Employment and Workplace Relations Minister Amanda Rishworth says protecting penalty rates is her top priority. Photo: ALP.
Protecting penalty rates in awards and closing loopholes has jumped to the top of the priority list for the re-elected Federal Government.
New Employment and Workplace Relations Minister Amanda Rishworth has described it as an election promise and Labor will ensure it is kept.
While she was not the Minister responsible before the 3 May election, she is now running with it and is determined to protect employees’ rights.
Proposed legislation will also better support employees experiencing stillbirth and early infant death with protected parental leave.
The Minister met on Tuesday (3 May) as chair of the National Workplace Relations Consultative Council to progress the issue.
The NWRCC is a tripartite forum for government, employers and unions to consult on workplace relations matters deemed to be of national importance.
The council meets twice a year, once in each half of the calendar year.
Tuesday’s meeting was attended by the Australian Council of Trade Unions secretary Sally McManus, Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox, Master Builders chief executive Denita Wawn and other union leaders and representatives of employer groups.
Ms Rishworth stressed the importance of several penalty rate issues.
These included introducing legislation to protect penalty rates in awards; amending the Fair Work Act 2009 to guarantee that working parents dealing with stillbirth and early infant death can continue to access employer-paid parental leave; and banning non-complete clauses for employees earning below the Fair Work Act’s high-income threshold.
Productivity, including the role of artificial intelligence in the workplace, was also discussed.
Ms Rishworth said it was important to convene the NWRCC at the earliest possible opportunity in this term of government to consult on the delivery of election pledges.
“Labor has a long-standing commitment to constructive consultation on our workplace relations system and these forums are central to that commitment,” she said.
“[The] meeting was a productive conversation regarding progressing some of our government’s commitments and continuing the tripartite way of working.
“Consultation through forums like this allows for a strong workplace relations system which supports sustainable wages, productivity growth and safer workplaces.”
Speaking on ABC radio on Wednesday, Ms Rishworth said she wanted new laws over penalty rates to be passed as soon as possible.
“That is a really top priority of ours,” the Minister said.
“And of course, we’ve got to get the legislation drafted and consult on that legislation.
“But we would like to see that as soon as possible.”
Specifically regarding parental leave over stillbirths and early infant death, Ms Rishworth said while the vast majority of employers do the right thing by their employees dealing with such circumstances, there remained some confusion in the law as it stands.
“What we have is a situation where sometimes it’s clear when it comes to unpaid leave, it’s clear when it comes to the government paid parental leave, but it is a grey area in the law,” she said.
“And so sometimes managers or HR departments are grappling with that issue.”
Meanwhile, on the other side of politics, the Nationals are digging their heels in over Labor’s planned changes to the taxing of superannuation.
The government proposes doubling the tax rate from 15 per cent to 30 per cent on superannuation balances higher than $3 million.
It would also tax unrealised capital gains, as opposed to the current situation where an asset held in super that becomes more valuable is only taxed on that value when the asset is sold.
Nationals Senator Matt Canavan told the media there was “no way in hell” he would support taxing unrealised capital gains, and that the Coalition would “fight to the death” over the proposed changes to super.
“The problem with unrealised gains is a lot of people out there, like farmers who have assets in superannuation … they may be asset rich, but they’re cash poor,” Senator Canavan said.
“And they don’t have the cash – the cash flow – to pay a tax bill on an annual basis that could come under this scheme.”
It won’t matter how the Coalition votes in the House of Representatives as Labor has such a commanding majority.
In the Senate, however, the government will need to either get the Opposition or the Greens to agree to any proposed legislation for it to pass.
