Australian Resources and Energy Group AREEA has called on the Australian Government to conduct a full-scale review into the performance of the Fair Work Commission (FWC).
As reported in yesterday’s Australian Financial Review, AREEA sent a letter to the Attorney General and Minister for Industrial Relations, Christian Porter, highlighting employer concerns with the dysfunction and inefficiencies at the FWC.
“Improving the performance of the tribunal would go a long way towards resolving many of the concerns of employers with Australia’s present-day workplace relations system,” the letter sent 29 January 2020 reads.
AREEA said the review was a necessary step to address various longstanding concerns of resources and energy employers, including:
- Ongoing delays and inconsistencies in approving Enterprise Agreements;
- Strong preference towards ALP-appointed members when determining the composition of Full Bench matters (especially significant matters);
- Over-reliance on public servant conciliators for General Protections matters (and the poor outcomes associated);
- Unfair dismissal decisions that undermine management decisions including in relation to critical workplace safety issues; and
- General treatment of Coalition-appointed members including sidelining of those appointed most recently in late 2018.
AREEA encouraged the Morrison Government to examine how FWC resources and public funding could better support positive workplace outcomes to the benefit of the Australian economy and wider community.
Among several areas of potential investigation, AREEA pointed to processes for transparent review of Full Bench allocations and assessing of individual tribunal member workloads and performance, as key to improving the performance of the FWC.
“The Productivity Commission may be an appropriate vehicle to lead such a review, given its past experience in reviewing the functioning of the entire workplace relations system in 2015, and to ensure such a review is fundamentally grounded in productivity, administrative efficiency and reducing red tape for employers and employees alike,” AREEA Chief Executive Steve Knott said.
The letter to the Attorney General comes as research conducted by AREEA revealed more than two-thirds of all Fair Work Commission members allocated to Full Bench matters over the past three years had been ALP-appointees to the tribunal.
‘‘While Coalition appointees are now in the majority, it often appears they are just ‘unlucky’ when full benches are determined,’’ Mr Knott said.
The analysis further shows that of the 716 FWC Full Bench decisions handed down between 2017-2019, more than three-quarters (542 matters or 76%) were majority ALP-appointed members.
AREEA’s letter to Minister Porter encouraged the government to seek more transparency of the FWC and its President around the allocation of senior tribunal members to significant Full Bench matters.
It also details how internal dysfunction and politicisation of the FWC is clearly impacting on the tribunal’s capacity to support positive employment outcomes in the Australian economy, with the most common area of grievance for employers being the unjustifiable delays in Enterprise Agreement approvals.
Other areas of employer concern include the FWC’s administration of unfair dismissal and general protections (“adverse action”) matters.
AREEA also reiterated its position that further appointments to the FWC, along with more balanced and evenly distributed allocation of the tribunal’s existing resources, would go a significant way towards addressing many of these longstanding concerns.
The call for new appointments to the tribunal was backed by other business groups today.
Pathway to Productivity – key IR reform priorities
AREEA’s correspondence with Minister Porter supports several of the key priorities outlined in the employer group’s campaign for IR reform during the 46th Parliament of Australia.
The campaign summary booklet, Pathway to Productivity outlines those key policy changes intended to improve relations between employers and employees and address a number of uncompetitive elements within Australia’s workplace system.
Those reform priorities that align to AREEA’s letter include:
- Improve the performance of the Fair Work Commission;
- Restore balance to unfair dismissal laws;
- Reform the Adverse Action provisions; and
- Address the rapid decline in enterprise bargaining.
For more information on the Australian Government’s IR agenda, the workplace reform priorities identified in Pathway to Productivity and / or how you can support AREEA’s ongoing advocacy efforts, contact AREEA’s policy team via [email protected].
