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

For starters, of course, for any business or enterprise that is governed by an existing enterprise agreement, obviously that persists. That business would not be, as you would put it, 'roped into' or forced into multi-employer bargaining. In addition, under the legislation, as amended, there is what has been called a nine-month grace period after the expiry of an existing enterprise agreement. It is always open to an individual employer to reach an agreement with their employees. As I've already said, it's the government's preference that that occurs. But we also recognise that there are individual businesses and groups of employees that, for one reason or another—such as simplicity—may choose to go down the multi-employer bargaining path. I can think of many small businesses that wouldn't necessarily have the HR to conduct negotiations or would prefer to not have to do that with their own employees and may choose to effectively sign up to a multi-employer bargain that is generated through negotiation by a peak industry body with unions and workers. But, as I say, pretty much every business has the option of reaching an agreement with their own employees.