A funny thing happened in industrial relations in late March and early April. Applications to vary key awards in order to support continued employment and greater workplace flexibility were made to the Fair Work Commission by consent of traditionally warring industrial parties.

The commission, because the applications were made by consent, dealt with them within days, rather than the usual months or even years. The circumstances of COVID-19 required an approach of mutually assured survival instead of mutually assured decay and the response was uncharacteristically practical and swift. It is also decidedly temporary given that the life of those orders is limited to three months – although Labor has indicated it will be flexible about extending industrial relations exemptions to employers signing up to a new JobKeeper scheme.