Bill
Fair Work (Registered Organisations) Amendment Bill 2014
passed, as at 2016-11-24. Employment portfolio.
- Sponsor
- Not recorded
- Portfolio
- Employment
Recorded stages
- introduced — 2016-08-31
- second reading — 2016-08-31
- second reading — 2016-10-19
- second reading — 2016-10-19
- third reading — 2016-10-19
- introduced — 2016-11-07
- second reading — 2016-11-07
- second reading — 2016-11-21
- second reading — 2016-11-21
- committee — 2016-11-21
- third reading — 2016-11-21
- other — 2016-11-22
- passed — 2016-11-22
- royal assent — 2016-11-24
Divisions
- Long debate text truncated. — 2016-10-19, House of Representatives: affirmative, ayes 78, noes 68
- Fair Work (Registered Organisations) Amendment Bill 2014 - Third Reading - Pass the bill — 2016-10-19, House of Representatives: affirmative, ayes 78, noes 68
- Christopher Pyne I move that the amendments be agreed to. Brendan O'Connor I want to comment on the Senate's proposed amendments to the Fair Work (Registered Organisations) Amendment Bill 2014. As you know, Mr Deputy Speaker, there was a debate that went until after two o'clock this morning in the other place about this bill. I want to make it very clear, firstly, that Labor believe that there was room to find longstanding reform in this area, and that is why we moved five separate amendments, including providing that the regulator for registered organisations be the Australian Securities and Investments Commission. We believe that is a mature body, one that would be invulnerable to executive government interference. We believe it would treat registered organisations and companies in the same manner. So the government would have had a change, if you like, to the law where we had a regulator that would treat bodies the same and be seen to be treating them the same, but, unfortunately, that amendment was not accepted by the government and by the Senate. I just wanted to put on record that that reform would have been significant and longstanding, unlike some of the amendments that have been proposed and accepted in the Senate. In relation to the matters that have been accepted, firstly the whistleblower protection provisions proposed by Senator Xenophon, we in principle support greater protection to be afforded to whistleblowers. In fact, one of our five amendments went to the protection of whistleblowers. However, given that we were given no time to consider the amendments moved by Senator Xenophon, we did not support his amendment but had our own amendment. We are also concerned that the basis upon which Senator Xenophon moved that amendment was that there is an undertaking by the government to extend protection to whistleblowers beyond registered organisations to the corporate and public sectors. We think that undertaking means nothing unless there is evidence to su — 2016-11-22, House of Representatives: affirmative, ayes 79, noes 70
Plain-language summary
Written by a model from the explanatory memorandum; not the record, as at 2016-08-31.
This bill is part of a package that would tighten rules for unions and employer groups registered under federal workplace laws.
It would create a new watchdog, the Registered Organisations Commission, with powers to investigate and enforce compliance, and impose stricter duties on officers.
The package would introduce criminal penalties for serious breaches of officer duties and increase civil fines, mirroring rules for company directors.
- Establishes an independent regulator called the Registered Organisations Commission.
- Strengthens financial reporting and transparency obligations for registered organisations.
- Adds criminal offences and higher civil penalties for serious misconduct by officers.
- Requires officers to disclose personal interests and restricts their voting and decision-making on those matters.
- Broadens grounds for disqualification from holding office.
- Gives the Commissioner investigation and information-gathering powers similar to those of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.
Registered organisations, their branches, and their officers.
Sources
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