Workplace Laws Too Confusing for Well-Meaning Employers: Costello

Former Treasurer Peter Costello during the Australian Financial Review (AFR) summit, Investing for Growth, at the Hilton Hotel in Sydney, Tuesday, March 10, 2020. AAP Image/Dean LewinsMELBOURNE, Australia—Australia’s industrial relations laws and the awards they produce are overly complex and represent a trap for otherwise well-meaning employers, says Peter Costello.The country’s longest-serving treasurer, who held the role from 1996 to 2007, told the H.R. Nicholls Society annual conference that in many cases it was taxpayers who paid the cost, while the entire nation paid in terms of lost productivity.