The state government has flagged changes to WA’s industrial relations laws, in a surprise move likely to put IR reform firmly on the agenda in the lead up to next year’s state election.
Commerce minister Simon O’Brien tabled a draft bill in parliament today which the government says will bring state IR laws in line with federal legislation in a number of areas.
“I anticipate that many of these changes, particularly those involving ‘right of entry’ and ‘unfair dismissal’, will be welcomed by the small business community,” Mr O’Brien said.
The minister said key changes proposed by the draft Bill include broadly harmonising State unfair dismissal and ‘right of entry’ laws with the Federal Government’s Fair Work Act to ensure a better balance between the rights of employers and employees.
Other changes include updating statutory minimum conditions of employment and streamlining the process for setting State minimum wages.
The bill will be open for public comment until the 31st of January next year.
The proposed reforms are likely to come under heavy scrutiny as the state election draws near, given the effectiveness of anti-Work Choices campaigns at recent federal elections.
Opposition leader Mark McGowan told reporters Premier Colin Barnett was clearing the decks in preparation for a more radical work over of IR laws in the future.
“These changes almost inevitably will mean there are winners and losers,” he said.
“I think what (Mr Barnett) is doing is putting something out there to get him through the state election and then Western Australian workers will find out the true position after that.”
United Voice WA assistant secretary Carolyn Smith said the legislation would be “the biggest overhaul of state IR in a decade”.
“If Mr Barnett wants to go to the next state election on awards and penalty rates our members will fight him,” she said.
Mr Barnett has previously claimed penalty rates are so high under the current system that some small businesses choose to remain closed on Sundays.
The premier came under fire from the opposition when his government commissioned an $850,000 independent review of IR laws in 2009, only to dismiss the review’s recommendations.
“(The review) came back with recommendations along the line of the Work Choices path and that’s what the government is not going to do,” he told reporters last year.
The author of the review, lawyer Steven Amendola, rejected the suggestion and claimed he had been “grossly misrepresented”.
Mr Barnett has rejected calls from the WA Chamber of Commerce and Industry for the state government to cede industrial relations powers to the federal government.