The major parties’ key workplace policies ahead of election day

With early voting already underway for the 2025 federal election, here are the key workplace policies pertaining to each major party to keep in mind as you head to the voting booth.

Workplace, IR, and employment policies have been right up there as some of the heavyweight talking points throughout the 2025 election campaign, engaging voters across Australia as polarising debates around workplace flexibility, job cuts, union power, and wages continue to steal the political spotlight.

As the big day beckons, here’s each key workplace policy put forward by the major parties on the campaign trail so far.

Labor

Along the campaign trail, Labor promised more of the same in relation to its Closing Loopholes legislation, which has ushered in vast changes for Australian employers and employees – offering either benefits or disadvantages for the differing groups.

The Right to Disconnect, Same Job, Same Pay, and casual employment changes were the headline inclusions as part of the Closing Loopholes legislation, with Labor now setting its sights on banning non-compete clauses, securing penalty rates, and a draft blueprint vying to improve the construction industry.

In hopes of galvanising voters to receive a second term at the helm, Labor announced the move to ban non-compete clauses alongside its 2025 budget release, claiming the contracts “have no justification and drag down wages”.

According to Labor, the ban will apply to workers who earn less than the high-income threshold ($175,000) – equating to more than 3 million Australian workers, including childcare workers, construction workers, and hairdressers.

“Research suggests the reforms could lift the wages of affected workers by up to 4 per cent, or about $2,500 per year for a worker on median wages,” said Treasurer Jim Chalmers.

After the conflict between unions and employer groups on the potential removal of penalty rates, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations Murray Watt announced that the Albanese government would move to legislate penalty rates upon re-election.

“In recent months, big business lobby groups in the retail, clerical and banking sectors have made applications to the Fair Work Commission to cut penalty rates of lower-paid workers from awards. If successful, these applications by employer groups would reduce the overall income of workers by thousands of dollars each year,” said Watt.

Alongside representatives of construction firms and workers, Labor has also pledged to release a draft blueprint that seeks to improve the construction industry. Watt claimed that the blueprint “represents a collective effort to move forward – together”.

“We know we need a better way of doing things in the construction industry, and the draft blueprint demonstrates the strong action and collaboration needed to build an industry that works for everyone,” he said.

Coalition

The Coalition kicked off 2025 with a rather staunch outlook on the state of the Australian workplace, promising to cut 41,000 public sector jobs, implement a five-day return-to-office (RTO) mandate for public service workers, and reverse various aspects of Labor’s IR reforms.

This hardened approach quickly softened along the campaign trail as Coalition leader Peter Dutton was forced to roll back his RTO mandate policy and reconfigure elements of his proposed public sector cuts after widespread backlash caused a slide in the polls.

Despite this setback, Dutton and the Coalition have stood firm on their push to roll back certain aspects of Labor’s recent Closing Loopholes reforms, including their changes to the casual employment definition and the Right to Disconnect.

The Coalition’s “unashamedly pro-small business” approach has spurred a pledge that will seek to “simplify” the definition of a casual employee, pushing back against the “added cost, confusion and complexity” that Labor’s IR reforms have introduced.

Dutton has also spoken out against the Right to Disconnect – a policy that gives employees the right to refuse to monitor, read, or respond to contact outside of their working hours – claiming the Coalition will repeal legislation passed by Labor back in early 2024.

Speaking on Labor’s IR reforms, shadow employment and workplace relations minister Michaelia Cash said: “They have sent a chilling effect, in particular across small businesses, and we have said, yes, we will seek to repeal them.”

Possibly the strongest of the Coalition’s workplace policies has been its vigorous proposition to deregister and dismantle the Construction, Forestry, and Maritime Employees Union (CFMEU).

The union has been engulfed in allegations of corruption, bullying, and lawlessness, with Dutton referring to them as a “modern-day mafia operation”.

“The culture of criminality and corruption is so entrenched, and it will never change – especially under the weak and incompetent Albanese Labor government,” said Dutton.

“You cannot trust Anthony Albanese to stand up to his union mates. A Labor-Greens minority government will only embolden the CFMEU’s lawless behaviour. Our country just cannot afford three more years of Labor’s weakness and inaction.”

The Greens

Sticking to progressive workplace policies, the Greens have committed to introducing workplace reforms that aim to support healthier lives for workers. The Greens’ headline proposal is to implement a series of national trials of four-day work weeks in different industries.

Workers within these industries would effectively work 80 per cent of their normal hours while maintaining 100 per cent of pay. This test case would go through the Fair Work Commission, aiming to reduce working hours with no docking of pay, which Greens Senator Barbara Pocock labelled a “win-win for everybody”.

“Ordinary Australians have been working hard for decades and not seeing a fair share of the results. A four-day week will share more fairly the products of their labour,” said Pocock.

The Greens also proposed a bill that would grant 12 days of productive leave per year to all Australians, regardless of sex or gender.

“No one should have to suffer financially to manage their reproductive health,” said Greens Senator Larissa Waters.

Right on the eve of election day, Greens leader Adam Bandt announced a plan to lower the retirement age while lifting the pension rate. Bandt claimed that by lowering the pension age from 67 to 65 – recipients who benefit would, on average, receive $18,000 more a year.

“In a wealthy country like ours, no one should retire into poverty. The Greens will fight for the right to retire earlier at 65, with an income that will actually pay the bills and support older Australians to enjoy the retirement they deserve,” said Bandt.

Independents

Small businesses have been at the top of the priorities for independents, with many pushing for a reduction of red tape measures that many have argued are proving to be oppressive and restrictive for Australian employers.

Wentworth MP Allegra Spender is one of eight independents who signed a letter calling to change the definition of “small business” from 15 employees to at least 25 – claiming that businesses that are just over the threshold are being forced to follow the laws that employers with far more resources must abide by.

With new wage laws imposing massive consequences for contraventions, under-resourced smaller businesses may be open to making mistakes unwarranted of these immense charges that are better fit for larger employers.