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David Peetz

Professor of Employment Relations, Griffith University

David Peetz is Professor of Employment Relations at Griffith University, where he has worked for over a decade. He previously worked at the Australian National University and in the then Commonwealth Department of Industrial Relations, spending over five years in its Senior Executive Service. He has been a consultant for the International Labour Organisation in Thailand, Malaysia and China, and undertaken work for unions, employers and governments of both political persuasions. He is a fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia.

Yes, government influences wages – but not just in the way you might think

Apr 12, 2025 09:55 am UTC| Insights & Views Life

Can the government actually make a difference to the wages Australians earn? A lot of attention always falls on the governments submission to the Fair Work Commissions annual wage review, which this year called for a real...

Chance for genuine industrial relations reform thrown under the omnibus

Dec 17, 2020 11:50 am UTC| Insights & Views Economy

When Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced the formation of five working groups of employers, unions and government officials in June 2020, he signalled an unexpected twist to industrial relations reform. Some...

What if we measured the thing that matters most: "carbon productivity"

Oct 26, 2019 08:14 am UTC| Insights & Views Technology Economy

Ask any economist a question, and you will usually get the answer: productivity. The winner of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Economics, Paul Krugman, set the standard in 1994: Productivity isnt everything, but, in the...

There's an obvious reason wages aren't growing, but you won't hear it from Treasury or the Reserve Bank

Sep 10, 2019 20:39 pm UTC| Insights & Views Central Banks

Wages growth for Australian workers is among the worst in the industrialised world. For more than a third of workers on individual contracts, wages arent growing at all. This is odd, given Australia is in a record 28th...

What the stoush between the federal government and the CFMMEU is really about (spoiler: there's an election coming)

Sep 24, 2018 06:30 am UTC| Insights & Views Politics

Since Malcolm Turnbull was ousted as prime minister, we have seen a renewed focus by the federal government on targeting union officials. The latest, and also most enduring, target is the Construction, Forestry,...

Finance drives everything — including your insecurity at work

Aug 14, 2018 04:23 am UTC| Insights & Views Life

Theres a common link between the many things that have promoted insecurity at work: the growth of franchising; labour hire; contracting out; spin-off firms; outsourcing; global supply chains; the gig economy; and so on....

The government is belatedly backing the penalty rates cut it always wanted

Mar 27, 2017 09:11 am UTC| Insights & Views Law

Its impossible for the government to substantially ease the hardship for workers from the Fair Work Commissions decision to cut some penalty rates as the governments submission into its implementation illustrates. Nor can...

Economy

Malaysia’s Q1 GDP Grows 4.4%, U.S. Exports Surge Amid Tariff Concerns

Malaysias economy expanded by 4.4% year-on-year in Q1 2025, according to official advance estimates released Friday. While slower than the 5% growth recorded in Q4 2024, the economy remained resilient amid global...

Japan’s Inflation Rises as U.S. Tariff Risks Weigh on BOJ Policy

Japans core inflation rose in March, driven by persistent food cost increases, complicating the Bank of Japans (BOJ) path toward further rate hikes amid growing concerns over U.S. trade tariffs. The core consumer price...

Gold Pulls Back from Record Highs After Fed's Hawkish Signals and Profit-Taking

Gold prices dipped on Thursday in Asian trading after briefly hitting another record high, as investors took profits and digested hawkish comments from U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. Spot gold fell 0.7% to...

Oil Prices Climb on Iran Sanctions, OPEC Output Cuts, and U.S. Inventory Data

Oil prices rose on Thursday amid growing concerns of supply tightening after the U.S. imposed new sanctions to restrict Iranian oil exports and several OPEC members pledged to cut output to address overproduction. Brent...

Dollar Set for Fourth Weekly Loss as Tariff Worries and Safe-Haven Demand Grow

The U.S. dollar is poised for its fourth straight weekly loss as investor concerns over tariffs and trade uncertainty drive a shift away from U.S. assets. Despite a slight rebound from a seven-month low against the yen,...

Politics

US and Ukraine Sign Memorandum to Boost Critical Mineral Partnership

Ukraine and the United States have signed a memorandum of intent to advance cooperation on mineral resource development, paving the way for a broader Economic Partnership Agreement. The deal, strongly backed by U.S....

Paris Talks Signal Stronger European Role in Ukraine Peace Efforts

Talks in Paris involving U.S. officials Marco Rubio and Steve Witkoff, Ukraine, and Europes key powersFrance, Britain, and Germanymarked a significant step toward a more united European approach to Ukraines future. A...

LA28 Olympic Visa Concerns Eased After USOPC Meets Trump Officials

The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) received strong reassurances from the White House regarding visa support for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games, USOPC Chair Gene Sykes said on Thursday. This follows...

Senator Murkowski Warns of Trump Retaliation, Voices Concern Over GOP Policies

Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska expressed deep concern this week over the fear of political retaliation from President Donald Trump, revealing it makes her anxious to speak out against his policies. Speaking at...

Trump May Abandon Russia-Ukraine Peace Talks Without Swift Progress

U.S. President Donald Trump is prepared to withdraw from efforts to broker a Russia-Ukraine peace deal within days unless tangible progress is made, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Friday. Speaking in Paris...

Science

Kennedy Sets September Deadline to Uncover Autism Causes Amid Controversy

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced a bold plan to identify the cause of autism by September 2025. Speaking at a cabinet meeting with President Donald Trump, Kennedy declared a global...

AstraZeneca’s Imfinzi Gets US Approval for Bladder Cancer Treatment

AstraZenecas drug Imfinzi (NASDAQ: AZN) has received U.S. approval to treat adult patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer, a significant advancement in cancer therapy. The approval allows Imfinzi to be used in...

Sanofi’s New Hemophilia Drug Qfitlia Gains FDA Approval with Breakthrough Bimonthly Dosing

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Qfitlia, a groundbreaking hemophilia treatment by French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi (NASDAQ: SNY). Designed for patients aged 12 and older with hemophilia A or B,...

FDA Vaccine Chief Peter Marks Resigns Amid Controversy Over Transparency

Peter Marks, the U.S. Food and Drug Administrations (FDA) top vaccine official, has resigned after reportedly being forced out by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), according to The Wall Street Journal....

Museums have tons of data, and AI could make it more accessible − but standardizing and organizing it across fields won’t be easy

Ice cores in freezers, dinosaurs on display, fish in jars, birds in boxes, human remains and ancient artifacts from long gone civilizations that few people ever see museum collections are filled with all this and more....

Technology

Nvidia Faces $5.5B Hit as U.S. Restricts H20 AI Chip Exports to China

Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) announced it will incur $5.5 billion in charges after the U.S. government indefinitely restricted exports of its H20 AI chip to China, a critical market for its data center products. The H20 chip,...

Intel Restructures Leadership Under New CEO to Boost AI and Engineering Focus

Intels new CEO, Lip-Bu Tan, has initiated a major leadership shakeup aimed at streamlining operations and reviving the chipmakers competitive edge. In a recent internal memo obtained by Reuters, Tan announced a flatter...

TSMC Q1 Profit Surges 60% on Booming AI Chip Demand

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the worlds largest contract chipmaker, reported a 60% year-over-year surge in first-quarter net profit, driven by skyrocketing demand for chips powering artificial intelligence...

Tencent, Douyin Launch Domestic Sales Initiatives Amid U.S.-China Trade Tensions

Chinese tech giants Tencent and Douyin, TikToks sister app in China, have launched new initiatives to support local exporters affected by the intensifying U.S.-China trade war. These efforts aim to help export-reliant...

Stargate AI Megaproject Eyes UK Expansion Backed by OpenAI, SoftBank, Oracle

The $500 billion Stargate data center project, backed by OpenAI, SoftBank (TYO:9984), and Oracle (NYSE:ORCL), is exploring expansion opportunities in the UK as it seeks overseas sites for scaling artificial intelligence...