SENATOR DEAN SMITH
SHADOW ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR COMPETITION, CHARITIES AND TREASURY
SENATOR FOR WESTERN AUSTRALIA
MEDIA RELEASE
05 November 2024
LABOR FORCED TO AMEND EMPLOYMENT LAWS IN MAJOR WIN FOR CHARITIES
The Albanese Government has folded to pressure from the Coalition and Australian charities sector, exempting charities from contracting requirements that would have made their future impossible – at least for now.
Under the Fair Work Legislation Amendments (Secure Jobs, Better Pay) Act 2022, staff on fixed-term contracts cannot have them extended more than once, meaning they either had to be employed on a permanent basis or leave the organisation.
This was incompatible with the way many charities receive their funding, which is generally once a year, with staff employed on short-term contracts to reflect this.
Appeals by negatively impacted charities and community organisations across the country, largely led by the Community Council of Australia, fell on typically deaf ears with Labor.
It was characteristic of the Albanese Government’s inconsiderate approach to a sector which, despite employing 11 percent of Australians and supporting communities through the cost-of-living crisis, has been ignored and taken for granted under Labor.
In response, Coalition Charities Spokesman Senator Dean Smith introduced a motion for an Order for the Production of Documents in July.
It aimed to capture communications between the Fair Work Commission, the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations, the ACNC and Labor Ministerial Offices.
This forced then Minister Tony Burke to consult with the sector as he should have done from the outset, issuing a written acknowledgement of the unsustainable situation it had created for Australian charities and committing to deal with the sector’s concerns as a priority.
Senator Smith deferred his motion on this basis, still prepared to utilise it if and when Labor failed to keep its word.
The result of Labor’s negotiations with the sector is the Fair Work Amendment (Fixed Term Contracts – Exceptions Measures) Regulations 2024, which came into force late last week.
The Regulations allow ACNC-registered charities whose funding runs for less than five years to align employment contracts with their funding windows, provided the staff member in question has been employed by the charity for less than seven years.
However, the Regulations only last until 1 November 2025.
Labor describes them as “transitional” and aimed at tiding the sector over until a longer-term solution can be found.
The sector has already expressed a preference for the Regulations to be extended.
The Coalition will continue to use every lever to force Labor to continue meaningful consultation with the sector on this key issue and – in the absence of a viable, ongoing solution being found – an extension of the Regulations so that charities can do their vital work well into the future.
Comments attributable to Senator Dean Smith, Shadow Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury:
“While it’s a relief to finally see some certainty for the charities sector, this is only temporary, and Labor cannot be allowed to forget that it has an ongoing responsibility to address the problem long-term.”
“The fact we are in this situation at all says everything you need to know about Labor’s heavy handed IR agenda and its dismissiveness of Australian charities and community organisations.”
“That Labor only started paying attention to the sector, which is helping Australians through the Government’s own cost of living crisis, after the threat of action being taken in the Senate, is totally unacceptable.”
“The sector can be assured the Coalition will continue to back its interests until a workable outcome is achieved – both in the Senate and wherever else is necessary.”
ENDS