Division Description Changes — Bills — Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Closing Loopholes) Bill 2023; Second Reading — 7th Dec 2023

Change	Division
senate vote 2023-12-07#10 Edited by mackay staff on 2024-04-20 17:24:00	Title Bills — Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Closing Loopholes) Bill 2023; Second Reading Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Closing Loopholes) Bill 2023 - Second Reading - Agree with the bill's main idea Description ~~<p class="speaker">Sue Lines</p>~~ ~~<p>The question is that the bill be now read a second time.</p>~~ ~~<p></p>~~ The majority voted in favour of a [motion](https://www.openaustralia.org.au/senate/?gid=2023-12-07.36.1) to agree with the main idea of the bill. In parliamentary jargon, they voted to read the bill a second time. ### What is the bill's main idea? According to the [bills digest](https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Bills_Legislation/bd/bd2324a/24bd17): > The [Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Closing Loopholes) Bill 2023](https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=Id:legislation/billhome/r7072) will amend* the Fair Work Act 2009 and related legislation to enact a wide range of measures, most notably including:* > > * introducing a new definition of casual employee and an employee choice pathway for eligible casual employees to change to permanent employment, if they wish to do so > > * effectively reinstating the ‘multi-factorial’ test previously applied by courts and tribunals to determine if a worker is an employee or independent contractor > > * preventing enterprise agreement wages from being undercut by the use of labour hire (‘same job, same pay’) > > * introducing a new criminal offence for intentional wage theft > > * allowing the Fair Work Commission to set minimum standards for some (but not all) ‘gig economy’ workers and road transport industry workers > > * introducing a new Commonwealth criminal offence of industrial manslaughter > > * introducing a rebuttable presumption that a first responder’s employment significantly contributed to the contraction of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and > > * various other measures related to prohibiting discrimination against employees who have been, or continue to be, subjected to family and domestic violence; changing the defence to ‘sham contracting’ from a test of ‘recklessness’ to one of ‘reasonableness’; and a range of other workplace relations measures, which are not examined in this Digest.

~~Sue Lines~~
~~The question is that the bill be now read a second time.~~
~~~~
The majority voted in favour of a [motion](https://www.openaustralia.org.au/senate/?gid=2023-12-07.36.1) to agree with the main idea of the bill. In parliamentary jargon, they voted to read the bill a second time.
### What is the bill's main idea?
According to the [bills digest](https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Bills_Legislation/bd/bd2324a/24bd17):
> *The [Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Closing Loopholes) Bill 2023](https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=Id:legislation/billhome/r7072) will amend the Fair Work Act 2009 and related legislation to enact a wide range of measures, most notably including:*
>
> * *introducing a new definition of casual employee and an employee choice pathway for eligible casual employees to change to permanent employment, if they wish to do so*
>
> * *effectively reinstating the ‘multi-factorial’ test previously applied by courts and tribunals to determine if a worker is an employee or independent contractor*
>
> * *preventing enterprise agreement wages from being undercut by the use of labour hire (‘same job, same pay’)*
>
> * *introducing a new criminal offence for intentional wage theft*
>
> * *allowing the Fair Work Commission to set minimum standards for some (but not all) ‘gig economy’ workers and road transport industry workers*
>
> * *introducing a new Commonwealth criminal offence of industrial manslaughter*
>
> * *introducing a rebuttable presumption that a first responder’s employment significantly contributed to the contraction of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and*
>
> * *various other measures related to prohibiting discrimination against employees who have been, or continue to be, subjected to family and domestic violence; changing the defence to ‘sham contracting’ from a test of ‘recklessness’ to one of ‘reasonableness’; and a range of other workplace relations measures, which are not examined in this Digest.*