Labor's new IR laws "not in a fit state to pass"

A workplace law expert has slammed the most controversial part of Labor’s proposed multi-employer bargaining scheme as “not in a fit state” to be passed, while six business groups have accelerated efforts to postpone the industrial relations reforms or scuttle them altogether.

University of Adelaide law professor Andrew Stewart, who advised the Rudd government on drafting the Fair Work Act, said the single-interest multi-employer bargaining stream had “come out of the blue” and it was impossible to know which employers would be covered, The Australian reported.

Stewart said there was a strong argument to postpone the stream until 2023 unless Labor made significant changes and specified who would be affected.

Meanwhile, as the government moved to pass the bill in the lower house on Thursday, the Business Council of Australia demanded that the single-interest stream be made voluntary. The BCA claimed the bill could open up “the whole economy to the risk of single-interest multi-employer bargaining.”

The BCA is one of six employer groups demanding a “major rethink” of the bill and calling on the government to either scrap or significantly amend the multi-employer provisions and the increased arbitration powers given to the Fair Work Commission, The Australian reported.

The groups said the bill failed to spell out clear parameters under which single-interest multi-employer bargaining would be available.

However, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told Parliament that Labor had a mandate to institute the changes.

“After a decade of wage suppression, a decade of low wages being deployed as a deliberate design feature, the Australian people voted for our plans to get wages moving again,” Albanese said. “The Australian people voted for these reforms. Now the Australian Parliament can do the same … this bill reflects the mandate Labor won on the 21st of May and also demonstrates the priority we have put on consultation and co-operation since then.”

Sally McManus, Australian Council of Trade Unions secretary, said the employer groups were “standing in the way of wage rises for millions of Australian workers who haven’t seen one in a decade and are now dramatically going backwards.”

“For them, there is never a good time for workers to have a pay rise – it does not matter how large their profits are or how productive workers are,” McManus told The Australian. “Their calls for more delays are more of the same – no pay rises whilst Australians suffer under the cost-of-living crisis.”

While the government has made amendments to the IR scheme, the proposed single-interest stream is the main sticking point identified by ACT senator David Pocock, whose vote is vital for the bill to pass, The Australian reported.

Pocock wants the stream amended substantially or carved out of the bill and postponed until 2023.

Unlike the multi-employer changes, employers in the single-interest stream must have clearly identifiable common interests, and the Fair Work Commission must be satisfied it is in the public interest, The Australian reported.

“It’s not clear to me what type of employers it’s meant to cover and what type it isn’t,” Stewart told the publication. “I think this legislation is not in a fit state to be passed … when it’s impossible to answer a simple question about who it’s meant to cover and what practical effect it will have. That’s the nub of it. Right now there’s a strong argument for taking that part of the legislation out and getting the rest of the bill through.”

Stewart said he was generally comfortable with passing the bill – except for the single-interest bargaining stream.

“I remain unable to explain it to anybody,” he said. “If anyone asks me, ‘Who does this cover? Who will be accessing this stream?’ – I cannot answer that question. That’s my touchstone at the moment. If I can’t even work out what this new stream is meant to cover, I don’t think it’s reasonable for the Senate crossbench to be asked to wave the bill through.”