Unfair dismissal laws are a nonsense.

If your employer does not want you then what is the point in hanging
around in the job ?
Get out and find a job where your efforts are appreciated.

But how do you deal with situations where employees are fired for pointing our safety violations?

I don't quite understand how the author can claim he has an opposition to unfair dismissal laws, then state "The tricky part for the Government is to draw a line between a small number of genuine unfair dismissals and the right of employers to hire whoever they wish to hire". Or is he accepting that "genuine unfair dismissals" are vanishingly rare, and nothing can ever be done to prevent them, therefore there's no use legislating against them?

The onus is already on the employee to prove that a dismissal is unfair, and by all accounts, this is not trivial to do.

Employers who seek to avoid unnecessary angst over the dismissal of an Employee need to take more time in their recruitment procedures in the first instance and then hiring staff for an initial probationary period after which time continued employment is terminated or confirmed.

Where longer term Employees performance is unsatisfactory this simply requires a review process where the Employee is made aware of their shortcomings and a record of the review made available in confirmation with a suitable caution that further unsatisfactory performance could lead to termination if not addressed.

The Award system generally dealt with issues of dismissals and retrenchments until the Howard Government embarked on their award stripping process which made unfair dismissal laws necessary.

Workers are not going to return to the master / servant era

Unfair dismissal just creates a casualised work place and reduces employment opportunities.Having a job is not a right.Small business is marginal at best and with the price of fuel continuing to climb,economic growth will fall resulting in less job opportunities.We will all have to become more self reliant and frugal in our lifestyles.

These days there are ample opportunities to be self employed or run a small business but most don't want to risk it or put in the long hard hours.

"But how do you deal with situations where employees are fired for pointing our safety violations?"
So why would you want to work in a place where there are safety violations anyway?

It always gets me how really lacking in personal pride and dignity someone would have to be if they were to contest a dismissal in the first place. Just how could any self respecting person remain in a place where they are not wanted?
If you were visiting friends and after a few hours you noticed they began to yawn and look at their watch, wouldn't the normal person see that as a signal to immediately get up and say his good-byes?
Isn't it only the most pathetic of individuals who intentionally ignores the warning signs and continues nibbling at the finger food and going on with his boring stories that entertain no one?

If I was an employer I would be very hesitant about hiring someone who had only left his previous employ after a messy legal action whether or not he had "won" the case.

Edward, by that argument you might as well argue against having safety regulations - it should enough that employees won't want to work in unsafe environments purely because they can see their coworkers getting injured and killed.

The reality is that there will always be employers that are sloppy, ignorant or short-sighted. As long as employees feel secure reporting what they see as less-than-ideal workplace conditions, the harm from this can be kept to a minimum. In an environment where employees fear being sacked for reporting safety violations there are no checks and balances. Yes, some employees will realise they are better off elsewhere, but inevitably not all will be in a position to find a better job, or may not even be aware that their work environment is unsafe.

If unfair dismissal laws can help save lives and prevent serious injuries, then they are fully justified even if they do result in slightly lower employment rates.