For Dr Daniel Tracey, labour law is more than legal doctrine – it is a living expression of society’s shared values. Now Chief of Staff to the Secretary in the Australian Government Department of Employment and Workplace Relations, Dr Tracey attributes part of his professional and academic journey to the transformative support of the Julian Small Research Scholarship.
“Labour laws are about people,” Dr Tracey explains.
“They reflect the social contract binding business, working Australians, and other actors in the labour market about the standards of work we accept and how we each contribute to economic development.”
It was this deep connection between law and lived experience that drew Dr Tracey to the Master of Labour Law and Relations at the University of Sydney. With a background in legal practice and policy, he was driven to research how labour law can be used to improve working lives and deliver a more just society.
“Part of that social contract is agreeing how we will hold each other to account in complying with the rules we set about wages and working standards,” he says.
“That was the focus of my research.”
What was his research about?
Dr Tracey’s research explored how employees collectively enforce wage laws through class actions in the Federal Court of Australia. His work examined the tensions between existing judicial processes and the regulatory needs of workers seeking timely, practical outcomes.
“The class action mechanism has potential, but its financial and procedural burdens often deter employees from pursuing entitlements,” he explains. “Cumbersome judicial processes undermine the bedrock of working conditions enshrined in federal labour law.”
His research proposed an alternative: the design of a class arbitration framework that could streamline enforcement, reduce costs, and improve outcomes for underpaid workers. In doing so, he hoped to identify pathways for reform that would encourage both compliance and accountability across the labour market.
“Finding more effective enforcement pathways helps the system work better – employees have a simpler path to accessing entitlements, and employers are further incentivised to ensure compliance proactively.”
Finding more effective enforcement pathways helps the system work better – employees have a simpler path to accessing entitlements, and employers are further incentivised to ensure compliance proactively.
Dr Daniel Tracey
The Julian Small Research Scholarship
The Julian Small Research Scholarship, which provides up to $50,000 per annum for eligible full-time PhD and Master of Laws (LLM Research) students at the University of Sydney, was pivotal to Dr Tracey’s research.
“The scholarship supported me to dive into that research with the licence to expand on bold ideas for reform in the field,” he says. “It allowed me to unpack what different forms of labour law accountability can look like in practice and how we can find more effective ways of ensuring we all play by the rules.”
The support wasn’t just financial. The scholarship connected Dr Tracey with a community of like-minded researchers, practitioners, and academics.
“Labour law practice is human-driven and hands-on,” he reflects. “Unpacking the practicalities of different enforcement levers with academics and practitioners alike was invaluable during my research.”
Reflecting on the scholarship’s namesake, Dr Tracey shares a deep respect for Julian Small’s contributions to Australian labour law.
“Julian Small has been the subject of high praise from a host of pre-eminent scholars, practitioners, and members of the judiciary,” he notes. “His legacy is one of promoting ambitious thinking in how we structure and apply our labour law framework.”
For Dr Tracey, that legacy was both a source of inspiration and a call to action. “I felt empowered to dive deep into compliance and enforcement challenges, identify what works well and what doesn’t, and propose solutions to considerable issues in our system with a view to benefiting labour market participants across the country. I trust I’ve done justice to the spirit of the scholarship.”
For students interested in labour law research, Dr Tracey offers simple advice: “Run, don’t walk.”
“There’s never a better time than now to jump into labour law research,” he adds. “The field is constantly evolving and provides a near endless supply of thought pieces with which to explore. I wholeheartedly encourage others to take up the opportunity.”
The Julian Small Research Scholarship is available to both commencing and currently enrolled University of Sydney students undertaking a full-time Master of Laws (LLM Research) or PhD focused on labour law. Eligible students are automatically considered, no separate application is required.
With a generous annual stipend and access to a strong network of scholars and professionals, the scholarship offers a unique opportunity to engage deeply with one of the most socially impactful fields of law.
More information on the scholarship is here.