ALP Promises
Tackling job insecurity and low wages head on, whilst investing in skills Australia needs to drive future economic growth.
Better wages for Australian workers
Addressing the imbalance between cost of living and wages.
Same job, same pay
Enshrining “same job, same pay” into law. The aim is to ensure that labour hire workers receive the same pay as workers directly employed.
Putting security back into work
Enshrining secure work as an objective of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth), meaning that the Fair Work Commission will have to put job security at the heart of its decision-making.
Making wage theft illegal
Criminalising wage theft at a national level.
Closing the gender pay gap
Leading the push to close the gender pay gap and increase pay for women workers, particularly in caring jobs by:
– strengthening the ability of the Fair Work Commission to order pay increases for workers in low paid, female dominated industries;
– legislating so companies with more than 250 employees must report their gender pay gap publicly;
– prohibiting pay secrecy clauses and giving employees the right to disclose their pay, if they want to; and
– taking action to address the gender pay gap in the Australian Public Service.
Fee Free TAFE
Students studying in an industry with a skills shortage will be supported through the provision of Fee Free TAFE, providing opportunities for school leavers, workers wanting to retrain or upskill, and unpaid carers get into the workplace.
Provision of a $50 million TAFE Technology Fund to improve IT facilities, workshops, laboratories and tele-health simulators across the country.
Provision of $100 million New Energy Apprenticeships to encourage and support 10,000 apprentices to train in new energy jobs and provide additional support to complete their training.
Stronger university system
Provision of 20,000 new university places through the Future Made in Australia Skills Plan to help fix skills shortages in jobs including engineering, nursing, technology and teaching.
The places will be prioritised for universities offering more opportunities for under-represented groups such as people in remote, regional and outer-suburban areas, those who are the first in their family to study at university, and First Nations Australians.
Australian Skills Guarantee
Training thousands of workers by ensuring that 1 in 10 workers on major government projects is an apprentice, trainee or cadet.
Jobs and Skills Australia
Establishing Jobs and Skills Australia as a national partnership to drive VET education and strengthen workforce planning by working together with employers, unions, and the training and education sector.
Labour’s Secure Australian Jobs Plan
In February 2021, ALP released several IR policies branded as “Labour’s Secure Australian Jobs Plan” which included:
Extending the Fair Work Commission’s powers so it can deal with “employee-like” workers;
Limit the number of consecutive fixed term contracts an employer can offer for the same role;
Legislate a “fair, objective test to determine when a worker can be classified as a casual” ; and
Abolishing the Australian Building and Construction Commission and Registered Organisations Commission.
Liberal Party promises
Focus on strengthening Australia’s economy into the future, which delivers more jobs, improved living standards and better services.
Creation of jobs
The creation of an additional 1.3 million jobs over the next 5 years by keeping taxes low for workers and small business, significant investments in transformative infrastructure projects and Australian regions, and the transformation the manufacturing sector.
Apprentices
Provision of $2.4 billion in additional incentives to train the next generation of apprentices and trainees including:
– 10% wage subsidies for employers for the first 2 years of hiring a new apprentice, and a further 5% in the third year; and
– Eligibility for up to $5,000 in support payments for apprentices.
– Enabling eligible apprentices to access the expanded Australian Apprenticeship Support Loans, including aged care and child care workers for the first time.
Skilling Australians
– Provision of tax incentives for small businesses to embrace the digital economy and upskill and train employees.
– An additional $3.7 billion to support 800,000 new training positions.
Supporting Women into Work
– Investing $346.1 million to support families and women in the workforce by enhancing Paid Parental Leave:
up to 20 weeks of fully flexible leave for eligible working families; and
adjustment of the income test to increase eligibility and further support workforce participation.
– Committing $38.6 million to encourage women to undertake non-traditional trade apprenticeships through in-training support and targeted mentoring services.
– Investing $4.7 million over 5 years to encourage women into the manufacturing industry.
– Provision of $3.9 million to support women into digitally skilled roles.
Employment Programs
– Establishing ReBoot to build life and employment skills for disadvantaged young Australians.
– Investing $249.1 million to address workforce pressures as part of the National Care and Support Workforce Strategy.
– Investing in the Puggy Hunter Memorial Scholarship Scheme for up to 300 training places for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in carer professions.
– Providing $636.4 million to fund 1,000 additional ranger jobs in regional and remote Australia as part of the expanded Indigenous Rangers Program.
Regional skills
– Providing a boost to regional apprentices through an additional 5% wage subsidy in the first year (on top of the 10% support provided through the Australian Apprenticeships Incentive System).
– Provision of $22.6 million for more than 29,000 additional in-training places for regional apprentices.
Skilled workers
Ensure that skilled stream places account for around 70% of the migration program in 2022-2023 by increasing the number of skilled workers to around 110,000.
IR reforms in line with 2021 omnibus bill
Mr Morrison has advised that the Coalition will revisit and pursue its IR agenda if re-elected. The 2021 omnibus bill included the following proposed amendments:
– Amending certain industry awards so that employers and part time employees can agree to additional hours without attracting overtime penalties;
– Simplifying the better off overall test;
– Changes to who can vote for an enterprise agreement;
– Introducing a 21 day limit for the Fair Work Commission to determine an application to approve an enterprise agreement;
– Criminalising wage theft; and
– Enabling the Fair Work Commission to approve longer term Greenfield agreements for major projects.
If you would like to talk to a member of our Workplace Relations and Safety Team about your business, please contact us on (08) 9322 5022.
