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John Murray

Senior lecturer

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Ambivalent Finance and Protected Labour: Alternative Investments and Labour Management in Australia

Author

  • Mark Westcott
  • John Murray

Editor

  • Howard Gospel

Summary, in English

This chapter highlights two contradictory trends. Successive federal governments have attempted to create a favourable regulatory environment for financial institutions, including NIFs, through a series of general (reform of the financial market regulation) and specific (tax breaks for venture capital and investment fund capital gains) regulatory initiatives. At the same time, the mix of corporate and labour law in Australia imposes significant impediments to the capacity of new owners to restructure their obligations to the workforce inherited by their purchase. The regulatory web of labour law, with its provisions for transfer of business and current rights for unions to be bargaining agents, means that investors taking over Australian corporate assets have little room to reduce their labour costs in the short term. Notwithstanding these restrictions, PE in particular has become more active in the acquisition of mature businesses, though HFs investing in Australian assets seems to be relatively inactive.

Publishing year

2014-02-01

Language

English

Pages

115-147

Publication/Series

Financialization, New Investment Funds, and Labour: An International Comparison

Document type

Book chapter

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Topic

  • Business Administration

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISBN: 9780199653584