Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Climate Change and Water) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—I move government amendments (18) and (19) on sheet PA412 together:

(18)  Schedule 1, item 15, page 41 (line 24), omit “the 14 day period referred to in section 342”, substitute “a period of 14 days after the commencement of this Schedule”.

(19)  Schedule 1, item 15, page 41 (lines 33 and 34), omit “the 14 day period referred to in section 375”, substitute “a period of 14 days after the commencement of this Schedule”.

These amendments seek to amend subsections 7(1)(b) and 7(2)(b). These amendments would enable lodgement of an AWA or a variation of an AWA to be made before the commencement of the bill and lodged after 14 days from the day it was made—which would otherwise be in breach of section 342 or section 375—to be accepted by the Workplace Authority in accordance with current rules. These amendments would require the Workplace Authority director to notify the parties, where an AWA or variation made to an AWA has been lodged at the end of 14 days after the commencement of the schedule, rather than 14 days after the AWA or variation was made, if lodgement has not been effective and the AWA or variation is not in operation. The penalty provisions for breach of sections 342 and 375 would continue to apply. In short, the purpose of the amendments is to make clear, in accordance with current arrangements for AWAs, that agreements made before commencement and lodged after the end of the approval period can be accepted, provided they have been lodged by the end of 14 days from commencement of the bill.

Question agreed to.

I move government amendment (20) on sheet PA412:

(20)  Schedule 1, item 15, page 42 (after line 13), after paragraph 8(1)(a), insert:

           (aa)    paragraph 336(b);

This is an amendment to insert a paragraph 8(1)(aa) in schedule 7A. This amendment is intended to ensure that employees on AWAs which have passed their nominal expiry date will be eligible employees for the purposes of pre-lodgement procedures for a new certified agreement. This means that these employees would be entitled to be given ready access to the collective agreement and an information statement in the same way as employees on ITEAs that have passed their nominal expiry date. The government believes that this amendment is necessary to ensure that employees on Australian workplace agreements that have passed their nominal expiry date will be eligible employees for the purpose of pre-lodgement procedures for the making of a collective agreement.

Question agreed to.

I indicate to the chamber that some of these amendments result from the Senate inquiry and some of them result from further consultation that the government has undertaken. As the Senate will observe, the majority of them are highly technical in nature. I move government amendment (21) on sheet PA412:

(21)  Schedule 1, item 15, page 43 (after line 20), after paragraph 2(1)(c), insert:

           (ca)    subsections 347(1) and (2);

This deals with pre-transition collective agreements and seeks to preserve section 347, subsections (1) and (2), to make clear that such agreements commence on lodgement even if the new lodgement requirements are not satisfied consistent with the current rules in relation to those agreements. The amendment is required to ensure that collective agreements made and lodged before the commencement of the bill or made before the commencement of the bill and lodged within 14 days of that commencement would not be subject to the new lodgement requirements proposed to be introduced by the bill and would continue to commence operation on lodgement, consistent with the approach that existing laws apply to that agreement.