27       Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Secure Jobs, Better Pay) Bill 2022

Order of the day read for the adjourned debate on the motion of the Assistant Minister for Infrastructure and Transport (Senator Brown)—That this bill be now read a second time.

Debate resumed.

Senator O’Sullivan moved the following amendment:

Omit all words after “That”, substitute “the bill be withdrawn and the Senate calls on the Albanese Government to:

(a)               give the Australian Parliament three months to review these significant changes, rather than trying to force through the legislation this year;

(b)               amend the legislation to exclude changes to multi-employer bargaining, which will lead to more strikes and fewer jobs without increasing productivity or wages;

(c)               admit to the Australian people that these extreme industrial relations changes will result in significant red tape and higher costs for small, family and medium businesses;

(d)               work with the Opposition, crossbench and other stakeholders to make improvements to the better off overall test and changes to enterprise bargaining, as outlined in the former Coalition Government’s legislation, introduced in 2020;

(e)               abandon the move to abolish the Australian Building and Construction Commission and the Registered Organisations Commission;

(f)                redraft this legislation to ensure matters are dealt with separately, rather than as an ‘all or nothing’ approach; and

(g)               in the event the bill is passed, cause an independent review to be conducted of the operation of the amendments made by the Act as soon as practical, 12 months after the bill receives Royal Assent, and cause a copy of the report to be tabled in each House of Parliament”.

Document : Senator O’Sullivan, by leave, tabled the following document:

Education and Employment Legislation Committee—Report—Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Secure Jobs, Better Pay) Bill 2022 [Provisions]—Additional comments from Coalition senators concerning the fifth public hearing.

Debate ensued.

At 9.30 pm : Debate was interrupted while Senator Walsh was speaking.