Labor’s attempt to ram through the Secure Jobs, Better Pay industrial relations bill through parliament by Christmas isn’t just a bad process from a government that promised better. It’s also entirely the wrong conversation about how Australia should regulate relations between employers and their staff in order to sustain a high-wage economy that can compete in the global marketplace of the information age.

Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke is doubling down on the peculiar system of Australian industrial relations, forged out of disputes of the late 19th century. He pretends that lifting nominal wages by edict can raise real wages and living standards, rather than encourage inflation and higher interest rates.