Death of Labour Law? Comparative Perspectives

In his preface, the author states that labour law has fallen from favour as a subject of study in Australian Universities. Attempts to counter that situation should be applauded. Indeed the author's first purpose is to generate debate about labour law as part of the social fabric of all countries in the 21st century and to demonstrate that labour law, even when narrowly defined in terms of employment protection, is needed for the wellbeing of society in a modern economy. His discourse concludes with a reference to the concept of 'flexicurity', taken from the Green Paper of the European Commission 2006. That is to return to a largely unrestricted right of dismissal in exchange for a generous state unemployment benefit and a program of recurrent education for all workers to enable them to offer a greater range of needed skills in the general employment market thereby as a generality being only transitorily out of work. That concept is to be considered in the context of the current 'Forward with Fairness' reforms of the Rudd Government in Australia.