Industrial legislation in Australia in 2014

Abstract

2014 was a year of considerable legislative activity with the introduction of six industrial relations Bills into Parliament. However, the Coalition Government failed to secure the passage of a single piece of industrial legislation. This article focuses on the most significant of these reforms, the Fair Work Amendment Bill 2014, which is designed to facilitate the making of greenfields agreements and to increase the take-up rate of individual flexibility agreements. At the same time, the Bill proposes to constrain the rights of unions to enter workplaces. As an addendum to these measures, a second Bill to amend the Fair Work Act was introduced late in the year. It aims to encourage the inclusion of productivity measures in enterprise bargaining negotiations. The article also considers legislative activity in the building and construction sector and the delayed implementation of new reporting requirements under the Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012. At the state level, the article briefly reviews Tasmanian legislation to protect businesses from the activities of protesters, developments in the regulation of work health and safety in Queensland and Western Australia and a new code of practice for the building and construction sector in Victoria.