July 2024
- Opinion
- Building Bad
How the CFMEU tightened its grip on Australia’s cities
Combine governments that put nation-building at the heart of their political agendas with a legalised labour market monopoly. It’s a recipe for total control.
November 2023
- Opinion
- Industrial relations
Chalmers cannot fix productivity without fixing workplaces
The Treasurer is betting that he can win on productivity while going backwards on IR. He can only lose.
August 2023
- Opinion
- Industrial relations
Labor takes away the flexibility to cope with change
Most workplaces are stable, long-term relationships. But they need the ability to absorb shocks from their markets and from government policy.
July 2023
- Opinion
- Industrial relations
Australia can’t face the 21st century with obsolete workplaces
The climate transition and AUKUS submarines will put a huge premium on the workplace flexibility that this government has now opted out of.
June 2023
- Opinion
- Productivity
Albanese can’t fix productivity without getting on the IR tools
The clear signal is that past workplace law and practice will continue to constrain the future under the Prime Minister’s model.
January 2023
- Opinion
- Industrial relations
Why flexibility is key to modern work
The Albanese government wants wages to rise under new employment laws. So, why has it locked in out of date conditions?
July 2022
- Opinion
- Industrial relations
Labor’s productivity toolbox is empty
Unless the jobs summit delivers an unlikely breakthrough, the government is bringing nothing to the IR table to improve output but plenty that will lift costs.
July 2021
- Opinion
- Coronavirus pandemic
How to restore missing trust in the vaccine program
Admit the mistakes, then understand how real people take emotive decisions about risks to their health.
March 2021
Sixty not out: when cricketers play on
What happens to cricketers when their reflexes slow down and the quality of the afternoon tea is more important than the quality of the pitch? They keep playing... in the Vets.
December 2020
- Opinion
- Industrial relations
One big union is always less than the sum of its parts
Industrial relations rarely gets stranger than the CFMEU demerger. But then again, a mega-amalgamation across disparate industries never made any sense.
September 2020
- Opinion
- Coronavirus pandemic
Victorian crisis: no one's in charge - again
As if the Black Saturday bushfires and the royal commission had not happened, governance problems and lack of accountability have marred Victoria’s management of the second COVID-19 outbreak.
May 2020
- Opinion
- Industrial relations
Strike a grand workplace bargain
An IR reform deal is possible if employers gain control over flexible work practices in exchange for workers gaining higher pay and more secure jobs.
February 2020
- Opinion
- Employment
Clock-watching won't drive the productivity we need
Business has done too little to earn the trust needed for the flexible workplaces that are essential for higher productivity.