Law and Labour Market Regulation

Centre Members: Anna Chapman, Sean Cooney, Beth Gaze, Colin Fenwick, John Howe, Joo-Cheong Tham
Associates: Chris Arup, Peter Gahan, Richard Johnstone, Jill Murray, Richard Mitchell, Anthony O'Donnell, Shelley Marshall

This is an ongoing research programme which seeks to broaden the study of labour law to include wide regulatory concerns embracing the labour market generally. The project is designed to apply a regulatory perspective to labour law, to broaden the subject matter of labour law, and to view the impact of this regulatory field on individual workers taken across a life course. The project had its origins in the Redefining Labour Law Conference which was convened by the Centre in 1995, and was further developed at a workshop of labour law scholars convened by Griffith University's Socio-Legal Research Centre in 2002.

Over the past 6-8 years, the Centre's research activities in this general area have focussed upon specific projects concerning labour market regulation beyond the boundaries of the employment relationship. Topics covered include job creation (John Howe), social security (Chris Arup and Anthony O'Donnell), immigration (Anthony O'Donnell and Richard Mitchell), employment agency and recruitment (Anthony O'Donnell and Richard Mitchell), and special labour markets (Colin Fenwick).

During 2005, a two day conference was held at the Melbourne Law School on the theme Labour Law, Equity and Efficiency: Structuring and Regulating the Labour Market for the 21st Century. The conference was jointly organised by the Centre for Employment and Labour Relations Law in conjunction with the Australian Labour Law Association, the Bowater School of Management at Deakin University, the Law School, Griffith University, and the Law School, Victoria University. The event was extremely successful, with 115 attendees. A book drawn from the Conference proceedings was published by Federation Press in 2006.

In 2008 Centre Members and Associates pursued a diverse range of projects under this research framework.