Burke rules out IR laws impacting tradies

The government has rejected employer claims new minimum standards for ‘employee like’ independent contractors could apply to construction.

Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Martin Ollman

Employment and Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke has rebutted employer claims about Labor’s second wave of industrial relations changes, ruling out new minimum standards for “employee like” independent contractors applying to construction.

Accusing the government of engaging in “fake” and “sham” consultation, Master Builders Australia this week claimed the employee-like measures “represent one of the most significant and real attacks on the rights of self-employed and independent contractors, including over 264,000 self-employed tradies”.

With about 20 per cent of the $245bn building sector’s 1.3 million workforce classified as self-employed tradies, MBA chief executive Denita Wawn said there would be “dramatic, massive, ­adverse implications‘ ’ if the changes were applied to ­construction.

Mr Burke accused Master Builders of making “some pretty extreme claims, but what we’re doing is a lot more modest”.

“The legislation will make clear that it’s about the gig economy,” Mr Burke told Laura Jayes on Sky News. “That’s what employee-like is about. And, you know, no-one uses Uber Electrician.”

Business groups have been increasingly vocal in their opposition to the proposed laws including the employee-like measures and the “same job, same pay” proposal the government says will crack down on worker exploitation by labour hire firms.

In a separate interview with 2GB’s Ben Fordham, Mr Burke said building subcontractors would not experience any significant changes from the proposed laws.

“Same job, same pay, you know, it’s a labour hire loophole we’re closing, and the gig economy doesn’t affect them,” he said.

Mr Burke denied Ms Wawn’s claims that the government had not been consulting adequately, saying there had been 65 meetings about the changes, and Master Builders had been involved in a number of them.

“The Master Builders will never agree to what we’re putting forward here, and I get that. They’ll always, you know, go right to the edge of being pretty dramatic with their language. They walked out on the previous government’s consultations as well,” he said.

“We have really constructive relationships with the Master Builders on a whole lot of things that government does, but when it comes to anything on workplace rights they’re pretty extreme, they’re out there.”

Acting Master Builders Australia chief executive Shaun Schmitke said on Wednesday that Mr Burke’s comments were a “welcome development but do not go far enough to ease concerns for the 264,000 self-employed tradies around the country who are rightly anxious about the adverse impacts this will have on their future”.

“Both the ALP’s election policy and consultation paper clearly leave the door open for such an outcome,” he said.

“If the Government intends to limit this proposal to gig-workers only, then it should make it explicitly clear and give an undertaking to exclude industries outside the gig-economy before the legislation is introduced.

“Minister Burke’s comments today do not address other concerns such as the radical expansion of the Fair Work Commission’s powers to interfere with commercial contracts involving independent contractors.

“Master Builders has raised these concerns and practical implications of the proposal consistently since the policy was first announced but have received no assurances to address our concerns.”