Printing Industries has welcomed news that the Turnbull government will introduce new industrial relations legislation to scrap award reviews and boost its ability to investigate alleged misconduct of Fair Work Commission (FWC) members.
Employment Minister Senator Michaelia Cash has written to opposition employment spokesperson Brendan O'Connor seeking his support for the changes, which will be introduced in the next four weeks. According to the minister's letter, obtained by AFR, the government has agreed to end the Fair Work Act's four-yearly review of 122 industry awards after complaints from business groups and unions.
The legislation would also allow the government to appoint investigators to report on alleged misconduct of commission members, following a scandal involving former FWC vice president Michael Lawler, who quit last year after being accused of taking nine months of sick leave on his full $430,000 salary. And it would remove some technicality requirements that can allow unions to overturn non-union enterprise agreements.
A PIAA delegation - including CEO Andrew Macaulay, director of government relations Mary Jo Fisher and board president Kieran May - has been in Canberra this week to lobby federal ministers, including Senator Cash, on the need for urgent changes to the federal workplace regulations.
“We welcome the news with open arms and we’re very pleased that the minister is trying to address the situation,” says Fisher, a former Liberal senator for South Australia. “We met with the minister on Tuesday and put to her in very strong terms our concerns about the Fair Work laws, including how the FWC administers the act in a way that is both anti-business and anti-employment.”
Fisher says a scathing critique written by outgoing FWC vice-president the Hon Graeme Watson had ‘blown the whistle’ on the commission’s failings.
“I totally agree with Watson that the FWC is going about its business in a dysfunctional and partisan way and has failed to carry out its legislated job.
“The four-yearly review process has been never-ending and has sucked resources from industry organisations like ours,” says Fisher. “There’s still a lot of work to be done but this is a really pleasing development and at long last some encouragement for the work we’re doing.”