Employer Industrial Relations Policy in Queensland and Postwar Reconstruction

Abstract

Towards the end of the Second World War, employers moved to counter the impact of Marxism and other doctrines that questioned the appropriateness of a capitalist market economy in postwar Australia. Widespread calls for a 'new order' became the focal point of fears of 'left-wing' political thought. The Institute of Public Affairs constructed a model of a desirable Australia that placed considerable weight on industrial relations issues. This paper locates employer industrial relations policy in Queensland within the ideological framework assembled by the Institute of Public Affairs. The elements of this policy are explained in terms of an urgent search by employers for means of obtaining discipline and commitment from the workforce when parts of it were attracted to radical politics and when all of it was, for the first time, enjoying the experience of full employment. In Queensland, an ideological, political and organisational counter-attack was launched against those who sought radical change in industrial relationships and in wider social structures.