The Department of Employment and Industrial Relations was an

Australian government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Like other Westminster-style systems of government, the Australian Government i ...

department that existed between May 1982 and July 1987. It was the second Australian Government Department to be given the name. When announcing the new department in 1982, Prime Minister

Malcolm Fraser John Malcolm Fraser (; 21 May 1930 – 20 March 2015) was an Australian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Australia from 1975 to 1983, holding office as the leader of the Liberal Party of Australia. Fraser was raised on hi ...

issued a press release stating that "the Government's policies in relation to maintaining high levels of employment and effective industrial relations, and the close links between these two areas require the Departments of

Industrial Relations Industrial relations or employment relations is the multidisciplinary academic field that studies the employment relationship; that is, the complex interrelations between employers and employees, labor/trade unions, employer organizations, ...

and Employment and Youth Affairs to be brought together again. The Department's were split during the formative stages of the employment and training programs."

Scope

Information about the department's functions and/or government funding allocation could be found in the Administrative Arrangements Orders, the annual Portfolio Budget Statements and in the department's annual reports. At its creation, the department was responsible for the following: *Commonwealth Employment *Manpower and training *Youth affairs *Re-instatement in civil employment of national servicemen, members of the Reserve Forces and members of the Citizen Forces *Industrial relations, including - **Conciliation and Arbitration in relation to industrial disputes **Promotion of sound industrial relations policies, practices and machinery **Co-ordination of Government policies on wages and labour costs **Monitoring of industrial disputes involving Commonwealth employees in departments and authorities **Chairmanship of the Co-ordination Committee on industrial relations in Commonwealth employment.

Structure

The department was an

Australian Public Service The Australian Public Service (APS) is the federal civil service of the Commonwealth of Australia responsible for the public administration, public policy, and public services of the departments and executive and statutory agencies of the G ...

department, staffed by officials who were responsible to the Minister for Employment and Industrial Relations.

References

Ministries established in 1982 Employment and Industrial Relations 1982 establishments in Australia Ministries disestablished in 1987 {{Australia-gov-stub