encourage more participation.