Senate Education and Employment Legislation Committee, , 2:35:18 to 2:44:14
The committee discusses the Secure Australian Jobs Code, focusing on how Commonwealth procurement will assess workplace practices and enterprise agreement coverage without mandatory requirements.
Topics: Workplace relations, Procurement
Speakers: Senator Matt O'Sullivan, Greg Manning, Speaker 18, Speaker 17, Simon Duggan, Senator Jess Walsh
Uh thank you, Chair. Uh, can I take that to the Minister's statement on 1st of May, which said that the government has no intention of requiring employees to enter into an agreement covered by a registered employee organisation as a condition of Commonwealth funding?
Senator, I'll just get the right witnesses here. Okay, but is this about the Secure Australian jobs code framework?
Yes.
Yeah, I'll we'll just have to swap the witnesses. Actually, I just checked. Are we talking about the secure Australian jobs framework or the proposed standards for the construction?
Uh yeah, the secure job Australian jobs framework.
Got the right words.
So this is the uh the no intention of requiring uh element to that announcement. Uh that does it still does that still remain the government's position.
Yes.
I think that from the minister that is still the government's position. So not requiring is different from preferring, isn't it?
Uh so Senator. So businesses won't be required to have an enterprise agreement participating in Commonwealth procurement. Decision makers for Commonwealth procurement will be able to assess a range of indicators on paying conditions for businesses whose workers are covered by an enterprise agreement and those who are not. So seeking to make sure that the outcomes achieved, but the precise form of arrangement for workers uh is not a condition.
So what's the point of having it then? Like if it's it will it be part of uh the the tendering score, but will there be a uh a higher score associated to uh an application if it's yeah.
So the the framework's pretty clear in its objective, Senator, which is uh it sets out the Australian government's expectations around secure work, fair treatment of workers and good workplace practices in Commonwealth contracts. Uh one of the things that has also been made very clear through through the framework is that value for money really is central to spending decisions. So the framework itself sits alongside price quality, relevant experience and performance history as key factors in that assessment.
And will there be a requirement for legislation for this to take effect?
Senator might uh get Mr. De Silverwed directment to run you through the process, noting that it has it's been uh subject of consultation and the decisions that are still to be made.
So Senator, the secure jobs framework would operate as a policy document. Um and then the government's focus at this stage is giving effect to the secure jobs framework in the Commonwealth procurement context. In order to do that, that would be done through amendments that are made to the supply code, which is administered by the Department of Finance.
Okay. Then the discussion paper is now out, and submissions have been closed. So where are we at now in terms of that?
Again, I'm just I'm just wondering again in terms of our processes, because given Ms. Godden's role. Um just have to work it whether she is responsible for this then or whether we talk about the standards, but there has there has been a consultation process in relation to the framework. And again, I'll get Mr. DeSilva we're right to run you through where that's up to.
Thank you, Senator. That's correct. So there have been uh two sets of consultation that have occurred in relation to the secure jobs framework. So there was a consultation process that occurred um over the course of December 2025 to February 2026, and there was a consultation paper that was issued seeking feedback on potential requirements, application, implementation, and compliance arrangements. Following that, the department worked with colleagues at the Department of Finance to prepare both a draft secure jobs framework as well as proposed amendments to the supply code. As Mr. Manning has alluded to, there has been a consultation process on those documents that has run formally from the twenty third of September to the twenty first of October. This year, though we have granted a modest number of extensions to submitters, I believe that date might have passed sort of yesterday or today.
So the Minister introduced the bill included in part nine. Is that right? The what's it called? I thought it was the Australian jobs framework, Secured Australian Jobs Framework.
There's been any legislation in relation to the framework.
Okay. I might have this wrong then.
It may be the building cooperative workplaces number two bill.
It may be, and I apologise, I haven't got that.
So what I might do is get uh Mr. Kerr to come to the table too.
Okay. So we so are we potentially talking about two different things here?
Uh uh potentially, but um they could potentially but could be related, Senator, but the question then.
We'll keep going and then we'll we'll see where we land. So part maybe you can help uh me to understand where we're actually at here. So part nine.
Yeah, certainly. Um my name's Stuart Kerr, I'm the acting um First Assistant Secretary of our Workplace Relations Legal Division. Manning said, I think you are referring to uh part nine of the building cooperative workplaces number one bill, uh, which was passed by the parliament earlier this year. Um that part uh amended um part 3.1 of the Fair Work Act. Yeah. And what it did was to create targeted exceptions to specify general protections provisions for certain Commonwealth financial and contractual arrangements, so really grants uh and procurement. Um that allowed preference to be given uh to employers based on specified enterprise agreement coverage as uh I would note it doesn't require the Commonwealth to give a preference or require an employer to have an enterprise agreement, though it was a facility of sort of change.
Okay, thank you for that. I think we're clearer now where we are. So it's so back to my first question then. Not requiring is different to preferring. So there is a preference for uh organisations that have that relationship with unions. Uh so is there is there a higher score on your tenders? How is that outworking?
That provision Mr. Kerr's referring to was uh was a provision that was made to um to change the operation of the Fair Work Act, which prohibited any distinction being made between different types of legislative instruments. So for example, um if the uh government was funding an area of public life and had a preference for there to be enterprise agreements in there to ensure that the conditions were above the minimum standards and could be passed through to the employers, then that provision could facilitate that and remove the prohibition that it existed before that. That's it doesn't require that to occur. It's a it's purely a facility provision. It doesn't necessarily apply in any specific context. For example, it doesn't necessarily apply to the Secure Australian Jobs Code, which we're talking about earlier. Uh it was changing a restriction that was in the Fair Work Act up until that time of those
changes, as Mr. Manning said, was a broader one. It was really to enable the Commonwealth Government to use its spending power to encourage the use of EAs on the basis that the government considers that enterprise bargaining is is an objective it was just to promote.