Senator Eric Abetz

Labor’s so-called Fair Work laws are in disarray after it was revealed today that an identical enterprise agreement, accidentally lodged twice, was approved by one Commissioner, but rejected by another.

Senator Eric Abetz said “This bungle makes a mockery of Labor’s laws which were sold to Australian workplaces as being simpler, less bureaucratic and without legal complexity.”

The application, lodged twice for approval by Fair Work Australia, was subsequently dealt with by two different FWA Commissioners resulting in two separate conflicting and confusing decisions.

The first application was approved by Commissioner Colin Thatcher “on the papers” without requiring the union and business to appear before the Tribunal.

The second, identical application required three separate hearings and necessitated workplace representatives to attend and appear before the Tribunal.

At the end of this, Commissioner Donna McKenna refused to approve the agreement until the employer had provided “undertakings” after consultation with a union.

The enterprise agreement, covering 90 employees, was eventually approved, but only after workplace representatives had endured the bungled bureaucratic nightmare.

“This farcical, but devastatingly serious situation, where two FWA Commissioners spent days tied up with identical matters, highlights the confusing bureaucratic mess Labor has created with its new industrial laws,” said Senator Abetz.

“Julia Gillard created this mess and despite the flood of complaints from workers and employers alike, the Deputy Prime Minister has still done nothing to fix the problems.”

“No doubt, just like Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard believes these problems, along with Labor’s bungled home insulation scheme, the BER building rorts scheme, Labor’s failed border protection policy and the massive new super tax on mining, are not of Labor’s making, but that someone else is to blame.”