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

I'll do my best to answer those multiple questions. Just before I do so, I might give a brief statement on what we're seeking to do with this amendment. One of the things that this bill seeks to do is to amend the definition of casual employment to become a fair and objective test of whether someone is a casual employee or not. That's because we consider the situation we have under the current law, which allows an employer to treat someone as a casual even if they are working like a permanent worker, to be an unfair loophole. The new definition will keep the core concept that a casual is someone who does not have a firm advance commitment to continuing indefinite work, but it ensures this concept is understood by reference to the practical reality of the employment relationship. The new definition will allow parties to assess what is really going on in the workplace instead of just looking at what was in the employment contract on Day 1. It's simply not good enough that an employer can dictate in an employment contract that someone is a casual employee even if, the way the job works out, the employee is working permanent rosters and permanent hours like a permanent employee. They continue to be treated as a casual because that's what the original contract said, and that's what we're seeking to change. If a casual employee wants to change to permanent, the new employee choice pathway means they have a fair way to initiate this.

I'll come to the questions Senator Cash asked. The fundamental point is that, if a worker wants to remain casual, they cannot be forced to changed. Senator Cash, I think your initial question was: if a person wanted to remain as a casual employee, can the Fair Work Commission determine that they are not a casual? The answer is 'no', because an employee has to choose to become permanent. Similarly, the opportunity to become a permanent employee rests with the individual employee and will depend on their individual circumstances. The mere fact that other workers in a workplace are deemed or become permanent doesn't necessarily mean that every other employee in similar circumstances becomes permanent. That individual employee has the right to seek to become permanent or remain as a casual.

I might also point out—because there have been some claims made about red tape in this legislation—that one of the things we're also doing is streamlining this process as a result of some advocacy from business groups. The law as it currently stands, as it was amendment by the former coalition government, essentially provides a requirement on employees to review and offer the opportunity to convert to permanent on an annual basis. That requirement is being removed under this legislation. The way this will work is that a casual employee working in a medium or large sized business after six months of employment would have a right to seek to be converted to permanent. If they're working in a small business, it would be a 12-month wait before they can ask for that. If it didn't happen, and they still wanted to convert to permanent later on, they would continue to have a right to ask their employer to do so, but the right doesn't even begin until six months work as a casual in a medium to large sized business or after 12 months in a small business.