Industrial Legislation in 2006

The complete overhaul of Australian labour laws by the federal government's Work Choices revisions continued to dominate debate and legislative activity throughout 2006. This article first considers some of the legislative and non-legislative regulatory responses of the State governments, and then outlines the implications of the new federal Independent Contractors legislation. Some late fine-tuning of the post-Work Choices, Workplace Relations Act to address problems identified in its first six months of operation is also noted.