Labor plans to ram IR changes through the parliament as aged care workers get pay bump

The federal government will push through sweeping changes to Australia’s workplace laws that aim to increase wages across the economy days after aged care workers were awarded a 15 per cent pay boost in a landmark decision handed down by the Fair Work Commission.

The Health Services Union had called for a 25 per cent pay rise for aged care workers and nurses, comparable to $5 an hour, after the royal commission into the sector called on the Commonwealth and providers to overhaul the historical underpayment of the feminised workforce.

Anthony Albanese and Labor backed a “significant” pay rise for aged care workers.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Workplace relations minister Tony Burke said the aged care decision handed down on Friday afternoon signified the first step in changing the undervalued nature of care work.

“We fought for this pay rise because our government is committed to getting wages moving again, particularly in low-paid, female-dominated industries like this one,” he said.

The wage decision concluded staff involved in the direct care of Australia’s elderly were entitled to a 15 per cent pay rise, but said it didn’t necessarily exhaust “the extent of the increase justified”. Another hearing will be held later this month to determine the timing of the pay rise in the sector which is haemorrhaging workers.

Aged and Community Care Providers Association welcomed the decision but noted it didn’t cover staff not involved in direct care, including kitchen and administrative staff.

“We look forward to a further decision by the Commission which addresses their pay,” ACCPA head Tom Symondson said.

Delivering pay rises was central to Labor’s election strategy, with the party backing the aged care wage case, and making an industrial relations overhaul central to its jobs summit.

The government hopes the strengthening of multi-employer bargaining in its Secure Jobs, Better Pay bill – which has prompted outcry from businesses concerned about widespread industrial action – will eventually lead to pay rises in other low-paid sectors.

Burke will introduce the bill for debate on Tuesday and push it through the lower house in just three days, but crossbench MPs are furious with him for rushing it through.

Lower house MPs Zali Steggall and Rebekha Sharkie said the government’s decision to slash debating time and hold a vote next Thursday was behaviour akin to the former Morrison government. Senate crossbenchers who will be needed to pass the bill have already complained they didn’t have enough time to consider the complex laws.

The 249-page bill promises to lift wages by giving greater leverage to workers and unions in collective bargaining, including by expanding the ability for employees across multiple workplaces to force their bosses to the bargaining table.

The minister has held a dozen meetings with major business and employer groups in the week since the bill was unveiled and has said amendments are being drafted to the bill to allay the concerns of business groups and crossbench MPs over the bill, and these will be brought to the house next week.

Burke said on Friday: “This week’s been all about finding sensible compromises that improve the practical application of the bill. What the government’s not going to compromise on is the principle of getting wages moving – and getting them moving quickly.”

The bill will be introduced to the house on Tuesday and treated as urgent, which means just 10 minutes will be allowed for debate – rather than 20 minutes – and just five minutes per speaker will be allowed on Wednesday.

All government, crossbench and opposition amendments will be voted on in three blocs, rather than one by one, with the aim of passing the bill in one week to allow debate in the Senate in the final two sitting weeks.

Sharkie said the government’s behaviour was “disgraceful” and that “when in opposition, Labor were principled about procedure and ensuring proposed legislation was considered carefully. Those principles have gone out the window”.

Steggall said allowing just three days of debate “flies in the face of the prime minister’s claim of being more respectful of process and parliament. When push comes to shove, they behave in much the same way as the previous government”.

Burke was on Friday afternoon due to meet Senate crossbencher David Pocock, who has proposed splitting the bill into contentious and non-contentious parts, and whose vote will be crucial to passage in the Senate.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he hoped the Senate crossbench considered the legislation closely and claimed a mandate for the industrial relations changes.

“No one can say that before the election we did not outline very clearly that the government intended to reform industrial relations and to do it in a way that lifted wages,” he said.

During a Senate inquiry into the legislation on Friday, Business Council of Australia chief executive Jennifer Westacott criticised the abolition of the building industry construction watchdog and the potential expansion of multi-employer bargaining across all sectors of the economy – particularly highlighting the risk to small business.

Australian Council of Trade Unions president Michele O’Neil said she didn’t support the exclusion of small business employees from being able to band together to bring multiple employers to the bargaining table.

“Our fundamental view is the size of your workplace shouldn’t affect your rights,” O’Neil said, adding the exclusion of workplaces of less than 15 people from the single interest bargaining stream was a “restriction that we don’t support”.

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