Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

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

Westcott, Mark and Murray, John LU orcid (2014) p.115-147
Abstract
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... (More)
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. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
and
publishing date
type
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
publication status
published
subject
host publication
Financialization, New Investment Funds, and Labour: An International Comparison
editor
Gospel, Howard
pages
115 - 147
publisher
Oxford University Press
ISBN
9780199653584
DOI
10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199653584.003.0004
language
English
LU publication?
no
id
43524c07-7d6b-492f-922a-b6e160ef8a0c
date added to LUP
2024-02-14 10:50:14
date last changed
2024-02-15 13:30:48
@inbook{43524c07-7d6b-492f-922a-b6e160ef8a0c,
  abstract     = {{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.}},
  author       = {{Westcott, Mark and Murray, John}},
  booktitle    = {{Financialization, New Investment Funds, and Labour: An International Comparison}},
  editor       = {{Gospel, Howard}},
  isbn         = {{9780199653584}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{02}},
  pages        = {{115--147}},
  publisher    = {{Oxford University Press}},
  title        = {{Ambivalent Finance and Protected Labour: Alternative Investments and Labour Management in Australia}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199653584.003.0004}},
  doi          = {{10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199653584.003.0004}},
  year         = {{2014}},
}