BUS332 Week 3 The State

Overview Lecture 1

 Describe the structure of the state

 Explain the roles of the Legislature, the Executive and the Judiciary

Defining ‘the state’

 Common to use the term ‘state’ rather than ‘government’

 ‘state’ describes a variety of institutions that regulate employment relations
 In Australia,
o Arbitration tribunals and judicial courts have had a key role
o Operate independently of elected political parties and government administrators

Role and function of the state

 The state is the entire apparatus of formal roles and public institutions that exercise political
authority over populations within a given territory

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 3 components of the state
o Legislature

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o Executive
o Judiciary

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The Constitution
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The Legislature (Parliament)

 Law-making body, consisting of representatives elected by the people at elections

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 In Australia, the legislature comprises

o House of Representatives (lower house), where most legislation originates
o Senate (upper house or house of review), where legislation is reviewed and debated
(76 members)

The Executive

 Made up of elected government and the public bureaucracy (a system of government in

which most of the important decisions are taken by state officials rather than by elected
representatives) that advises, administers and implements policy
 Responsible to the legislature

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 BUS332 Week 3 The State

 There are separate federal, state and territory executives

 Key decision-makers are the prime minister and cabinet ministers (at the federal level) and
the premier/chief minister and cabinet (at the state and territory level)

Employment relations tribunals, courts and agencies of the Commonwealth

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The Judiciary
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 Comprises the court system, its judges and the supporting infrastructure
 Is responsible for interpreting and enforcing the law in order to resolve disputes
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 Has always played a key role in Australian ER

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 BUS332 Week 3 The State

Overview Lecture 2

 Elaborate the functions of the state in ER

 Recognise and describe state intervention in ER
 Explain the role of the state as an employer

Role and function of the state

 Claus Offe (1975) identified two dominant functions for the state:
o To ensure the continued ‘accumulation’ of profit
o To ensure the overall ‘legitimacy’ of the system
 Conflict can occur between the accumulation and legitimation aspects of the state
 The state performs variety of functions in employment relations:
o Legislator
o Labour market regulator
o Conciliator, arbitrator and mediator

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o Employer of labour
o Offers public goods

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Patterns of state intervention in Australia

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The state has always played a prominent role in ER in Australia
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 The form of state intervention has changed
o End-19th century
o Compulsory conciliation and arbitration continued until brief attempt in 1980s by
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adopting corporatism through the Accord (an official agreement)

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 Recent rise of neoliberalism

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 1901 Constitution:
o Conciliation and arbitration 51 (xxxv)
o Executive 61
o Foreign affairs 51 (i)
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o Foreign affairs 51 (xxix)

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o Corporations 51 (xx)
 The core traditional form of state intervention, compulsory conciliation and arbitration,
meant governments delegated resolution of industrial disputes to independent tribunals
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 Active State
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 Compulsory conciliation and arbitration

 Rise of neoliberalism

The corporatist state

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 Australia between 1983 and 1995

 The Accord
o Agreement between Federal Labour Party government and trade union movement
 The State ‘incorporates’ private interest groups into the making and enforcement of public
policy
 Voluntary corporatism is most commonly associated with European societies

The receding state: neoliberalism

 1996; election of the Howard Coalition Government

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 BUS332 Week 3 The State

 Integration of trade unions into policy-making ceased

 More traditional policy-making processes
 Policy developments included:
o Constraints on public spending
o Erosion of wage earners’ welfare state
o Privatisation of government-owned enterprises
o Marketisation

The state as employer

 Shrinking public employment

o Public-sector managerialism
o ‘Marketisation’
o Management control in the public sector

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Role of the State?

 Role of the state changed from the mid 1980s

o First wave of reform ‘managerialism’
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o Second wave of reform ‘marketisation’

Managerialism and marketisation in public sector

 Changes include:
o Devolution of authority
o User pay
o Demise of cross-subsidisation
o Employment losses
o De-layering of management

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 BUS332 Week 3 The State

o Performance management and work restructuring

 Marketisation was second major wave of reform of public sector

Marketisation in public sector

 In Australia this resulted in privatisation in three main forms:

o Partial or complete sale of equity in public enterprises
o Contracting-out of services formerly performed within public sector to private sector
o Approval of privately built and operated pubic infrastructure projects

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