Industrial Relations

The Hon. B.R. HOOD (14:43): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Minister for Industrial Relations on worker entitlements and redundancy schemes.

Leave granted.

The Hon. B.R. HOOD: The South Australian housing construction and building sectors have expressed growing concerns over the CFMEU's national expansion plans after The Australian revealed last month that Incolink is moving to take over worker entitlements and redundancies here in South Australia. Amid a lack of information provided to local industry, builders here are particularly worried about the ramifications of the latest Victorian building industry EBA that will double contributions for employers and subcontractors from $81 to $160 a week with Incolink.

CFMEU secretary, John Setka, has described the negative reaction to this news from South Australia as, and I quote, 'nuts', and has claimed that South Australian builders who raise concerns are, and I quote, 'whingeing'. Mr Setka has described Incolink as 'easily the best scheme in Australia', with Incolink CEO Erik Locke describing our current BIRST fund as, and I quote, 'substandard'. My questions to the Minister for Industrial Relations are:

1. Has the minister met with the CFMEU or Incolink representatives to discuss the expansion of the worker entitlements scheme to South Australia?

2. Does the minister share the claim from Mr Setka that SA builders who raise concerns are whingeing?

3. As the minister responsible for industrial relations, is he concerned by the prospect of South Australia's worker entitlements and redundancy scheme being taken over by a Victorian based board that includes John Setka and other union bosses?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector) (14:44): I thank the honourable member for his question. I might just give a bit of background, because it is a question about industry redundancy schemes. The Fair Work Act 2009 and its predecessors have created minimum industrial entitlements for redundancy pay where an employee is terminated because an employer doesn't need the job to be done.

In parallel with those statutory redundancy entitlements, industry-specific redundancy schemes have emerged through historical negotiations between unions and employers. These industry schemes are particularly common in the construction industry, where the intermittent and project-based nature of employment means very few workers would usually receive statutory redundancy entitlements. For example, industry redundancy schemes often include a broader definition of redundancy than applies under statute to allow a larger cohort of workers to access potential entitlements.

These schemes also allow for the portability of redundancy entitlements between employers, similar to the portable long service leave schemes that operate in some of those areas. The Fair Work Act recognises those industry schemes and allows them to be adopted in lieu of statutory entitlement in awards or enterprise agreements.

While these are private matters and the government doesn't have specific knowledge of the operation or the trust deeds that underpin specific industry schemes such as mentioned by the honourable member, we do know that there are several industry-specific schemes that operate in the building and construction industry across Australia—as mentioned by the member, the BIRST scheme and the Incolink scheme. These schemes are typically constituted under a common law trust deed and privately managed in partnership between construction unions and employer organisations in the industry.

Since the referral of industrial relations powers to the commonwealth in 2009, the legislative powers of the South Australian parliament regarding industrial relations have generally been limited to public sector and local government employees. Typically, private sector employers in South Australia fall under the national industrial relations system governed by the commonwealth Fair Work Act 2009, so whilst the operation since the referral of industrial legislative powers in 2009 has occurred it is typically, for private sector employees, a commonwealth matter. We as a state government are seeking further advice on this particular matter.