The Australian waterfront dispute of 1998 was an event in Australian industrial relations history, in which the Patrick Corporation undertook a restructuring of their operations for the purpose of dismissing their workforce. The restructuring by Patrick Corporation was later ruled illegal by Australian courts. The dispute involved Patrick Corporation terminating the employment of its workforce and locking out the workers of the workplace after the restructuring had taken place, with many of these workers members of the dominant Maritime Union of Australia. The resulting dismissal and locking out of their unionised workforce was supported and backed by the Australian Liberal/National Coalition Government. Major events in the dispute occurred in four major ports, where the Patrick Corporation had significant operations: Melbourne, Brisbane, Fremantle and Sydney. It revolved around attempts by Patrick Corporation and the federal government to improve efficiency on Australia's wharves; primarily by reducing staffing numbers and the power of the Maritime Union of Australia. Waterfront productivity Around 1995–96 approximately 70% of Australia's imports and 78% of exports were transported by sea, amounting to approximately $60 billion in trade. This, however, does not include the revenue on car importations. Data was collected throughout 1997 by the Productivity Commission, comparing international container stevedoring performance for the same ships and trades. The data indicated that Australia charged generally higher, productivity was lower and services were less reliable than overseas. With the exception of bulk grain loading, other areas of traditional stevedoring also performed relatively poorly. It also found that marine service and port infrastructure charges were, in total, two to three times greater than at overseas ports – noting that only some of this reflects cost-recovery pricing in Australia. Together with other problems in the transport chain, this under-performance was not only resulting in higher direct costs to shippers, but also significant indirect costs from delays and unreliability which could have been reduced. Overall, the international benchmarking revealed significant scope for improvement in Australia's performance. Industrial relations legislation John Howard, before being elected in 1996, had promised significant industrial relations reform. In January 1997, the Howard Government substantially amended the Industrial Relations Act 1988, and renamed it the Workplace Relations Act 1996. The stated aim of this legislation was to foster individual choice in workplace bargaining by reducing the powers of external organisations, particularly trade unions, to intervene. In addition, the legislation reduced powers of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission to arbitrate