The Industrial Relations Amendment Bill 2023 was carried by both Houses of Parliament on 30 November. The Bill makes substantial changes to the current Industrial Relations Act 1996 but in a bold gesture, it is the restoration of an institution more than a century old – wrecked by the former Government - which is most significant.
It’s not the most important news for employees in local government, but when you consider that having an industrial tribunal which is accessible and user-friendly, as it had operated for more than a century, its restoration is a triumph for all of us.
You don’t have to understand how it all works, but as an employee you need to be confident that there are tribunals available for unions and their members to pursue improvements in pay and conditions of employment, or resist attacks on conditions of employment, or their wellbeing, or any of what seems a countless list of employment problems.
In 2015 and 2016, in a shady process denied by nearly everyone (including those we know were up to their eyeballs in it) the Government tore the Industrial Court and its judicial role from the Industrial Relations Commission - a combined employment tribunal seamlessly from its origin in the Industrial Relations Act in 1901. The judicial role of the Court was incorporated into the Supreme Court and was a process opposed universally by the union movement in the state and by employer organisations as well.
We broke the news in 2015 that the government, in a process of rationalising tribunals was eyeing off the IRC - housed in what was originally the magnificent sandstone Colonial Secretary’s building and the seat of colonial administration on the corner of Macquarie, Bridge and Phillips Streets, Sydney. The Government had fantasies about selling or leasing it off as a flash hotel - where none of us could afford to stay.
There was a degree of openness about some aspects of the process, like closing down the Wollongong and Newcastle court registries, but it was the split of the judicial role (the same level of the Supreme Court) that was most secretive. Shamefully so.
Since that change in 2016, the Labor Opposition had promised unions that it would restore the Commission to its former role enshrined in the 1996 Act, and the public sector unions (not us in local government) that they would abolish the dreaded wages cap imposed by the Coalition government which removed from the IRC their capacity to make awards for the Public Sector providing pay increases over the wages cap of 2.5%.
While tardy getting moving on it, the Minister for Industrial Relations, Sophie Cotsis, established a review panel of the highly respected Judge (and the final) President of the IRC Roger Boland, and Anna Booth, a former union official, Deputy President of the Fair Work Commission and who at the conclusion of the Panel’s reporting, took up the role of the Fair Work Ombudsman.
Consistent with recommendations from the Panel, the Act will re-establish the Industrial Relations Commission in Court session, requiring the appointment of three judicial members/judges and will return to the Industrial Court the Workers Compensation jurisdiction. And introduce what was apparently, for some, a revelation, a concept of “mutual-gains bargaining”. It’s really “interest-based bargaining”, as it has been called in local government for a couple of decades and is, without the fanfare of those titles, pretty much how we’ve always negotiated the State Award.
The Public Sector has desperately needed negotiation processes like those in local government, after twelve years of a hostile Government and bosses, and we wish them well.
The objects of the Act and the functions of the IRC will have some changes described as the “modernisation” of the Industrial Relations Act 1996, and other recommendations of the Panel, which will be handed to an Implementation Group for Industrial Reform which is currently being constituted, and where the Minister wants it to meet before the end of the year.
We will keep you in the loop as things develop in the second phase of reform, in which we also hope to be involved. The restored IRC, back to its former glory, will be an active tribunal of experienced practitioners where, apart from anything else, we can happily take the industrial disputes we have regularly in the industry, and where we can be confident of the exercise of its powers.
These significant changes were all done in a timeframe that dramatically demonstrates the capacity of governments to move fast when they need to. Minister for Industrial Relations, Sophie Cotsis, introduced the Industrial Relations Amendment Bill 2023 into the Legislative Assembly on Thursday 23 November (around 3:45pm to be precise), there are standard steps to follow and it had its First Reading, the Minister’s Second Reading speech, the Second Reading, it was Considered in Detail and then the Third Reading and passed that afternoon and evening.
It was introduced into the Legislative Council on Thursday 30 November and had its First Reading, Second Reading speech, Second Reading, was passed with amendments, its Third Reading and then Passed with Amendments it was returned to the Legislative Assembly which agreed with the amendments, and it passed through Parliament that day. That is faster than a speeding bullet.
And it was “assented to” by the NSW Governor on Tuesday 5 December and we await its proclamation into law.
This reinforces the joy of being part of the union movement in New South Wales as an affiliate of Unions NSW - thank you Mark Morey and Thomas Costa. Neither would it have happened without the courage and commitment of the Minister for Industrial Relations, Sophie Cotsis with her preparedness and stoicism pushing this through Cabinet. Thank you, Sophie.
Governments can move fast when they want to
That should be an inspiration to the Minister for Local Government, Ron Hoenig. The LG Minister was involved in the process as a member of the Legislative Assembly and is now responsible for ensuring that another of the recommendations of the Panel, the recission of section 340 of the Local Government Act 1993, can be dealt with expeditiously in the first session of Parliament next year.
Wouldn’t that be good. A reduced risk of corruption and intimidation of senior staff and general managers, and now it’s all in the hands of a Minister who was part of this, and can make things happen.
