The Hancock Report was a report on the Australian Industrial Relations system by the Federal Government. The report argued for a centralised industrial relations system centred around awards, and argued against de-centralisation and enterprise bargaining http://jir.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/27/4/484. The report's findings were handed down in 1985, and started a long debate over industrial relations in Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 http://jir.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/27/4/484.

Background

In 1983 the Government commissioned Professor

Professor

A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...

 Keith Hancock

Keith Hancock

Sir Keith Hancock KBE was an Australian historian.He was born in Melbourne, Victoria, the son of Archdeacon William Hancock. At the age of nine, he won the Royal Humane Society's medal for rescuing another child from drowning in the Mitchell River. He was educated at Melbourne Grammar School...

 to examine the operation of the then-existing industrial relations system and to make recommendations as to its future direction http://www.aph.gov.au/senate/committee/economics_ctte/completed_inquiries/1996-99/workplace/report/e04.htm. The consequent 'Report of the Committee of Review into Australian Industrial Relations Law and Systems' was presented to the Government in 1985 http://www.aph.gov.au/senate/committee/economics_ctte/completed_inquiries/1996-99/workplace/report/e04.htm. The report provided a comprehensive assessment of Australian industrial relations and made a large number of recommendations regarding changes to the system http://www.aph.gov.au/senate/committee/economics_ctte/completed_inquiries/1996-99/workplace/report/e04.htm.

Recommendations

The Hancock Report's general conclusions about Australia's system of conciliation and arbitration were that:

• the abandonment of the existing conciliation and arbitration system would be fraught with great difficulties predominantly arising from the attitudes and practices of the parties, public opinion and the complexities of Federal /state relations and any attempt to do so would be strenuously resisted;

• the conciliation and arbitration system is, to a significant degree, adaptable and can accommodate different practices and policies if the parties so desire;

• attempts to move from a collective system would be difficult and undesirable;

• it affords a mechanisms of wage policy which is a useful instrument for pursuing macroeconomic objectives, such as curbing inflation and reducing or avoiding unemployment;

• the wage fixing system was helpful in that it affords a mechanism for a centralised wages policy, which assists in curbing inflation and contributes to a reduction and avoidance of unemployment;

public interest in wages policy requires that tribunal have regard to economic consequences of awards;

• definite and decisive advantages in an alternative system would have to be demonstrated to justify moving from a conciliation and arbitration system (which, in the Hancock Committee's view, had not been done);

• there was little or no evidence that the award system with effects on wage relativities had had damaging micro-economic consequences, including the promotion of an inflexible job market;

arguments about deregulation of the labour market did not allow for imperfections and concentrations of power in the labour market; and

• advantages claimed for systems devoid of conciliation and arbitration were speculative (and the Hancock Committee had no confidence that they would eventuate).

In relation to registered organisations and the requirements for registration, the Hancock Committee sought a balance between the interest of employees and employers in being able to have bona fide associations registered and the need for representation of employees and employers to be on an orderly and stable basis. The Hancock Committee therefore recommended a wider statutory test, but incorporating the concept 'conveniently belong'. This is discussed further in Chapter 7 (Paragraph 7.8) http://www.aph.gov.au/senate/committee/economics_ctte/completed_inquiries/1996-99/workplace/report/e04.htm.

Implementation

Many of the Hancock Committee's recommendations, including some of the more controversial ones such as the establishment of a Labour Court and new enforcement provisions, were adopted by the Industrial Relations Bill 1987 which was introduced into Parliament in May 1987 http://www.aph.gov.au/senate/committee/economics_ctte/completed_inquiries/1996-99/workplace/report/e04.htm. However, with the subsequent dissolution of Parliament, this Bill lapsed and a revised Bill (the Industrial Relations Bill 1988) was introduced after the Government was returned. The revised Bill became the Industrial Relations Act 1988 and did not differ much in substance from the previous Act http://www.aph.gov.au/senate/committee/economics_ctte/completed_inquiries/1996-99/workplace/report/e04.htm.

The Hancock Report's findings also led to the formation of the H.R. Nicholls Society, an industrial relations think tank

Think tank

A think tank is an organization that conducts research and engages in advocacy in areas such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, and technology issues. Most think tanks are non-profit organizations, which some countries such as the United States and Canada provide with tax...

 strongly in favour of deregulation

Deregulation

Deregulation is the removal or simplification of government rules and regulations that constrain the operation of market forces.Deregulation is the removal or simplification of government rules and regulations that constrain the operation of market forces.Deregulation is the removal or...

 and decentralisation

Décentralisation

Décentralisation is a french word for both a policy concept in French politics from 1968-1990, and a term employed to describe the results of observations of the evolution of spatial economic and institutional organization of France....

.