Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

The Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations has provided the following answer to the honourable senator’s question:

(1) Is the Act operating as intended?

(2) Have any problems with the Act been detected; if so, when were they first identified?

The Fair Work (Registered Organisations) Act 2009 (the Act) essentially mirrors Schedule 1 to the Workplace Relations Act 1996. While the Act and its predecessor, Schedule 1, generally operated as per Parliament’s original intention, the recently concluded investigations by Fair Work Australia into the Health Services Union have highlighted a number of areas where the Act could be strengthened.

The Government has identified that the Act could be strengthened to:

(3) Has the Minister considered any amendments to the Act; if so:

(a) on what exact date/s was consideration given; and

(b) what was the Minister’s decision?

The Government introduced the Fair Work (Registered Organisations) Amendment Bill 2012 (the Bill) on Thursday 31 May following consultation with key stakeholders at the meeting of the National Workplace Relations Consultative Council on 25 May. The Bill was passed on 26 June 2012. It implements substantial reforms in the areas identified in the response to question 2.

(4) Have former Ministers Evans, Crean and Gillard considered any amendments to the Act?

Other than minor amendments to ensure Schedule 1 aligned with the Fair Work framework and the amendments referred to in question 3, the legislation governing registered organisations has not been amended since 2002 and consideration has not previously been given to broader amendments.

(5) Has the Government received any advice from the department or Fair Work Australia that there are problems with the Act; if so, on what date/s was the advice received?

As previously noted, the recently concluded investigations by Fair Work Australia into the Health Services Union have highlighted a number of areas where the Act could be strengthened. Other than in that regard, neither the Department or Fair Work Australia have provided any advice regarding problems with the Act.