Pre-election IR promise by Teal candidates to pursue change to small business definition

With a federal election on the horizon, some elements of IR policy are starting to be revealed, with independent candidates voicing their support for an employer-driven initiative to see the small business threshold increased from a headcount of 15 employees, to at least 25.

In an address to the Australian Retailers Association (ARA) Leaders Forum 25 earlier this month, NSW MP, Allegra Spender, said this change to the Fair Work Act 2009 (the Act), if successful, would “lift some 46,000 small businesses out of the regulatory framework designed for large businesses with the size and scale to manage the additional administrative burden”. Under the Act, small business employers (defined as less than 15 employees, on a headcount), benefit from a one year minimum employment period before a new employee is protected from unfair dismissal; are subject to the small business fair dismissal code when carrying out terminations; and are automatically exempted from observing additional entitlements in the event of redundancies, along with other exceptions afforded under the Act.  In the same ARA address, Ms Spender also highlighted “Award simplification and flexibility” as a desired focus, labelling the Fair Work system “unnecessarily complex”, but lamented the goal being “easier said than done because industrial relations has become a political football”.

Elsewhere, after trumpeting six “workers’ rights wins in the 47th Parliament” which they actively pursued, the Greens unveiled their “10 standards for better workplace laws”, seeking to reduce inequality; strengthen rights of workers and unions; make jobs more secure; and improve wages and conditions in the care sector.

The Government meanwhile is remaining tight-lipped on further proposed IR changes should it retain power for another term, instead highlighting the extensive changes already successfully negotiated via its Closing Loopholes and Secure Jobs legislation. Refinements may be considered pending the final report of an independent review into the effectiveness of more recent legislative changes, which is due by the end of March.

Broadly, the Opposition has flagged a desire to curtail “union militancy” in the workplace; revert to its pre-August 2024 definition of casual employee; scale-back the public service and associated work-from-home policies; and repeal right to disconnect laws.