The Government's new Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, Murray Watt, praised the Australian Industry Group this week for being "an important voice" in the WR landscape and "really well known for positive engagement with our government and with my department".
In one of his first speeches in his new role, Senator Watt applauded the efforts of Ai Group leaders including Chief Executive Innes Willox, Head of National Workplace Relations Policy Brent Ferguson, Ai Group Centre for Education and Training Executive Director Megan Lilly and Manager - National WHS & Workers' Compensation Policy and Membership Services, Tracey Browne.
"Thank you for the way that you regularly engage with formal consultation processes with our Government such as the National Workplace Relations Consultative Council and the Committee on Industrial Legislation, which really does provide valuable feedback to shape our thinking and our policy direction," Senator Watt said in his address to PIR (Policy Influence Reform) delegates over dinner in Canberra on Tuesday.
“On top of that, your work on the department's Strategic Industry Advisory Committee and various Jobs and Skills Councils and Safe Work Australia is greatly appreciated.
"And, in return, I remain committed to keeping open lines of communication, including on the issue that has been dominating my time so far, reforming the CFMEU and the wider construction sector.
"I'm barely two weeks into this job and and it hasn't exactly been a quiet start.”
Mr Willox, pictured with Senator Watt and Mr Ferguson, welcomed more than 200 delegates to this year’s annual PIR Conference for workplace relations leaders.
Delegates at the two-day forum, presented with the support of AustralianSuper, also heard from Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, Michaelia Cash, below.
Senator Cash said she was prepared to work with Labor to pass legislation that would force the construction division of the CFMEU into administration, but “I am not going to pass something that is not going to work”.
Administration was just the first step, she added.
“The fact that the union goes into administration, so what – if you don’t clean up the system,” Senator Cash said.
Delegates heard perspectives and insights from a broad range of speakers including Ai Group experts, employers, unions and regulators.
"We are less than 12 months from a federal election, and we know industrial relations will be central to the contest between the major parties," Mr Willox said in his welcome address.
"If you just glance at the front pages of our national newspapers over the past week, you will see how central industrial relations is to the national debate.
"Stories of union corruption and cronyism dominate, along with others on the inevitable rise of multi-party bargaining from sectors as diverse as mining to childcare, the NSW Government seeking to get its workforce back to the office and the realisation by the Federal Government that it must be the one to fund wage increases in the care sector.
So, it's fitting we are here today, at an event which has no peer in industrial relations, which is about the contributions employers and their workforces have made to our nation's strength, prosperity and wellbeing."
Wendy Larter is Communications Manager at the Australian Industry Group. She has more than 20 years’ experience as a reporter, features writer, contributor and sub-editor for newspapers and magazines including The Courier-Mail in Brisbane and Metro, the News of the World, The Times and Elle in the UK.
