Small business slams IR changes

Small business says workplace law changes will make them less likely to employ new staff.

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

Labor’s proposed industrial relations changes will make it less likely that small business will employ new staff, putting casuals and contractors on the endangered list while making union officials a “protected species”.

In a submission to the Senate inquiry into the Closing Loopholes Bill, the Council of Small Business Organisations Australia said the “significantly disappointing” changes ran roughshod over well understood definitions of casuals and independent contractors and give “greater licence for union reps to enter the workplace”.

The criticism came as the Albanese government introduced a bill into parliament to allow parents to access six months of paid parental leave by 2026. If passed, two extra weeks of paid leave will be added each year from July 2024, increasing the length of the scheme by six weeks to 26 weeks by mid-2026.

The changes will also provide each parent four weeks of reserved leave from mid-2026 in a move designed to encourage shared care and “send a strong signal that both parents play a role in caring for their children”.

Calling for the “unworkable” Closing Loopholes Bill to be rejected, COSBOA chief executive Luke Achterstraat said almost 90 per cent of 100 small businesses surveyed about the bill said they would be less likely to employ as a result of the changes. “The bill appears to make union officials a protected species but puts casuals, contractors and small businesses on the endangered list,” he said.

“The bill will create significant confusion for small businesses, worsen the cost of doing business and exacerbate the cost of living.”

In its submission, COSBOA joins key Senate crossbenchers and fellow business organisations in calling for some less contentious measures to be split from the bill.

It says the proposed new ­definition of casual work erases the primacy of what was the ­agreement between the employer and employee at the start of their relationship.