The Coalition supports a workplace relations system that is simple, fair and is easy to comply with. It should deliver timely justice for workers and employers.
Workers deserve to be paid every dollar they are owed, and employers have a responsibility to provide fair wages and conditions. Everyone must comply with the law.
But Labor's answer to a complex industrial relations system appears to be creating another layer of legal process. Labor's announcement of a proposed 'Fair Work Court' raises more questions than it answers.
If even the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations can't comply with Australia's workplace laws, how will adding more lawyers, more litigation and another court fix the system?
Will the court be able to overturn decisions of the Fair Work Commission, or be subject to it? When should workers or employees seek resolution in this court or with the Commission? Can a business be taken to the Commission and the court for breaches of employment law? Or only one? Will the court prioritise claims made by certain groups over others?
Labor has announced more complexity, not how another judicial body will reduce complexity or make it easier for employers to comply with workplace laws.
Rather than creating another institution, the Government should be focused on making workplace laws simpler, clearer and easier to comply with.
It is up to the Albanese Government to explain why they have designed an adversarial workplace relations system which creates conflict between employers and employers, and to empower their union donors.
This announcement further emphasises the Albanese Government's desire to increase disputes in the workplace.
We share the concerns of workers and employers about lengthy delays in resolving workplace disputes. But simply creating another court does not guarantee faster outcomes or a fair system.
The Coalition will carefully scrutinise any details once they are released. But Labor must explain why creating another legal process for employers and workers will reduce delays, improve compliance and deliver better outcomes than reforming the workplace relations system itself.
Justice delayed is justice denied, but it just got more complex for both workers and employers under Labor.
