Belinda Smith

Industrial Legislation in 2010

Two themes in legislative activity in 2010 were national uniformity and some movement in using law to promote equality, especially gender equality. The Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) came into full effect with the commencement of the new safety net provisions and the referral to the Commonwealth of industrial relations powers over private-sector workforces in all states except Western Australia. Progress continued on the promised harmonization of Australian occupational health and safety laws with the release of a model Work Health and Safety Bill by Safe Work Australia, although developments in some states threaten to derail the process. An attempt to repeal most of the industry-specific regulation of the building and construction industry failed. The Federal Parliament passed legislation establishing a national paid parental leave scheme, and a number of changes to federal discrimination laws came into effect or were proposed, including the potential consolidation of federal discrimination legislation. This article provides an overview of these developments at federal level and concludes with a discussion of developments in the states including a brief overview of Victoria’s new equal opportunity legislation.

How Might Information Bolster Anti-Discrimination Laws to Promote More Family-Friendly Workplaces?

Anti-discrimination laws by themselves have proven ineffective at countering discrimination against women and workers with caring responsibilities. This paper recommends ways that anti-discrimination laws could be made more effective by combining them with tools of information such as guidance materials. It examines the possible reasons for non-compliance and how different types of guidance materials could help address each of these compliance barriers. Ultimately, however, to achieve equality, organisations have to look internally and produce local and contextual information about how discrimination manifests and can be addressed, and this requires more than the provision of information by external agencies.

Book Review: Gender Injustice: An International Comparative Analysis of Equality in Employment

124 in Chapter 14. It is based on the tensions described in Chapters 5–13, viewed in light of the socio-cultural context presented in Chapters 1–4. As the editors conclude, ‘the research in this book suggests that it is not enough for HR to fulfill a generic profitseeking and performance-enhancing strategy. It must also pursue a strategy that is culturally adaptive and considers the historical and cultural context in which the HR practices are embedded’ (p. 236). Thus, the book’s unifying theme applies to teaching, practice and research in comparative HRM. In sum, this book is an excellent resource for those practitioners or scholars who want to understand, practice or study HRM in Latin America.