Stuart Henry (Hasluck, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

My apologies, Mr Deputy Speaker. The Howard government is enshrining the rights and protections in separate legislation in recognition of the importance of independent contractors in our economy. The decision to not merely include these provisions in the Workplace Relations Act reflects the independent and commercial nature of these contracts, clearly setting them apart from industrial law.

This legislation is important to introduce consistency across state borders and to remove barriers imposed by state Labor governments. The legislation will remove the state governments’ deeming provisions—which are arbitrary in nature, deeming some independent contractors to be employees and others to be contractors, often without any underlying logic. This has led to some absurd situations such as independent contractors who drive buses being deemed to be employees whereas taxidrivers are not. In my home state of Western Australia, the state government has been seeking to effectively deem independent contractors through its industrial relations legislation by expanding the definition of ‘employee’ to include, for example, outworkers, labour hire workers and contract cleaners. In Queensland, section 275 of the Industrial Relations Act 1999—

See this speech in context