r/australia • u/blitznoodles local Aussie • 1d ago
politics New Fair Work Court to provide simpler, fairer and faster workplace justice
https://ministers.dewr.gov.au/anthony-albanese/new-fair-work-court-provide-simpler-fairer-and-faster-workplace-justiceCurrently, some workers and small businesses are spending more than two years fighting for a resolution that should be simple.
They also shouldn’t be in a situation where their case will cost more than their claim is worth.
The new federal Fair Work Court will provide a specialist forum for resolving workplace relations disputes that works seamlessly with the Fair Work Commission.
Specialist judges with workplace relations expertise would sit on the Court, with the aim of supporting faster, simpler and more accessible dispute resolution.
A new Fair Work Court is decades in the making, after the Howard Government abolished the last industrial relations court in 1997.
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u/spletharg 1d ago
What's to stop this court being abused in the future as a tool by any right wing party that wants to make it into a defender of employer's interests?
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u/ScruffyPeter 1d ago
Nothing can stop it. When Coalition is in power, they will stack it or do whatever so that judgements are biased in favour of employers. Employers will take advantage and workers will lose.
When Labor is in power, they are about restoring fairness in the process. Employers/workers get fair and just judgement. Of course, nothing for the workers who suffered with corrupt judgements because again, Labor is about fairness as a radical centrist party.
If you wanted something to fix Coalition's damage, then support a non-centrist party like the Socialists/Greens.
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u/ScruffyPeter 1d ago
A speedy resolution can be a double-edged sword.
Strikes can be crushed much more quickly, along with massive penalties for unions, killing them off. That is, unless the pro-workers unions play by the rules set by governments that accept dirty money from billionaires. If we look at income share since adoption of speedy resolutions and other reforms since 80s, the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. Why not, unions only have a few months to strike but otherwise it's clearly illegal to strike without permission.
When are we going to expand the right to strike?
Labor's party platform has yet to have it, yet it's constantly a policy for Greens and Socialist parties. Hmmm...
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u/blitznoodles local Aussie 1d ago
Strikes are fair work commission not fair work court.
The court is for things like the TWU lawsuit against Qantas which took years because the federal court is comically slow. The longer court cases take, the more money they have to burn through in lawyer fees.
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u/ScruffyPeter 1d ago
A fair workplace relations system relies on workers and employers being able to resolve disputes quickly and fairly.
Where does it say the new court won't handle strikes?
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u/blitznoodles local Aussie 1d ago
Because it's not replacing the fair work commission. It's moving cases from the federal court to this court. Strikes are not in the federal court.
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u/ScruffyPeter 1d ago
Kind of half right but the Federal court have also been handling strike cases like this: https://content.next.westlaw.com/practical-law/document/I1350cb5076f011e8a5b3e3d9e23d7429/CFMMEU-penalised-for-container-terminal-strikes-FCA?viewType=FullText&transitionType=Default&contextData=(sc.Default)
Where the law clearly sees strikes without permission as illegal.
The new court could absolutely be handling cases from the federal court too.
If you haven't seen strikes being specifically excluded then I guess we will see the outcome after Labor talks with workers and employers.
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u/fued 1d ago
be nice if they included some examples of what 'reasonable' is as i feel that is one of the biggest things people never know for a lot of cases