Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Government Business in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—I move:

(1)    Clause 12, page 11 (lines 8 and 9), omit “or 177(b)”.

(2)   Clause 12, page 12 (line 5), omit “sections 176 and 177”, substitute “section 176”.

(3)   Clause 172, page 162 (line 3), at the end of subparagraph (2)(b)(ii), add “and will be covered by the agreement”.

(4)   Clause 172, page 162 (line 19), at the end of subparagraph (3)(b)(ii), add “and will be covered by the agreement”.

(7)   Clause 178, page 168 (line 32), omit “; and”.

(8)   Clause 178, page 169 (lines 1 to 4), omit paragraph (2)(c).

(9)   Clause 182, page 172 (lines 24 and 25), omit “will be covered by the agreement”, substitute “the agreement is expressed to cover (which need not be all of the relevant employee organisations for the agreement)”.

(10) Clause 182, page 172 (lines 26 to 30), omit subclause (4).

(11) Clause 185, page 174 (after line 11), after subclause (1), insert:

     (1A)    Despite subsection (1), if the agreement is a greenfields agreement, the application must be made by:

             (a)    an employer covered by the agreement; or

             (b)    a relevant employee organisation that is covered by the agreement.

(12) Clause 187, page 177 (after line 23), at the end of the clause, add:

Requirements relating to greenfields agreements

        (5)    If the agreement is a greenfields agreement, FWA must be satisfied that:

             (a)    the relevant employee organisations that will be covered by the agreement are (taken as a group) entitled to represent the industrial interests of a majority of the employees who will be covered by the agreement, in relation to work to be performed under the agreement; and

             (b)    it is in the public interest to approve the agreement.

(13) Clause 193, page 181 (lines 19 to 22), omit all the words from and including “that” to the end of subclause (3), substitute “that each prospective award covered employee for the agreement would be better off overall if the agreement applied to the employee than if the relevant modern award applied to the employee”.

(14) Clause 207, page 196 (line 4), after “concerned”, insert “and are covered by the agreement”.

(15) Clause 219, page 203 (line 20), after “concerned”, insert “and are covered by the agreement”.

I will deal broadly with all of these amendments and then we can deal with how we will vote. The substantive amendments to the Fair Work Bill in relation to the operation of greenfield agreements would remove the requirement that employers notify relevant employee organisations of their intention to make a greenfield agreement, which is item 5, and remove the provisions that would enable bargaining representatives to be appointed in relation to greenfield agreements, which is item 6. This will have the consequence that bargaining orders are no longer available in relation to greenfield agreements. In addition, they will make clear that an employer does not have to make a greenfield agreement with all relevant employee organisations, which is item 9, and insert additional approval requirements for greenfield agreements to ensure that relevant agreements are made by organisations that represent the industrial interests of a majority of the employees and are in the public interest, which is item 12. They will clarify the operation of the better-off-overall test in respect of greenfield agreements, ensuring consistency with the application of the test to non-greenfield agreements, which is item 13. The remaining amendments are consequential amendments to the measures described therein.