A SERIES of working groups are set to commence following the Morrison Government’s first industrial relations reform roundtable being held in Sydney last week.
Australian Resources and Energy Group AREEA was involved in the talks and welcomed the plan to bring stakeholders together to tackle the nation’s key industrial relations issues.
It follows Prime Minister Scott Morrison announcing in his 26 May National Press Club address that industrial relations working groups would tackle a number of issues, including award simplification, enterprise agreement making, casual employment, greenfields (new projects) agreements, and compliance and enforcement.
In a statement, Attorney-General and Minister for Industrial Relations, Christian Porter, said he will be joined by key stakeholders from employer, industry and employee groups to map out the working group consultation process that will take place over the next four months.
“As the Prime Minister said, it is critical that all sides of the debate lay down their arms and commit to work together during this process to find ways to get our economy moving again and urgently regrow the jobs so many Australians have lost as a result of COVID-19,” the Attorney-General said.
The first roundtable was held on 3 June with attendees receiving a detailed economic briefing from Treasury as well as hearing from other government officials about the scale of the challenge now being faced across sectors to regrow jobs and chart a path to economic recovery.
They will also be consulted on the make-up, forward agenda and operating arrangements for the five reform committees which will each focus on one key area of the IR system, including:
- Award simplification
- Enterprise agreement making
- Casuals and fixed term employees
- Compliance and enforcement; and
- Greenfields agreements for new enterprises
The committees will be chaired by the Attorney-General and will have a maximum of 15 members who will bring practical experiences to the table about how the IR system works. Each working group will also have the ability to draw upon an agreed pool of external industry experience and subject matter experts. Working groups will be supported by a secretariat including senior officials from Treasury and the Department of Finance who will assist the committees to accurately cost the beneficial impacts of any proposals.
The process is directed at committee members being potentially able to reach a consensus around policy proposals that the Government can then put into action, either by way of legislation, regulation, or via the budgetary process in October.
“The problems within each of the five areas we have chosen to focus on are well known and I am confident that if we can work cooperatively, an opportunity exists to make meaningful progress at developing solutions that will make a significant difference to how quickly we can recover from this crisis,” the Attorney-General said.
“(We will) focus on getting results that can be achieved in the shortest possible timeframe.”
The Attorney-General said ACTU Secretary Sally McManus and President Michele O’Neil will lead the union delegation, with employers and industry represented by AREEA, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Ai Group, the Business Council of Australia, the Chamber of Minerals and Energy (WA) and Master Builders Australia.
AREEA calls on process to focus on job creation
AREEA’s Chief Executive Steve Knott AM participated in last week’s roundtable and continues to be consulted on the final makeup of the five working groups. He is also the longest serving member of the National Workplace Relations Consultative Council (NWRCC), another vehicle in the reform process.
Mr Knott said there is an unrelenting drive to retain highly-valued, highly-paid roles and improve existing pay and conditions in Australia’s resources and energy sector. He added the industry is also grasping the opportunity of creating as many new jobs as we possibly can, both in post-pandemic recovery and in the long term.
“There can only be upside in bringing everyone together in an endeavour to find common ground. At the end of the day we are all about retaining, improving and creating employment,” Mr Knott said.
“Reforming greenfields agreements is especially important given there is $100 billion worth of major projects advanced in Australia’s investment pipeline. The international competition for this investment capital will be ever fiercer as governments around the world embark on their own stimulus packages.
“This is an area of advocacy AREEA has led for over a decade, and must be the first cab off the rank.”
Mr Knott notes four of the five areas noted by the Prime Minister align with priorities in AREEA’s Post-Pandemic IR Reform Framework, recently provided to Mr Morrison and the Minister for Industrial Relations, Christian Porter.
AREEA’s IR reform framework covers three areas of longstanding frustration for the resources and energy industry and the business community more broadly, including:
- Agreement Making, which is unnecessarily technical, far too slow and limited in options.
- The Safety Net, which is the most complex in the world and a source of significant administrative burden and red-tape.
- Risk, Cost & Uncertainty, which has seen Australia’s employment system become overly legalistic and costly.
The focus areas for IR reform and AREEA’s approach to the working groups was a topic of discussion in the latest AREEA Resource People Podcast.
AREEA expects an announcement on the final composition of the Government’s IR working groups very soon. Members seeking information about the process and/or how to get involved, should contact [email protected].
