"The proposed new Fair Work Court ticks off yet another longstanding claim on the union movement's wish list to further regulate and control Australia's workplace relations system," said Innes Willox, Chief Executive of the national employer association, Australian Industry Group.
"Very few details about the proposed court have been released and we welcome promised consultation with industry over this. Key matters for consideration include what kind of matters will be heard by the court; how it will interact with the existing Fair Work Commission; what will be the avenues for appeal; and how will its appointees be selected? Crucially, the Government must demonstrate how a new court will be able to deliver faster, more accessible and cheaper outcomes without undermining the independence, consistency and fairness delivered by the current court system.
"Industry will be understandably dubious about who will be appointed to the new court given the Government's demonstrated record of overwhelmingly appointing members to the Fair Work Commission with union backgrounds. Given unions have pushed for this development, there will be unsurprising scepticism about the prospect of it operating in an entirely balanced manner.
"A major risk with specialist courts is that over time they develop distorted views or approaches to those adopted by the broader judiciary.
"It is not clear that there is any problem with the capability of members of the current court system that needs to be addressed through the appointment of specialists. We already have the Fair Work Commission that seeks to resolve many types of disputes quickly, informally and relatively cheaply before they get to court. Employees also already have access to the low-cost small claims jurisdiction to recover unpaid wages and entitlements and resolve certain disputes.
"A better approach would have been to strengthen and better resource existing institutions and dispute resolution processes, while investing in greater education and awareness so employers and employees can more effectively navigate the rights, obligations and mechanisms already available to them.
"The real problem we all face is that our minefield of workplace laws is drowning industry in often unmeritorious litigation and complex disputes. This problem has only been exacerbated by introducing a raft of new avenues for claims to be pursued under changes to industrial laws during the last term of government.
"Creating a new court to deal with an ever-swelling tide of workplace relations litigation and disputes just amounts to putting a Band-Aid on a fundamentally broken and overly complex workplace relations system," Mr Willox said.
