“Groundhog Day”: Retail reps say businesses deserve more time to consider IR reforms

Businesses concerned by proposed industrial relations reforms have less than a fortnight to share their views with a Senate committee, prompting retail sector representatives to complain of a “Groundhog Day” scenario mirroring the rush to pass pivotal reforms late last year.

The federal government’s latest tranche of workplace reforms, dubbed the Closing Loopholes bill, is unlikely to pass into law this year after the Opposition and crossbench pushed a Senate report on the bill into 2024.

While the Senate Standing Committees on Education and Employment will table its views on the 284-page bill on February 1, businesses and other stakeholders have until September 29 this year to share their opinions with the committee.

That timeframe is too short, said Lindsay Carroll, deputy CEO of the National Retail Association, who fears the timeframe echoes last year’s dash to pass the Secure Jobs, Better Pay package before Parliament broke for Christmas.

“We said last year there was no need for the government to act with such indecent haste in relation to law changes that will have a very significant and widespread impact on employers and the economy in general,” Carroll said.

The Closing Loopholes package contains legislation that would criminalise intentional wage theft, underwrite minimum standards for employee-like workers and define the meaning of casual employment, among other significant reforms.

Given its scope, the bill requires “proper scrutiny and assessment of the economic impacts,” Carroll added.

“If this debate is to be anything more than just business-as-usual IR rhetoric, it will take time to conduct credible economic modelling of the impact of the Bill.”

“If the Government is confident about its position, it should have nothing to fear from genuine scrutiny and discussion.”

While some industry representatives claim the Senate committee consultation period is too short, the shape of the bill itself comes after months of deep consultations between major business organisations and the government itself.

The Council of Small Business Organisations Australia this month labelled the proposed industrial relations changes as “unworkable”.