Closing Loopholes Bill Update By Greg Arnold

Greg Arnold, the Founder and Senior Consultant at Effective Workplace Solutions & SGC Board Member, discusses the recent developments of the "Closing Loopholes" Industrial Relations Reform Bill in Parliament. It highlights the pushback from Independent Senators and MPs, the involvement of the Southern Gold Coast Chamber of Commerce in shaping the submissions, and the key aspects of the bill.

Closing Loopholes Bill Update

By Greg Arnold
Founder and Senior Consultant, Effective Workplace Solutions
Board Member of the Southern Gold Coast Chamber of Commerce

The recently introduced “Closing Loopholes” Industrial Relations Reform Bill has been stifled in Parliament with a significant degree of pushback from Independent Senators and MPs.

In September the Bill was referred to a Senate Education and Employment Legislation Committee for enquiry and further consultation with stakeholders. That Committee is due to report in February next year. In the meantime, the Committee has been taking submissions on the impact that the proposed legislation will have on business. The Southern Gold Coast Chamber of Commerce, has played a significant role by providing input and been involved in the framing of the submissions of the Business Chamber Queensland to that enquiry.

However, apart from the Senate Committee’s deliberations and considerations, there is much happening behind the scenes which could see this Bill significantly amended and watered down.

Independent Senators David Pocock and Jacqui Lambie have sought to “split” the Bill bring forward a motion to pass 4 of the “less contentious” aspects of the Bill leaving the more “thorny” issues to be decided next year. This approach has been supported by other Independent MPs.

The four aspects of the splitting of the Bill are:

making it easier for emergency service workers to claim for PTSD without having to first prove that they have acquired it from their jobs;
stopping employers from taking adverse action against workers on the basis that they have been subjected to family and domestic violence;
protection of redundancy payments for workers who might be working for larger businesses that have now become a small business due to insolvency;
bringing silica into line with asbestos under the Asbestos Safety and Eradication Agency, including coordination on silica safety and silica related diseases.

In the meantime, employer bodies and representatives have been holding discussions with the Government to seek to provide better outcomes regarding the proposed “gig economy” changes and the Australian Hotels Association (AHA) has been holding discussions with the Government to seek concessions to the controversial proposed casual employment provisions.

It is understood that the AHA has gained a commitment from the Government that employers will be able to provide regular and systematic casual employment to workers who are willing to do so, while also removing the Bill's civil penalty provision for misrepresentation of casual employment. However, this agreement has attracted criticism from other major employer groups, suggesting that such concessions don’t go far enough, and that the real issue is the proposed definition of casual employment has not been addressed or remedied.

There is no doubt, thanks to the Independent Senators and MPs and the work of employer bodies, that the Closing Loopholes Bill has now become a hotch-potch of splitting and concessions and the omnibus Bill that the Government was seeking to pass now appears likely to a mere shadow of its former self. However, we will have to wait until February next year to find out exactly what the legislation will eventually look like.

*Greg Arnold is a Board Member of the Southern Gold Coast Chamber of Commerce and is a member of the of the Business Chamber Queensland IR Reforms Working Group.