The 2006 Howard Government Work Choices reforms meant
Queensland's private sector workforce became covered by the
federal system, while state and local government employees, sole
traders, partnerships, unincorporated and not-for-profit entities
remained under the state system.
The federal industrial relations (IR) system has seen several
significant developments, while the Queensland framework many
fewer. This caused a disjunct between the workplace protections
available to the Queensland public sector and those available to
private sector employees.
Following an independent review of the Queensland IR system,
released earlier this year1, the Palaszczuk Government
has introduced into Parliament an almost 800-page long Industrial
Relations Bill 2016 (the Bill). If passed, the Bill will more
closely align the Queensland and federal systems, and provide state
and local government employees with new workplace protections
similar to those available to employees under
