EXPLANATORY
STATEMENT
Issued by the
authority of the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations
Workplace
Relations Amendment (Transition to Forward with Fairness) Act 2008
Proclamation
Under subsection 2(1) of the Workplace Relations
Amendment (Transition to Forward with Fairness) Act 2008 (the Act) Schedules
1 to 7 to the Act commence on a single day to be fixed by Proclamation.
However, if any provision(s) do not commence within the period of 6 months
beginning on the day on which this Act receives the Royal Assent, they commence
on the first day after the end of that period.
The Act received the Royal Assent on 25 March 2008.
The Proclamation fixes 28 March 2008 as the day on which
Schedules 1 to 7 to the Act commence. All provisions of the Act, other than
Schedules 1 to 7, commenced on 25 March 2008.
Schedule 1 to the Act amends the
Workplace Relations Act 1996 (the WR Act) to provide a transitional
framework for workplace agreements. Schedule 1 to the Act:
·
prevents the making of new Australian Workplace Agreements;
·
creates a new transitional workplace agreement called an
Individual Transitional Employment Agreement for limited use during the
transition period; and
·
replaces the fairness test with a new no‑disadvantage test.
Schedule 2 to the Act amends the WR Act to enable the
Australian Industrial Relations Commission to begin the process of award
modernisation.
Schedule 3 to the Act confines the functions of the
Australian Fair Pay Commission to those necessary to ensure the maintenance of
minimum wages.
Schedule 4 to the Act repeals provisions of the WR Act relating
to the Workplace Relations Fact Sheet.
Schedules 5 and 5A to the Act respectively provide for the
extension and variation of pre-reform certified agreements and preserved
collective State agreements in certain circumstances. Schedule 5 also contains
provisions dealing with the continuation and termination of old IR agreements.
Schedule 6 to the Act extends the operation of notional
agreements preserving State awards to 31 December 2009 or any later date
prescribed by regulation. Schedule 7 to the Act provides that the registration
of a transitionally registered association will end to 31 December 2009 or a
later date prescribed by regulation.
The Proclamation is a legislative
instrument for the purposes of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003.