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2002
THE PARLIAMENT OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF
AUSTRALIA
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
WORKPLACE
RELATIONS AMENDMENT (CHOICE IN
AWARD COVERAGE) BILL
2002
SUPPLEMENTARY EXPLANATORY
MEMORANDUM
Amendments to be moved on Behalf of the
Government
(Circulated by authority of the Minister for
Employment and
Workplace Relations, the Honourable Tony Abbott
MP)
OUTLINE
The Bill as introduced proposes amendments to Part
VI (Dispute Prevention and Settlement) and Part IX (Registered Organisations) of
the Workplace Relations Act 1996 to change the provisions concerning the
extension of federal awards to additional employers. The process of extending
award coverage is sometimes referred to as ‘roping-in’.
The
Bill as introduced is intended to:
• provide all businesses with
more information about their rights regarding, and the processes involved with,
roping-in claims;
• restrain the ability of unions to rope-in small
businesses which employ no union members to the federal jurisdiction;
and
• require the Commission to inquire into the views of
unrepresented small business employers potentially affected by a roping-in
claim.
The Government is proposing technical amendments to Schedule 1 of
the Bill.
The need for the amendments arises from the enactment of the
Workplace Relations Legislation Amendment (Registration and Accountability of
Organisations)(Consequential Provisions) Act 2002. That Act repealed
Division 12 of Part IX, with effect from 12 May 2003.
As item 3 of the
Bill as introduced inserted a new section in Division 12 of Part IX, technical
amendments are required to renumber and reposition the new section.
The Bill has no financial impact on the Commonwealth Budget.
NOTES ON AMENDMENTS
Amendment No 1 – Schedule 1,
item 2, page 5 (after line 2), after section 101B, insert:
The Bill as
introduced proposes that businesses receive more information about applications
by unions to extend award coverage to them. In particular, the Bill would
restrict the capacity of unions to extend award coverage to small business
employers that do not employ union members.
As part of this process,
item 3 of the Bill as introduced would insert new section 290A. The new section
would give a Registrar of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission the
power to issue a certificate stating that an employee of a small business is a
member of a particular organisation, without identifying the employee.
This technical amendment proposes to replicate new section 290A, and
renumber it as section 101C.
Instead of being inserted in Division 12
of Part IX, section 101C is proposed to be included in Part VI (Dispute
Prevention and Settlement). The new section would now appear immediately after
the other operative provisions in the Bill.
Amendment No 2 –
Schedule 1, item 3, page 5 (lines 3 – 14), omit the item
This
amendment is consequent on amendment No 1, and proposes the removal of item 3 of
the Bill as
introduced.