Le Queux, Stephane, Rasmussen, Erling, Lamm, Felicty, and Ravenswood, Katherine (2016) Nouvelle-Zélande: l'austérité du politique: "steady as she goes" [New Zealand: the austerity policy: "steady as she goes"]. Chronique Internationale de l'IRES, 154. pp. 49-60.

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Abstract

Lors de son discours d'investiture auprès de l'assemblée du Parlement Australien, en Septembre 2015, Malcom Turnbull, nouveau leader désigné de la coalition libérale-nationale au pouvoir, faisait état de son admiration pour son homologue néo-zélandais, John Key. Celuici fut d'ailleurs le premier chef d'État au-quel il rendit visite officielle dès son entrée en fonction. La Nouvelle-Zélande est présentée comme un modèle à suivre et une source d'inspiration pour la nouvelle administration Australienne. En effet, la conjoncture économique Néo-Zélandaise semble favorable. Pour la première fois depuis longtemps, on a même assisté à un flux migratoire inversé de l’Australie vers la Nouvelle-Zélande. À l'obsession budgétaire et une stricte gestion monétariste des Australiens, les Néo-zélandais ont affiché un laisser-faire, une "austérité" du politique (voir l’introduction du dossier), qui contraste avec la politique d'austérité des Australiens. John Key, au pouvoir depuis 2008, s'est contenté de maintenir la barre sans grandes réformes y inclus sur le plan des relations professionnelles, hormis dans le champ de la santé et sécurité au travail. Cependant, malgré une relative prospérité, le précariat progresse au point d'aboutir à l'émergence d'une "underclass" et provoque du mécontentement communautaire.

[A national referendum in 1993 changed the political representation system in New Zealand from first-past-the-post to proportional representation, altering the balance of power. As in countries with similar representation, it is difficult for one major party to govern alone and this has made radical political change in New Zealand less likely. This may explain in part why the post-2008 period has featured piecemeal employment relations reforms. Instead of introducing major employment relations reforms as promised in 2008, the National coalition governments in the past 7 years have tinkered with the existing Employment Relations Act, 2000. Moreover, the political response from the conservative coalition government to the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) could be described as laissez-faire resulting in little government interference in either the economy, labour market or employment relations. One could also argue that there was no real appetite for major employment relations reforms in light of the on-going effects GFC. The exception, however, is in the area of occupational health and safety in which, after a major mine disaster and the revelation that New Zealand had some of the worst injury, illness and fatality rates among OECD countries, new legislation has been passed in August 2015.

The New Zealand economy has performed well in recent years. However, bottlenecks in housing and urban infrastructure, inequalities in living standards, and rising environmental pressures are all challenges to achieving sustainable and inclusive growth. In spite of the National Government's "steady as she goes" approach post-GFC, there are still a number of outstanding issues and trends that require comment. In particular, there is a growing level of inequality and rising unemployment, particularly among certain groups such as young and older workers together with lower exports and commodity prices all of which indicate that the economy is slowing.]

Item ID:	45692
Item Type:	Article (Research - C1)
ISSN:	1285-087X
Keywords:	New Zealand, employment, industrial relations
Date Deposited:	24 Oct 2016 01:06
FoR Codes:	35 COMMERCE, MANAGEMENT, TOURISM AND SERVICES > 3505 Human resources and industrial relations > 350504 Industrial and employee relations @ 100%
SEO Codes:	91 ECONOMIC FRAMEWORK > 9104 Management and Productivity > 910401 Industrial Relations @ 100%
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