Draft report into Secure Jobs, Better Pay laws released

A review of the Secure Jobs, Better Pay legislation, conducted by Emeritus Professor Mark Bray and Professor Alison Preston, has put forward 19 draft recommendations.

In October 2024, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations Murray Watt announced the review of the Secure Jobs, Better Pay legislation. A review panel was tasked with analysing the appropriateness, effectiveness, and consequences (intended or otherwise) of the Fair Work Legislation Amendment.

The Secure Jobs Better Pay Act – which came into place back on 2 December 2022 – works towards changing laws relevant to the Australian workplace, including changes to bargaining, agreement making, sexual harassment cases and registered organisations.

The draft report, released on 31 January 2025, reflects the considerations that were made by the panel of the Secure Jobs, Better Pay review and offers recommendations on how it can be improved going forward.

The first recommendation listed in the report noted that the Australian government should undertake a further review into Secure Jobs, Better Pay in two to three years, as more data will be readily available.

Interestingly, another recommendation focused on the penalty amounts that arise from contraventions, stating that the “general manager of the Fair Work Commission (FWC)” should consider whether “penalty amounts payable under infringement notices are proportionate to the contraventions that are subject to an infringement notice under the Fair Work (Registered Organisations) Act 2009”.

Bargaining and agreement recommendations were also listed in the report, with one being that the FWC should publish guidance to assist employers in understanding their obligations after receiving a written request to bargain under s 173(2A) of the Fair Work Act.

“This guidance material should include a template written request for bargaining representatives. The template written request should outline, amongst other matters, the requirement for employers to issue a notice of employee representational rights (NERR) within 14 days of receiving the request and details of known bargaining representatives,” said the recommendation.

Job security and gender equality were a major focus of the recommendations, with the review panel encouraging both the FWC and the Australian government to continue striving towards gender equality in the workplace.

For the FWC, in particular, it was encouraged to continue “its program of work to advance gender equality, particularly by addressing the low pay in other female-dominated sectors (beyond care work), and to set out broader principles for identifying and addressing work value and gender undervaluation”.

A stand-out recommendation on the gender equality front was the encouragement for the government to undertake research to consider if it’s appropriate to extend the protected attributes in the Fair Work Act to cover perimenopause and menopause, along with other reproductive health issues.

Despite the numerous recommendations, according to the draft report, the review panel has found that the Secure Jobs, Better Pay reforms overall are achieving the Australian government’s intent – operating both appropriately and effectively, with minimal unintended consequences.