Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

asked the Minister representing the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, upon notice, on 25 June 2012 :

Given that the Minister's office rewrote the terms of reference for the review of the Fair Work Act 2009, removing references to flexibility and the impact on 'red tape', why did the Government: (a) rewrite the terms of reference; and (b) ignore the Department of Finance and Deregulation's recommendation to include 'productivity'.

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

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

The Minister's Office did not re-write the terms of reference. The office of the former Minister made minor amendments to the draft terms of reference proposed by the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations. The net effect of these changes was to emphasise that the review must consider whether the effects of the Fair Work Act 2009 had been consistent with the Object set out in section 3 of the Act, which encompasses consideration of both productivity and flexibility for business.

The terms of reference were assessed by the Office of Best Practice Regulation (OBPR) as meeting its requirements for a post-implementation review. These requirements include an assessment of the productivity impacts and compliance burden on businesses. At no point did the OBPR recommend or suggest that productivity be explicitly included in the terms of reference.