Announcement date
27 October 2022
Link to announcement
https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Bills_Legislation/Bills_Search_Results/Result?bId=r6941
Problem being addressed
Real wage stagnation and the decline in enterprise bargaining.
Proposal
The Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Secure Jobs, Better Pay) Bill seeks to implement enterprise bargaining outcomes from the Australian Jobs and Skills Summit by amending the Fair Work Act (2009) in five areas;
- Limiting the termination of nominally expired workplace agreements.
- Automatically sunsetting 'zombie' agreements made prior to the commencement of the Fair Work Act and subsequent bridging period.
- Expanding access to single and multi employer agreements.
- Removal of unnecessary complexity and making the Better Off Overall Test simple, flexible and fair.
- Expanding the capacity of the Fair Work Commission to address bargaining disputes.
Assessed RIS outcome
Adequate
Assessment comments
The Office of Best Practice Regulation has assessed that the quality of the regulatory impact analysis is adequate and sufficient to inform a decision. To be considered ‘good practice,’ the RIS would have benefited from:
- Additional analysis setting out the potential impacts on productivity, real wages and other distributional impacts, in particular on gender,
- A more comprehensive presentation of alternative options in addition to the status quo,
- Statements or evidence that the regulatory costs and their assumptions had been tested with stakeholders, or otherwise an acknowledgement why this had not been undertaken, and
- A clearer explanation of the barriers the Government may face in achieving the identified indicators of success, and the pre-planning undertaken to mitigate these potential risks.
The Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Secure Jobs, Better Pay) Bill also implements Recommendation 28 of the Respect@Work report. Consistent with the Government's Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) requirements, the Respect@Work Report has been certified by the Attorney-General's Department as meeting the requirements of a RIS.
A Post-implementation Review will be required for completion, within five years of implementation of these reforms.