Coronavirus: Changes to EBAs get 12-month time limit

Changes made to enterprise agreements due to the pandemic are likely to expire after 12 months after the Coalition responded favourably to a call by Pauline Hanson.

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson. Picture: AAP

Changes made to enterprise agreements due to the pandemic are likely to expire after 12 months, with the Coalition responding­ favourably­ to a call by One Nation leader Pauline Hanson.

Federal Labor has been seeking Senate crossbench support to disallow a government regulation cutting the required consultation period for enterprise agreement changes from seven days to one.

Labor says that while the regula­tion will be in place for six months, the changes to an agreement will be much longer and at least for the life of an agreement.

The Greens, Centre Alliance and Jacqui Lambie have expressed support for Labor’s disallowance motion but the opposition still requires­ the support of One Nation­ to kill the regulation.

Senator Hanson indicated she and senator Malcolm Roberts would consider backing the ALP move if Attorney-General Christian Porter did not set a 12-month limit. “One Nation has listened to the concerns outlined by workers (and) unions across Australia and we have equally paid attention to employers who are in damage control nationwide,” she said.

“Therefore Senator Roberts and I will be seeking further regulatory changes by the Attorney-General that will limit any variation … to 12 months.”

Mr Porter said on Tuesday the 12-month expiry period “seems a reasonable request and I will discuss (it) with Senator Hanson and other crossbench senators”.

ACTU president Michele O’Neil said it was completely unacceptab­le that the government presented it as a short-term emergency measure when changes could have negative long-term consequences for workers.