Asian Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 20, No. 1, 147–164, 2015 © Asian Academy of Management and Penerbit Universiti Sains Malaysia, 2015 UNFAIR DISMISSAL FOR AUSTRALIAN WORKERS: THE HUNDRED-YEAR JOURNEY Kim Southey School of Management and Enterprise, Faculty of Business, Education, Law and Arts, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba Queensland 4350 Australia E-mail: southeyk@usq.edu.au ABSTRACT This paper examines the journey Australia traversed in the development at of the unfair dismissal protections it provides the majority of its workers, since the nation's Federation in 1901. Historically, the country's Constitutional "heads of power" were intended to prohibit the federal government from regulating individual aspects of the employment relationship. Over time, such interpretations of the constitutional powers were challenged by governing parties, resulting in the modern-day, "national" unfair dismissal protections afforded to the majority of workers. The journey Australians traversed during the architecture of their current unfair dismissal legislation provides a lesson on a government's ability to conjure significant influence on individual arrangements between management and workers. Despite Australia's participation in the worldwide, neoliberal push to deregulate labour markets, the protection of workers from unfair dismissal is an explicit matter in the employment relationship attracting increased regulation through industrial legislation. This paper culminates in reporting the consequences facing employers who improperly administer dismissals and how employers can take steps to mitigate such risks. Keywords: unfair dismissal, neoliberal termination of employment, industrial legislation, labour market INTRODUCTION Legal protection against the unjust termination of employees from their jobs has held significant prominence in Australia's industrial landscape, particularly during the past thirty years. In Australia, "unfair dismissal" refers to the termination of an employee's service without the employer exercising due care for the worker's right to procedural justice. Such termination also occurs when a dismissal reflects a disproportionate application of the employer's prerogative to terminate the employment relationship. This paper examines the crafting of unfair dismissal protections covering Australian workers by successive federal