Over several decades Liberal-National Governments have encouraged Australian Public Service (APS) employers to uphold managerial prerogative by offering individual employment arrangements to employees. During the period of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Morrison Liberal-National Government’s Workplace Bargaining Policy reinforced this agenda. In place of collective bargaining, APS agency heads were encouraged to determine pay rises and new employment conditions for employees using Section 24 of the Public Service Act ( PS Act) 1999. Workplace determinations did not need to be negotiated with public sector unions and some 85,500 employees across 57 APS agencies, or approximately 63% of the APS workforce, had accepted pay increases via workplace determinations by 31 December 2020. The widespread adoption of workplace determinations in the APS poses significant challenges for public sector unions and for the future of APS collective bargaining. JEL Codes J21, J45, J53, K31.

Brief History of Microfinance Business in IndiaMicrofinance business never ceases to astonish long-term observers of the business, especially the type of borrowers who access their loans. In India, the metamorphosis of microfinance from a non-profit activity aimed at encouraging entrepreneurship amongst the poor to a high margin business occurred after 2005. This transformation occurred concurrent to 't:he financialisation of the global economy and the broader commodification of our economic life. Microfinance, as a business proposition in India dates back to 2005, though it has existed in the non-profit format since the 1980s.Microfinance may broadly be defined as the provision of various financial services to the poor including in its scope microcredit, savings, insurance and remittances. 2 It entails the grant of small loans to poor borrowers, mostly to those below the poverty line (BPL), organised into groups. These loans are provided without any collateral, other than 'social reference' in which members of the group guarantee each other's loans.•Despite being one component of the larger generic term, 'microfinance', in India, microcredit has emerged as the largest business segment. Over the past decade, microfinance has gained centrality in State policy for its supposed poverty alleviation prowess. The crisis in Andhra Pradesh clearly shows that the ability of microfinance business to uplift people from poverty and bring about social change has been grossly overrated.Credit delivery, especially to far flung rural regions is an issue that been central to government policy since Independence. A number of government committees have offered various solutions to deal with issues relating to credit delivery and moneylending. 3 The success of initial support to Self Help Groups convinced a number of people that lending on the basis of social reference to the poor was a profitable business proposition. This was proved by an enabling environment and government support to NGOs involved in micro:finance activity. By 2005, converting non-profit organisations to NBFCs oriented to lending to the poor was a predominant trend. The 1 The seven districts include: Chittoor, Guntur, Kunrool, Krishna, Mehabubnagar, Ranga Reddy, Hyderabad City and West Godavari. The field survey was part of a larger study on the MFI crisis in Andhra Pradesh for The Society for the Elimination of Rural Poverty (SERP).2 An eulogised version of microfinance in Bangladesh has been well documented; Alex