The Building and Construction Industry: Retaliation or Reform?

Abstract

This article examines the Australian building and construction industry within the context of economic downturn and recession. Due to the poor reputation of the industry, increasingly accepted by the public at large, two processes have been put in place. One is a Royal Commission into Productivity in the Building Industry of New South Wales which has recommended a variety of punitive measures to bring the industry under control The other is a programme set up within a corporatist framework, described as the Construction Industry Development Strategy. The Strategy is designed to reform the industry through channels of consultation and cooperation at all levels.

It has argued that the remedies of the Royal Commission are anachronistic in light of the changes which have been taking place within the industry throughout the 1980's and up to the present. At the same time the process of reform is seen as mis-specified and manipulative in its attempt to bring economic stability and security to one of the most important industries in Australia.