Australian Resources and Energy Group AREEA welcomes last week’s successful passage of the Morrison Government’s multi-faceted Industrial Relations Bill through the House of Representatives.
The House of Representatives voted 65-61 in favour of the Bill, with independents Craig Kelly and Zali Steggall supporting the government. Fellow independents Dr Helen Haines and Andrew Wilkie, the Greens’ Adam Bandt, Centre Alliance’s Rebekha Sharkie and Katter’s Australian Party’s Bob Katter voted against the proposed Bill.
The Fair Work Amendment (Supporting Australia’s Jobs and Economic Recovery) Bill 2020 has now moved to the Senate where it is expected to be voted upon following the handing down of a report into the changes by Senate Education and Employment Legislation Committee before 12 March.
As reported in the last News Update, Industrial Relations Minister Christian Porter said the Government would not continue pursing changes to s189 of the Fair Work Act, which already allows the FWC to approve non-BOOT compliant agreements if “in the public interest” (see related story).
The Bill is undergoing an expedited parliamentary process, in order for it to take effect at around the time the JobKeeper wage subsidy scheme ends (28 March 2021).
AREEA last month appeared before a Senate Committee to further build the case for the important regulatory reforms (see related story).
AREEA recommends the Australian Senate pass the Bill in its entirety, and yesterday launched a television campaign (see related story) to support its passage.
The campaign builds on AREEA’s continued work with other business groups to execute a substantial advocacy plan to give the Bill the best chance of passing through the senate and into law.
This involves ongoing engagement with the Senate Crossbench and the Australian Parliament more broadly, to ensure all members fully understand the benefits these reforms will have on the national economy and community.
Fixing enterprise bargaining, ‘project life’ greenfields agreements, restoring certainty to casual employment, and improving the performance of the Fair Work Commission, are four key policy priorities outlined in AREEA’s Pathway to Productivity campaign launched in 2019. You can read the business case for these important IR amendments here.
AREEA also provided a detailed written submission, which highlights how the Bill’s package of measured, balanced amendments will reduce compliance costs, risk, red tape, and administrative burden, assisting the industry in converting these opportunities into reality, and supporting economic growth and job creation in the post-pandemic environment.
AREEA has focused its submission on the three areas of the IR Reform Bill of most interest and relevance to our resources industry members:
- Schedule 1 – Casual Employees
- A clear definition of casual employment, providing certainty to employers and employees, further balanced with new casual conversion rights.
- A mechanism to ensure employees deemed by relevant court determinations to have been misclassified will receive their fair back-paid entitlements, but would not force employers who have already paid a casual loading, to pay twice.
- Schedule 3 – Enterprise Agreements
- A package of improvements that will reduce complexity, cost and uncertainty, and provide greater discretion and efficiencies to the Fair Work Commission (‘FWC’).
- Amendments addressing specific areas of trade union concerns.
- Schedule 4 – Greenfields Agreements
- Allowing longer Greenfields Agreements terms for major resources and energy projects, up to eight years when agreed by trade unions. Providing industrial certainty and stability for significant nation-building projects.
For more information on the government’s Industrial Relations Bill, any other matters relevant to pending industrial relations changes, or AREEA’s advocacy campaign, contact our policy team via [email protected].
