On 6 December 2022, the Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Secure Jobs, Better Pay) Act 2022 (Cth) (SJBP Act) commenced. The SJBP Act made some of the most significant reforms to Australia’s workplace relations system since the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (FW Act) started in 2009. In fact, it undermined the single enterprise bargaining framework created by the FW Act and took industrial relations back to the 1970s and 1980s. These changes include (but are not limited to) amendments to significantly alter the multi-employer bargaining framework, introduce the intractable bargaining regime, restrict outer-limit contracts, prohibit confidentiality of remuneration terms, changes to the way bargaining for replacement agreements can commence, and the abolition of the Australian Building, and Construction Commission (ABCC).

The Business Council of Australia (BCA) represents over 130 of Australia’s leading businesses, which employ more than 1.1 million Australians. Our members operate in a range of industries, including manufacturing, construction and infrastructure, information technology, mining, retail, financial services and banking, energy, professional services, transport, health, and telecommunications. Our members include some of Australia’s largest employers, most if not all of which have had practical experience with many of the changes made by the SJBP Act.

In relation to workplace relations policy, the BCA advocates for a workplace relations system that drives productivity, flexibility and inclusivity, benefitting employees while allowing businesses to thrive. Fundamentally, we support jobs growth and increasing the real wages for working Australians. The only way to have sustainable wage growth without driving up inflation is through productivity improvements and modernising the way we work. This delivers a benefit to both employers and employees, along with the broader economy.

The SJBP Act was intended to implement many immediate actions identified as outcomes of the 2022 Jobs and Skills Summit (Summit). The Summit outcomes report references productivity five times and has as an immediate outcome to “revitalise a culture of creativity, productivity, good faith negotiation and genuine agreement in Australian workplaces”. However, the changes in the SJBP Act were neither designed to improve productivity nor do they meet certain other outcomes of the Summit, such as creating “a simple, flexible and fair new framework that ensures all workers and businesses can negotiate in good faith for agreements that benefit them” or “[removing] unnecessary complexity for workers and employers.”

Instead, the SJBP Act introduced 296 pages of legislation making several significant and complex changes. The FW Act is now four volumes in length. These changes increased complexity, provided several new avenues for disputation and arbitration in the Fair Work Commission (FWC), and failed to achieve many of the stated outcomes of the Summit.

The Review, which was announced on 2 October 2024, has commenced earlier than required by the SJBP Act. We also note that its timeframe has been condensed from the six months permitted by the SJBP Act, with the initial draft report required in January 2025.

We consider the condensed timetable will undermine a thorough assessment of the SJBP Act. We are also concerned that it will limit the evidence available to support the concerns raised by our members, given the transitional periods and timeframes that apply to certain changes before they are determined by the Fair Work Commission (FWC) or Courts (noting that many of the substantive changes to the bargaining framework did not commence until 6 June 2023).

Despite these constraints, we believe there are some key issues which have already become evident and need to be addressed as a matter of urgency. Our submission traverses the deleterious impact some of the SJBP Act changes have had on bargaining, operational flexibilities and productivity for Australian businesses. We argue that several changes should be amended to ensure Australia’s productivity decline does not continue. This continues to impact the overall economy and makes it even more difficult to address.

Read the full submission here.