Business Regulation and Workers' Compensation: A National Framework for Workers' Compensation in Australia?

Labour law in Australia is undergoing an unprecedented transformation. Fuelled by demands from big business and a dramatically changing constitutional landscape, the locus of regulation is shifting from the states and territories to the federal government. The most conspicuous illustration to date has been in the mainstream industrial relations arena as epitomized by the Howard Conservative Coalition Government's Work Choices legislation. More recently, the Rudd Labor Government has championed a national approach to occupational health and safety law based on its 'cooperative federalism' agenda. Though less pronounced, workers' compensation for injury at work has also been the subject of growing business demands for greater national regulation. In examining this issue, this paper will first of all outline previous attempts to develop a national workers' compensation framework before turning to a consideration of more recent policy and legal developments, which have contributed to the emerging regulatory realignment of workers' compensation laws and policy. The paper will also identify the major constraints on the drive for a national regulatory framework.