Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—I move Greens amendments (5), (6), (8) and (48) on sheet 5729:

(5)    Page 60 (after line 16), at the end of Subdivision B, add:

44A FWA may deal with a dispute about the application of National Employment Standards

        (1)    FWA may deal with a dispute about the application of National Employment Standards.

        (2)    FWA may deal with the dispute on application by any of the following to whom the dispute relates:

             (a)    an employee;

             (b)    an employer;

             (c)    an employee organisation;

             (d)    an employer organisation.

        (3)    FWA may deal with the dispute by mediation, conciliation or arbitration, including by making any order it considers appropriate.

        (4)    In dealing with the dispute, FWA must take into account fairness between the parties concerned.

(6)    Page 60 (after line 23), after clause 45, insert:

45A FWA may deal with a dispute about the application of modern award terms

        (1)    FWA may deal with a dispute about the application of a term of a modern award.

        (2)    FWA may deal with the dispute on application by any of the following to whom the dispute relates:

             (a)    an employee;

             (b)    an employer;

             (c)    an employee organisation;

             (d)    an employer organisation.

        (3)    FWA may deal with the dispute by mediation, conciliation or arbitration, including by making any order it considers appropriate.

        (4)    In dealing with the dispute, FWA must take into account fairness between the parties concerned.

(8)    Page 64 (after line 9), after clause 50, insert:

50A FWA may deal with a dispute about the application of enterprise agreement terms

        (1)    FWA may deal with a dispute about the application of a term of an enterprise agreement.

        (2)    FWA may deal with the dispute on application by any of the following to whom the dispute relates:

             (a)    an employee;

             (b)    an employer;

             (c)    an employee organisation;

             (d)    an employer organisation.

        (3)    FWA may deal with the dispute by mediation, conciliation or arbitration, including by making any order it considers appropriate.

        (4)    In dealing with the dispute, FWA must take into account fairness between the parties concerned.

(48)  Clause 595, page 469 (lines 4 to 13), omit subclauses (2) and (3), substitute:

        (2)    FWA may deal with a dispute as it considers appropriate, including in the following ways:

             (a)    by mediation or conciliation;

             (b)    by making a recommendation or expressing an opinion;

             (c)    by arbitration (including by making any orders it considers appropriate).

These amendments relate to the dispute resolution powers of FWA. I will not go into as much extensive detail as I perhaps would be tempted to if the hour were not so late. The Greens went to the election with an election promise which was very strongly in support of the dispute resolution powers of Fair Work Australia. We have held a very strong position on this issue through our industrial relations policy. We certainly went to the election with that policy.

I also articulated during my speech in the second reading debate our concerns about the fact that industrial relations policy in Australia has moved away from conciliation and arbitration and the fact that the bill lacked an independent dispute resolution process. So the Greens are moving these amendments in order to do two things. One is to explicitly provide Fair Work Australia with the power to deal with disputes over the application of the National Employment Standards modern award terms or terms of the enterprise agreement. The amendments also explicitly provide Fair Work Australia with broad powers, including arbitration powers, in resolving these and other disputes. Applications to Fair Work Australia would be able to be made by an employee or employer or by an employee or employer organisation.

We do not believe consent arbitration works, in particular for those employees that are unable to exert enough pressure to ensure arbitration in agreed dispute resolution clauses. This is fundamentally about fairness, and the fairness of this bill is severely undermined by the absence of effective dispute resolution processes. It is a little bit of a mockery to call it the Fair Work Bill when there is not an effective dispute resolution process. As I said, the Greens went to the election with a very strong policy on dispute resolution. We have said it from day one. We believe that this policy should have had independent dispute resolution processes in the bill to enact the name of the bill and to ensure that Australian workers have full access to a truly fair industrial relations system.