Workplace Relations Legislation Amendment (Building Cooperative Workplaces No. 1) Bill 2026

Ms RISHWORTH (Kingston—Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) (09:02): I move: That this bill be now read a second time. The government's first term workplace reforms were the most significant since the Fair Work Act commenced almost 17 years ago. These reforms have delivered on our objectives to promote job security and gender equality, get wages moving, improve safety, and address loopholes that have undermined fairness in the workplace.

With this bill today, we build on those reforms with a package of practical measures to further improve the operation of the workplace relations system and support more cooperative and productive workplaces. These include amendments designed to: Enable the Fair Work Commission to more effectively perform its vital functions Support good faith bargaining, which delivers benefits for employees and employers alike Ensure that road transport contractors can access protections with a new, fit-for-purpose, high-income threshold Clarify reporting requirements for the CFMEU administration Support the effective operation of important tripartite advisory bodies in the workplace relations system I now turn to outline the measures in the bill in detail.

FWC workload measures This bill includes six important administrative measures which will streamline the operations of the Fair Work Commission and assist it to manage its workload, without reducing protections for workers. The commission plays a critical role as our national workplace relations tribunal, and the government is committed to ensuring that it continues to provide efficient dispute resolution services to workers and employers across Australia.

The first measure will remove the requirement to hold a formal hearing to determine whether or not an applicant in a general protections matter has or has not been dismissed. The amendment will allow the commission to simply conduct a conference to seek to resolve the dispute. This will save the time and resources of the commission, as well as the parties involved in the dispute.

Secondly, the bill will allow the president of the commission to delegate some functions to commission staff, including the power to issue certificates that provide that parties to a general protections dispute have made all reasonable attempts to resolve their dispute but were unsuccessful. These certificates allow such matters to proceed to consent arbitration or a court.

The delegation power will ensure that the time of the president and commission staff can be more effectively used. Thirdly, the bill will give the commission more discretion to determine matters 'on the papers', without the need for a formal hearing or conference, where it is appropriate to do so and the parties consent. Fourthly, the bill will provide the commission with additional powers to more effectively deal with vexatious and frivolous applications, including by enabling the commission to make orders to prevent vexatious litigants from making further applications without permission.

Fifthly, the bill will allow the commission to dismiss unfair termination and unfair deactivation applications that are frivolous or vexatious or have no reasonable prospects of success. Finally, the bill will streamline the process for obtaining supported bargaining authorisations from the Fair Work Commission. This is a practical measure that will reduce the administrative burden associated with applying for a supported bargaining authorisation, where there is an existing supported bargaining agreement and the new agreement covers the same or substantially the same group of employees and employers, and the application is made no earlier than three months before, and no later than two years after, the nominal expiry date of the earlier agreement.

Under the provisions, employers can be removed from a further authorisation by the commission, both before and after an authorisation is made, where the commission is satisfied there has been a change in their circumstances. Supporting g ood f aith b argaining The government inherited a bargaining system that was not working effectively and had not worked effectively for a long time.

It had got to the point where less than 15 per cent of employees were covered by a current federal enterprise agreement. The government's first term reforms have reinvigorated the bargaining system, reducing barriers to bargaining to make it easier for employers and employees to negotiate agreements that meet their needs. The result is we have seen record high numbers of employees covered by enterprise agreements delivering real wage increases for Australian workers, and productivity and flexibility improvements for employers.

The bill contains a measure designed to enable Commonwealth spending to encourage the use of good faith bargaining which supports secure jobs and fair conditions. The bill allows Commonwealth government spending to preference employers with enterprise agreements negotiated in good faith and genuinely agreed, where appropriate to do so. Importantly, the bill does not impose any obligation on the Commonwealth to do this—how and when it would be appropriate to do so is being carefully considered as part of the development of the Secure Australian Jobs Code, which will sit alongside requirements to ensure value for money and high-quality, timely delivery.

All Commonwealth entities will continue to be bound by the Commonwealth Procurement Rules and Commonwealth grant guidelines. Road transport measures In 2024, the government introduced new protections in the Fair Work Commission for truckies and small road transport businesses from unfair contract terminations and unfair contract terms. Currently, access to these provisions is limited by a high-income threshold.

However, because of the high operating costs of road transport contractors to pay for fuel and maintain their vehicles, particularly for long-distance owner drivers, this threshold is not fit for purpose. This change will enable the establishment of a separate, fit for purpose road transport contractor high-income threshold, which will allow these hardworking Australian truckies and small road transport businesses to access our protections against unfair termination and unfair contracts.

CFMEU a dministration measure The Australian government took the strongest possible action by legislating for the appointment of an administrator to the Construction and General Division of the CFMEU. I take this opportunity to acknowledge the groundbreaking work of outgoing administrator, Mr Mark Irving KC, and thank him sincerely on behalf of the government for his leadership and the unprecedented progress he has made in improving the culture of the construction industry and tackling criminality and corruption in the CFMEU.

This bill will give the administrator an appropriate timeframe to prepare and submit a biannual financial report to the minister, as required under the Fair Work (Registered Organisations) Act 2009. There is no change to the content or scope of the financial reporting requirements or the timing for the administrator's separate biannual report on the operation of the administration.

Measures supporting the operation of tripartite bodies This government has provided strong support for cooperative and productive approaches to workplace relations, including through tripartite arrangements to bring employers, workers and government together. One of those tripartite statutory advisory bodies is the NCIF. Its function is to provide advice to the Australian government in relation to work in the building and construction industry.

The bill makes minor updates to the ministerial membership of the NCIF and enables travel allowance for members of the NCIF who are not ministers to also be prescribed by reference to Remuneration Tribunal determinations. The bill confirms that RTAG members can receive a travel allowance, in line with other consultative bodies, and clarifies the RTAG's members, chair and subcommittee members are not otherwise entitled to receive remuneration or allowances.

Conclusion Of course, reform is never a set-and-forget job. It requires ongoing stewardship and responsiveness. Our landmark secure jobs, better pay and closing loopholes reforms laid the foundations, and this bill builds on and continues that work.

This bill reflects the government's ongoing commitment to ensuring our workplace relations framework supports cooperative and productive workplaces—the kind of workplaces that work for businesses, workers and the broader economy. I commend the bill to the House. Debate adjourned.