Coalition push to redefine small business sparks worker fears

A major change to workplace definitions are sparking fears workers could wind up with “less rights” and be “unfairly sacked”.

A push by lobbyists to redefine small business to include more employees could result in workers having “less rights”, Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) boss Sally McManus says.

The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) has been pushing to change the legal definition of a small business from 15 employees to 25.

Small businesses have relaxed rules around dismissing staff, so broadening what constitutes a small business could make it easier to fire employees.

Australian Council of Trade Unions boss Sally McManus says ‘the size of your workplace’ should not determine what rights workers get. Picture: NewsWire / Nikki Short

“We don’t think that just because of the size of your workplace, you should have less rights,” Ms McManus told the ABC.

“We just think that’s wrong in principle. It’s been the case for quite a while now that there have been these small business exemptions, and it’s not been some big thing we’ve campaigned about.”

Ms McManus said it was “a dodgy way of being able to take rights off workers by saying, ‘Oh, we’re just going to increase the limit for small business’, because it just means that all of those workers just lose rights, and you can do so, and make it sound like you’re being fair.”

Industrial Relations Minister Murray Watt has ruled out redefining what constitutes a small business. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

The Albanese government has already ruled out changing the definition, with Industrial Relations Minister Murray Watt saying it would “make it easier for small and medium sized businesses to be able to unfairly sack workers”.

“There’s no evidence at all that current laws led by the Albanese government are stifling businesses from employing people,” he said.

“In fact, we’ve actually created nearly 1 million jobs since coming to office a bit over two years ago ... unfortunately, for some of the leading business groups calling for this, the evidence of what’s going on in the economy just doesn’t back up their wishlist.”

Deputy Opposition Leader Sussan Ley has not taken a position on whether to change the definition of small business. Picture: NewsWire / Nikki Short

But the Coalition has been somewhat inconsistent, with finance spokeswoman Senator Jane Hume appearing supportive of redefining small business, and deputy opposition leader, Sussan Ley, refusing to put forward a view.

“I’m not getting ahead of the discussion we will have in our party room and with colleagues about a range of matters to do with any piece of legislation,” she told the ABC.