Graeme Watson departs as Porter’s senior IR adviser

Graeme Watson left the Attorney-General’s office a day after the Coalition’s workplace bill was gutted by the Senate.

Attorney-General and IR Minister Christian Porter. Picture: AFP

Christian Porter’s senior industrial relations adviser, Graeme Watson, has left the Attorney-General’s office, a day after the Coalition’s workplace bill was gutted by the Senate.

A spokesman for Mr Porter said on Monday that Mr Watson told “the Minister late last year that he would depart the office following consideration of the IR bill”.

“The Minister is thankful to Mr Watson for his dedicated service to him over the past 20 months and to the Government over the past several years,” the spokesman said.

Mr Watson, a former Freehills partner and Fair Work Commission vice president, has long been a prominent figure in workplace relations circles, joining Mr Porter’s office in 2019 after working as an adviser to Kelly O’Dwyer.

He was involved in the government’s negotiations with the Senate crossbench over the bill before finishing up with Mr Porter’s office on Friday.

Falling one vote short of the numbers required to pass changes to enterprise bargaining laws, the award system, and greenfields agreements on major projects, the government ditched proposals to criminalise wage theft despite having the required support to legislate the compliance measures.

All that survived was a schedule of casual employment changes designed to reduce the liability of employers found to have misclassified casuals and to create a new casual definition.

The stripped back bill was legislated after being sent back from the Senate and passing the House of Representatives on Monday.