Third Party Intervention Reconsidered: New Roles for Australian Industrial Tribunals

Abstract

This paper examines the decisive shift away from traditional forms of third party intervention by public dispute resolution agencies in Canada, the US, Ireland and the UK. It also argues that, given the decline of dispute resolution in the Australian context and the imminent establishment of Fair Work Australia, it is timely to consider providing our federal workplace tribunal with a more expansive dispute prevention capability. In doing so, policy-makers in Australia would be wise to consider the recent experience of comparable overseas agencies. Moving in this direction would fit with the government’s often-stated objectives for the new system of workplace regulation: fairness for employees, national competitiveness, and the productivity needs of businesses.