1.

Use Riley to summarise the main components of the national system &
the state system of IR
2. What complications were there from having state and federal industrial
systems?
3. What are the benefits of moving towards a national workplace relations
system?
4. List the minimum employment standards for Australia
5. Explain the purpose behind the minimum wage & the impact of this
6. Distinguish between awards, enterprise agreements and employment contracts
including the breakdown of numbers on each
7. Use Riley to describe the evolution of Australia's Industrial Relations system
(half a page)
2. From having state industrial systems, there are many more administrative costs
involved since the various states must implement their own individual standards and
wages. This could decrease the level of productivity. However, in a federal system,
employers and employees in the national system now have the same workplace rights
and obligations regardless of the state they work in.

The state industrial relations system consists of state industrial commissions and
tribunals that administer state awards. These state awards apply to employees who
are not in the national industrial relations system since their wages and working
conditions are determined by state industrial commissions or tribunals. The
employees not covered by the national industrial relations system are mainly state
government and local government employees:
3.

A set of ten National Employment Standards (NES)

Modern Awards that apply nationally to specific industries and occupations
A National Minimum Wage administered by Fair Work Australia
Enterprise bargaining arrangements for employees and employers negotiating
collective agreements
Protection of employees from unfair dismissal
Often more flexibility for workers and incentives to work harder
4. - 38hrs max wking hr plus additional reasonable overtime hours
Request for flexible working hours
Paid Parental leave
Annual leave 4 weeks
Personal carers, 10 days personal leave
Community serve leave
Jury duty leave (unpaid)
Long service leave
Public holidays
Notice of termination and redundancy pay
Fair work information statement
5. The National Minimum Wage acts as a safety net for employees in the national
workplace relations system by providing minimum rates of pay for employees
not covered by an award or a workplace agreement. The National Minimum

Wage is adjusted by the Minimum Wage Panel of Fair Work Australia at its
annual Wage Review in June each year. Its objective is to establish and
maintain a safety net of fair minimum wages, but also take into account the
state of the economy and productivity.
The general purpose of a minimum wage law is to guarantee a living wage to all
workers who work a standard period of time, whatever that may be. In theory, any
laborer who works 38 hours a week on minimum wage should be at or above the
poverty line. However, the minimum wage has not kept pace with inflation and cost of
living increases, and is now well behind that standard.
Setting a minimum wage
decreases the level of unemployment (more structural unemployment)

The graph above shows the changes that form once a price floor is set. W1 is the
minimum price for labour. The price floor produces a surplus is this example. Because
the price to hire worker is higher than before, employers are less willing and able to
hire labourers. At W1, this is above the equilibrium point; you can tell from the graph
that, the quantity of labour that the company demanded has decreased. Since this is
related to a change in the price, this would cause a movement up and along the
demand curve (from LO to L2).