Take part in an Ai Group member briefing on the Australian Government’s next tranche of proposed changes to IR laws. The briefing provided key insights into the major elements of the ‘Closing Loopholes Bill’ which the Government introduced into Parliament on Monday 4 September.

This webinar involved Ai Group’s workplace relations specialists and policy leaders who have been directly engaging with the Government on the development of the proposed changes.

Ai Group has been a leading advocate for industry in the context of the development of the Bill, which is expected to have far reaching implications for organisations throughout Australia.

It is expected that the Bill will introduce major changes relating to matters including, among others:

• the engagement of casual workers – including new rules about who can be a casual and new obligations to covert casual employees to permanent employment;
• the Government’s ‘same job same pay’ or ‘closing labour hire loopholes’ policy;
• a new definition of who is an ‘employee’ (as opposed to a contractor) under the Fair Work Act 2009;
• establishment of a new jurisdiction enabling contractors to challenge unfair contract terms;
• new requirements applicable to the road transport industry and ‘employee like workers' (including the 'gig economy');
• significant changes to the Fair Work Act's compliance and enforcement framework, including the introduction of criminal offences for 'wage theft'; and
• changes to union right of entry rules and the granting of new rights to union delegates.

Ai Group’s latest media releases from Chief Executive Innes Willox include background on some of the key contentious issues in the Bill:

Parliament should reject deeply flawed IR Bill (4 Sept, 2023)

Nothing in IR changes to create jobs, increase wages or boost productivity (31 Aug, 2023)

Presenters:

Brent Ferguson, Ai Group’s Head National Workplace Relations Policy.

Nicola Street, Ai Group’s Director – Workplace Relations Policy, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion.

Moderator:

Tony Melville, Head of Corporate Affairs, Ai Group