Legal
Issue No. 26 - December/January 2005/06
Procedural fairness at risk
by Michael Hegarty
The Federal Government proposes to remove the right to bring an action for unfair dismissal for people who work for organisations with less than 100 employees. This covers a significant part of the work force. What will the proposed reform mean for the labour market, and for Australia and Australians generally?
Today we live in a very uncertain world. The Twin Towers, the Bali bombings and the London bus and train attacks all make us very much aware of the uncertainties of life.
The positive aspects of our national identity give us strength to cope with such events. The ANZAC spirit and beliefs in mateship and in fighting for the underdog are central to Australia’s sense of identity. The beliefs of our forefathers and what they fought for give us the freedom that we enjoy today.
We are fortunate to live in a democracy. We live in a country with many desirable assets. It has been said that we are “a lucky country”; "with golden soil and wealth for toil" (to quote our national anthem).
We have developed systems that reflect our way of life, what we want to be and how we want to be seen. Equal opportunity and fairness to all are integral to our Australian way of life.
Our legal system tries to address perceived wrongs. It is not a perfect system but it is there and provides an alternative to anarchy or “survival of the biggest”.
It enables us to challenge wrongs done to us. A person with a grievance is entitled to go before an independent judicial officer and plead their case. Each party is allowed to put their side of the story. We may not always agree with the result but at least both parties have been heard. This is a fundamental right in our society.
It is not entirely clear as to what is the rationale for introducing laws which will deny to one category of Australians the right to challenge injustices that arise at work; the right to protest an unfair dismissal.
The actual legis...
