Labour law experts have called for a period of stability in Australian labour laws at the 20th Annual Labour Law Conference in Sydney.
According to Andrew Stewart, from the University of Adelaide, there are many professionals who work with employment laws and within the IR framework that “just want the change to stop”. “Let’s have this regime in place a while – but still improve it without making fundamental changes,” he said.
However, Middletons workplace relations partner Alice DeBoos disagrees with Stewart’s statement: “I think that after three years of operation we are actually experiencing a period of stability in respect of the way the law operates,” said DeBoos. “Most of the principles and changes introduced by the Fair Work Act have been well and truly settled by judicial decisions.”
Ron McCallum, Emeritus Professor at the University of Sydney Law School, said that what is in place as part of the Fair Work Act is still in its early days. “We have not yet seen the bargaining in good faith laws in place for three years,” he said. Professor McCallum was one of the three experts who conducted the recently completed Fair Work Act Review. The review was label as “fairly cautious” by panellists at the conference; neither a win for unions or employers. “Despite the noise the workers were making, the employers got quite a few wins in the review,” said Anthony Forsyth, associate Professor at Monash University.
DeBoos said she and many of her clients would have preferred for the Review Panel and the Government to have taken a more pro-active approach to changing the aspects of the Fair Work Act which have not produced an improvement in efficiency, productive or flexibility – and in most respects have seen a diminution of these qualities in the workplace. “However, the panel did recommend some key changes in its report to areas that need addressing,” added DeBoos.
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