Industrial relations in the Australian health industry

Industrial relationships in the Health Industry are under unusual stresses because of the politicisation of health care funding and technological advances in medicine which generate the emergence of new demands for higher status by some vocational groups. These problems are being influenced by industrial policy initiatives inherent in the new approach by Labor Governments. The whole scheme of industrial regulation is being called into question by major inquiries such as the Hancock Inquiry, but despite the repeated suggestions that change should occur, it remains unlikely that dramatic new developments will emerge during the next few years.