Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke has voiced his confusion after business and industry groups vowed to fight reforms the government says it has no intention of pursuing.
The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Minerals Council of Australia, the Business Council and various other peak business, farming and industry groups on Monday launched a multimillion dollar campaign targeting the government’s “same job, same pay”.
Their campaign, “A Better Way, for Better Pay” warns Australians of the dangers of Labor’s second tranche of industrial relations reforms, which the groups say will take away worker incentive and reduce productivity.
While the legislation not even been drafted yet, business have voiced their concern in the wake of preliminary consultation – but Mr Burke has described it as one of the “strangest debates” he’s ever found himself in.
“Business was running a passionate campaign against a policy that the government isn’t proposing – and to me, it would sound like a bad idea anyway,” he told ABC Radio.
“The way business were arguing yesterday … that this would somehow prevent hairdressers from being able to pay different rates of pay for the people in their employment is just not true.”
Mr Burke said the “same job, same pay” reforms the government is proposing would close a loophole that undercuts labour hire workers, who are currently vulnerable to exploitation and underpayment.
The government wants to ensure that labour hire workers are paid the same as their employed equivalents.
“This is about setting a floor, a floor that is set at the exact rate the employer has said was their fair rate of pay,” Mr Burke said.
On Monday, the group said the reforms would lead to “lower wage growth and fewer jobs”.
“The so-called ‘Same Job, Same Pay’ proposals … mean by law, employers will have to pay workers with little knowledge or experience exactly the same as workers with decades of knowledge and experience,” the group said in a statement.
“It means by law, you cannot earn better pay by working harder or longer, if your colleague does not share your ambition or work ethic.”
Mr Burke said the government’s reforms with concerned only with closing the “labour hire loophole”.
His opposition counterpart, Michaelia Cash, accused Mr Burke of “insulting” the business community.
Senator Cash said if the government was just concerned with closing a loophole, the government needed to narrow down its definition currently before business.
“Mr Burke clearly has not read his own consultation paper,” Senator Cash said in response to Mr Burke’s earlier interview.
“The policy that the government are putting forward – which is all business can go on at this stage – goes a smooch further than labour hire and covers service contractors. So any business using service contractors will be captured.
“If this is about closing the loophole, it should be very, very narrowly defined.”