Women's Work and the Howard Government: The Impact of Social Conservatism on Australian Industrial Relations

Abstract

This paper undertakes a preliminary exploration of the impact of social conservatism on Australian industrial relations. It posits that contradictions have emerged under the current government in terms of, on the one hand, support for ‘freeing up’ of the labour market, and, on the other hand, the inherent logic of Howard's free-market economic agenda. The contradiction is that freeing up the labour market involves support for a male breadwinner wage so that women do not enter the workplace. This agenda is carried out driven by free market ideas of minimum legislation, including no minimum wage legislation. To explain this agenda, attention is turned to the influence of right-wing pressure groups. Changes in the composition of the Lyons Forum within the Liberal Party of Australia since the 1998 election are then examined. A continuing influence by the forces of moral conservatism during the second term of the Howard coalition government is evident.