Editing Mediation (section)

===Industrial relations===

====Australia====
ADR, Alternative Dispute Resolution, began in industrial relations in Australia long before the arrival of the modern ADR movement.<ref>{{harvnb|Boulle|2005|p=286}}</ref> One of the first statutes passed by the Commonwealth parliament was the Conciliation
and Arbitration Act 1904 (Cth). This allowed the Federal Government to pass laws on conciliation and arbitration for the prevention and settlement of industrial disputes extending beyond the limits of any one state. Conciliation has been the most prominently used form of ADR, and is generally far removed from modern mediation.

Significant changes in state policy took place from 1996 to 2007. The 1996 Workplace Relations Act (Cth) sought to shift the industrial system away from a collectivist approach, where unions and the [[Australian Industrial Relations Commission]] (AIRC) had strong roles, to a more decentralized system of individual bargaining between employers and employees.<ref>{{harvnb|Bamber|et al.|2000|p=43}}</ref>{{Full citation needed|date=October 2015}} The Act diminished the traditional role of the AIRC by placing the responsibility of resolving disputes at the enterprise level.<ref>{{harvnb|Boulle|2005|p=287}}</ref> This allowed mediation to be used to resolve industrial relations disputes instead of traditional conciliation.

In industrial relations under the 2006 [[WorkChoices]] amendments to the [[Workplace Relations Act 1996|Workplace Relations Act]]. Examples of this use of mediation can be seen in recent enterprise bargaining negotiations.
The Australian government claimed the benefits of mediation to include the following:<ref>{{harvnb|Van Gramberg|2006|p=11}}</ref>{{Full citation needed|date=October 2015}}

* Cost saving
* Reduced polarization
* Education
* Broader issues vs the courts
* Greater access to justice
* More control by disputant over the process