Contractors bill under fire

INDUSTRY BODIES have expressed alarm of the Federal Government’s Independent Contractors Bill on two fronts: its continued delay and the partial exclusion of owner drivers through retaining the current provisions for owner-drivers in NSW and Victoria.

Norman Lacy, executive director of the Information Technology Contract & Recruitment Association (ITCRA), said it was a “matter of great concern to my members that the Government had acceded to lobbying pressure to exclude owner-drivers.

“This leaves us with the fear that any union that mounts a campaign to exclude a particular group of independent contractors could achieve it with this Government.”

In a letter to Members of the Commonwealth Parliament, Lacy also said she was alarmed over the “Federal Government’s continued delay to introduce the … much promised and long overdue legislation.”

NSW Minister for Industrial Relations, John Della Bosca, said the new protections in the Independent Contractors Bill greatly diminished those contained in State and Territory laws for contractors, such as building workers, cleaners and security guards.

“There is also a fear that it will make it easier for companies to sack their workforce and re-employ them as contractors so they can get out of their OHS and workers compensation responsibilities and not pay superannuation,” he said.

At the recent Workplace Relations Ministerial Council meeting, Workplace Relations Minister Kevin Andrews said he would not commit to consulting with the States and Territories over the legislation.

Some of the protections under the new Independent Contractors Bill would require expensive and complex litigation, beyond the reach of normal contractors, according to Della Bosca.

“And, alarmingly, the protections are to be enforced by the federal Office of Workplace Service, which is hopelessly undermanned and prosecuted a total of seven employers last year,” he said.