Andrew Laming (Bowman, Liberal Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

On behalf of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Employment, Education and Training, I present the report of the committee entitled Inquiry into the Fair Work Commission annual report 2019-20, together with the minutes of proceedings.

Report made a parliamentary paper in accordance with standing order 39(e).

by leave—This inquiry examined certain aspects of the Fair Work Commission's annual report 2019-20—in particular, how policy responses designed to manage the COVID pandemic impacted the commission's case load, including vaccine mandates, shutdowns, lockdowns, self-isolation and quarantine requirements, and inconsistencies between the public health orders of the states and territories. We noted that the commission's case load increased by eight per cent during 2019-20, but in 2020-21, after the scope of this inquiry, there was a decrease of approximately 13 per cent. This can be attributed to a return to more normal volumes for Fair Work around unfair dismissal and general protection applications.

While governments have had to implement policies quickly to keep Australians safe and to preserve jobs and incomes, state and territory public health orders were often inconsistent and implemented at short notice, and it made it really difficult for business and workers to know their rights and responsibilities. Vaccine mandates have a place in high-risk settings, but Australians have lost their jobs unnecessarily, well outside of frontline roles, due to these vaccine mandates and various permutations of mandates, at state level and in the private sector, that are not in any way based on public health evidence. The commission has resolved their issues that they've faced in a timely manner by mobilising resources and digital tools, and they're well placed to do it in the future.

Our committee noted that the Fair Work system can be costly and time-consuming, and available, accessible information is really important. The commission is obviously limited in its ability to give guidance and advice. It does provide an hour of free legal assistance on a range of topics, but frequently that hour is not sufficient, particularly with the complexities around COVID-19 and people losing their jobs. The Australian government could consider mechanisms. There could well be a way to dismiss vexations claims earlier to reduce time and cost, but that is also complicated.

I'd like to thank each of my parliamentary colleagues on the Standing Committee on Employment, Education and Training, together with the secretariat staff, and I'd like to thank those who contributed their written statements also to allow us to be informed as a result of this inquiry. I commend this report to the House.