Despite decades of Equal Opportunity legislation, gender inequality persists in Australian universities. This is largely due to the shaping of universities by new market principles, discourses of individualisation that render the asymmetry of gender relations invisible, and privileging masculine epistemologies. Concurrently, industrial relations…

The Fair Work Act (2009) in Australia deregulates "work" in work-integrated learning (WIL) by distinguishing "vocational placement" from "employee". Following concerns about the legal position of WIL and work experience, the Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) published a fact sheet and commenced a joint research project into…

This paper uses data from interviews with representatives of national and state organisations that have a policy interest in student-working in Australia. The interviewees included representatives from employer bodies and trade unions as well as government organisations. The data are used to discuss these stakeholders' perceptions of the main…

Discusses options which, if adopted, would result in major changes to the way in which costs of training are shared in Australia. In the internal levy model, a minimum training expenditure obligation is imposed on enterprises, after the French system; in the Australian system, training levies have been external, requiring enterprises to contribute…

The author believes that protective legislation in Australia has made women second-class citizens. He argues that while the elimination of discriminatory laws may help to improve women's employment prospects, the real need is for a concerted attempt to change attitudes that deny women equal opportunities in training, appointment, and promotion.…

Increased casual employment and contract labor challenge the protective nature of Australian labor law. Laws and social policies should not cause casual and self-employed workers to be denied benefits nor allow employers to evade standards. (SK)

This country profile of Australia is one of a series of country profiles intended to give the user a graphic view of the structure, outputs, and legal basis of the vocational training system of individual countries in the Asia-Pacific region. The data, gathered by the Asian and Pacific Skill Development Programme in Pakistan, generally cover the…

The nature and effects of current common understandings of the relationship between work and literacy were examined along with the typical design and objectives of workplace literacy programs for members of Australia's work force. Special attention was paid to the following topics: changing demands of work and literacy at work; discourses of…