The Albanese Government has introduced legislation to enable the Fair Work Commission to more effectively perform its vital functions in the context of increased applications driven by artificial intelligence and paid agents.
Under the Workplace Relations Legislation Amendment (Building Cooperative Workplaces No. 1) Bill 2026 to be introduced into Federal Parliament on 3 June, the Commission will be able to:
- dispense with the requirement for costly and time-consuming hearings into jurisdictional matters before dealing with certain dismissal-related disputes
- where appropriate, determine matters on the papers without the need to proceed to a formal hearing
- prevent a person whose application has been dismissed as frivolous, vexatious, or with no reasonable prospects of success from making a further application
- dismiss unfair deactivation or unfair termination applications that are frivolous, vexatious or have no reasonable prospects of success
- and allow the recommencement of supported bargaining without the need for a new authorisation, where an authorisation has already been made less than 2 years ago, saving the FWC and the parties time and money.
The Fair Work Commission President will also be able to delegate their power to certify that a dismissal-related dispute could not be resolved by the Commission and can proceed straight to arbitration or to court. This will speed up the process for employers and employees.
These reforms will ensure the Commission can continue to provide efficient dispute resolution services to workers and employers.
The Bill will also include a measure to enable Commonwealth spending to support enterprise bargaining that promotes job security and fair conditions.
The Bill allows the Commonwealth Government to preference 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 deliver value for money and high-quality, timely, delivery.
The Bill will also give small business owners in the road transport industry access to protections against unfair contracts through the Fair Work Commission.
Currently truckies are unable to access our unfair contracts protections in the Fair Work Commission because their high out of pocket costs lift them above the high-income threshold. We will fix this by creating a new high-income threshold that is fit for purpose. We will consult industry on what the new threshold should be.
The Bill also clarifies the travel allowance rate for National Construction Industry Forum members, replacing Minister Ayres with Minister O'Neil to reflect machinery of government changes, and adding Minister Giles as a permanent member due to the strong skills component of the NCIF's Blueprint for the Future.
Quotes Attributable to Amanda Rishworth, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations:
"These amendments will help the Fair Work Commission allocate its time and resources more efficiently so it can continue to effectively perform its vital role as our national independent workplace relations tribunal.
"This will mean individual matters can be dealt with more quickly, so workers and employers can get more timely resolutions to their issues and enable the Commission to respond to challenges presented by the increase of artificial intelligence and paid agents.
"Importantly, this will ensure the Commission can continue to effectively perform its crucial functions, such as setting minimum wages, adjusting awards, approving enterprise agreements and resolving disputes.
"My priority is working to ensure our reforms continue to deliver secure jobs, better pay and cooperative and productive workplaces."
