Senator Eric Abetz

Following the Government’s failure to release the details of the scheduled review of the Fair Work Act, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations Senator Eric Abetz has asked the Productivity Commission to conduct the review.

“Employers and employees as well as the Coalition have been calling for the review to be brought on for months. Now, less than a month from the scheduled commencement date there are still no details on the table,” Senator Abetz said today.

Last night, the Tasmanian Parliament voted to amend the Work Health Safety bill to delay commencement for a year (11 votes to 3). The Bill has now been sent back to the lower house for further debate in March of next year.

This is yet another Parliament that has chosen to delay the implementation of the model occupational health and safety laws – adding to South Australia, Victoria and Western Australia.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics has today released the industrial disputation data for the last quarter that shows a considerable increase up to 10.1 working days lost per thousand employees. This is the highest level of industrial disputation in more than half a decade.

Labor, in the Fair Work Act’s key performance indicators point to low levels of industrial disputation as a sign of the Act’s success – well today its clear there is a failure.

In the Senate’s October Estimates, Minister Chris Evans said the Government would release the details for the review of the Fair Work Act in November. Now that November has been and gone, the details must be released immediately according to Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations Senator Eric Abetz.

“It doesn’t surprise me that the Minister who authorised the guillotining of 19 bills in the Senate without a word of debate would be lax on providing details of the Review into the operation of the Fair Work Act,” Senator Abetz said today.