WorkChoices and Fair Work Australia

Being a little ignorant of IR policy differences between the ALP and the Liberals, I thought I'd dot-point the similarities and differences they had/have.

Similarities:

• Can only strike during a bargaining period;
• Industry-wide (pattern) bargaining is banned;
• Secret ballot required before industrial action;
• A single, national industrial relations system;

Differences:

• Focus on enterprise bargaining rather than individual contracts (this wouldn't matter except the Libs removed the "No Disadvantage Test");
• Unfair dismissal legislation is sort-of back with the ALP (so long as you've worked for 6 months in the business; 12 months if less than 15 people in the business);
• With the Liberals, laws prevented union right of entry into the workplace;

There are more differences - even less significant - however, all the differences are minor compared with the similarities.