Ai Group welcomed the opportunity to make a submission to the Senate Education and Employment Legislation Committee’s inquiry into the Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Secure Jobs, Better Pay) Bill 2022 (Bill).

The Bill would make major changes to a large number of provisions in the Fair Work Act 2009 (FW Act), including sweeping changes to Australia’s enterprise bargaining laws. Given the breadth of the proposed changes it is vital that there is time for the impacts of the Bill to be thoroughly analysed and understood by businesses and others within the community. This truncated inquiry does not provide a sufficient opportunity for such analysis to be undertaken. Nor does the short timeframe for the inquiry pay sufficient respect to the important role that Parliamentary Committees have in scrutinising Bills and making recommendations to improve the operation of legislative amendments before they are enacted.

Ai Group has major concerns about many aspects of the Bill, outlined in this submission.