Business Council of Australia launches fresh IR attack on Labor

The Business Council of Australia is claiming Labor’s ‘closing the loopholes’ reforms are broader than being publicly disclosed by the Albanese government.

Business Council of Australia chief executive Bran Black is demanding the government release the wording of proposed regulations under the “closing the loopholes” industrial relations bill. Picture: Britta Campion/The Australian

The Business Council of Australia is claiming Labor’s “closing the loopholes” industrial relations reforms are broader than being publicly disclosed by the Albanese government, with the draft Bill including 100 new regulations that have not yet been defined.

BCA chief executive Bran Black said an analysis of the 800 page draft Bill and explanatory memorandum showed there were also references to 100 new regulations that could lead to “hundreds more pages of regulations, orders, and guidelines being imposed on employees and employers”.

Mr Black said the undefined regulations – allowing governments to make decisions with the stroke of a pen rather than passing legislation – could result in a “massive transfer of power” from the parliament to Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke.

“The government wants us all to buy a pig in poke,” Mr Black said. “The government’s Industrial Relations Bill and explanatory memorandum not only run to more than 800 pages, but also rely on numerous layers of downstream ministerial decision-making, regulations and delegated legislation, which are yet to be drafted and so cannot be scrutinised.

“There is a real prospect of hundreds more pages of regulations, orders, and guidelines being imposed on employees and employers if this Bill is passed.

“Parliament will be asked to vote on sweeping changes without, in many cases, knowing their true scope and impact on workers and business,” he said.

The government needed to make public the regulations that would be implemented as a result of the Bill. “We’re calling on the government to detail exactly how its ­reforms will operate before legislation is considered, rather than trying to vest the minister and the Fair Work Commission with enormous powers and telling us we should just trust them to get it right. Given the breadth and scope of the Bill, that’s the only fair approach.”

Labor’s proposed second tranche of industrial relations reforms include forcing employers to pay labour hire workers the same wages and conditions as direct employees on enterprise agreements. It proposes minimum standards to gig workers and new rules to encourage businesses to hire permanent employees rather than casuals or independent contractors.

On Sunday, Mr Burke said the BCA was being disingenuous in its concern about new regulations.

“Let’s face it, none of these objections are about the regulations. The organisations with members who use the loopholes that attack job security and undercut wages will desperately reach for every excuse,” Mr Burke said.