Industrial relations in Australia: How trade unions became the country's biggest capitalists

As with any country, Australia's industrial relations set-up is much more than simply what is laid out in formal legislation.The industrial relations environment is the outcome of the country's history, culture, management behaviour, investment decisions and, above all, politics.In this article I'll try to examine Australia's industrial relations environment holistically.This broader picture is important because it gives context to some truly dramatic and farreaching legislative changes since 2022.If maintained, these legislative changes will, over time, make Australia a rather ugly place in which to seek to do business, at least in some key sectors.I'll argue several important points.First, Australia's industrial relations environment is dominated by ongoing attempts at deal-making between select unions and select 'big end of town' corporations.For the bulk of Australians, particularly small business operators, industrial relations is largely a bore that only occasionally interferes in their lives.Second, the leftist unions which now dominate Australia's labour movement have in many respects taken control of Australian capitalism.This is because they control probably the largest chunk of the compulsory retirement savings of working Australians.In a sense Australian unions almost don't need members, such is the massive income and wealth they generate through the more than $A1.4 trillion of superannuation retirement savings they manage and control (ASFA, 2025).Third, the collapse of trade union membership has nevertheless been so severe that it threatens the very existence of Australia's unions.Wide-sweeping changes to Australia's industrial relations legislation since 2022 are designed to achieve one thing: to save unions from 'membership death'. 2