Breakthrough on labour hire laws

Getting a degree of consensus with some employers would be quite an achievement for Tony Burke, particularly after the declaration of war by some business groups.

Industrial Relations Minister Tony Burke. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Nikki Short

The constructive dialogue between Tony Burke and resource sector employers shapes as an important advance for the Albanese government and its bid to implement a second wave of workplace relations changes.

While business groups have vowed to spend millions of dollars opposing Labor’s same job, same pay laws, resource and energy employers have, unusually, chosen a different course, engaging in practical, direct talks with the government to try to limit inadvertent consequences on companies.

This surprising preference for pragmatism over political conflict is being pursued by the Australian Resources and Energy Employers Association, which last year threatened to run an aggressive, expensive campaign against Labor’s first wave of industrial relations changes.

As Burke notes, the more constructive dialogue has been a “significant and welcome shift” by the industry lobby group and he is willing to act to ensure the new laws do not have inadvertent, negative consequences for contractors.

Significantly, the ACTU is not outright opposed to a multi-factor test, but says it will need to see it first. Like the government, unions also accept a phase-in period for the new same job, same pay laws is reasonable albeit they believe it should be months, not years.

Getting a degree of consensus with some employers would be quite an achievement for Burke, particularly after the declaration of war by rival business groups. Any level of agreement between capital and labour will also help the government when negotiating with the Senate crossbench to get the laws passed.

Burke says he has been “crystal clear” that there are “legitimate purposes for labour hire that we don’t want to get in the way of, and they include for specialist workforce, for surge workforce and for temporary replacement”.

He says the policy would be confined to a workplace where there is an agreed rate of pay though an enterprise agreement and the employer uses a labour hire firm to undercut the rates of pay.

If the policy lands correctly, the rorters should be held to account while workers and legitimate users of labour hire are protected.