Scrutiny of Bills Second Report of 1999
17 February 1999
ISSN 0729-6258
MEMBERS OF THE COMMITTEE
Senator B Cooney (Chairman)
Senator W Crane (Deputy Chairman)
Senator H Coonan
Senator T Crossin
Senator J Ferris
Senator A Murray
TERMS OF REFERENCE
Extract from Standing Order 24
(1)
(a) At the commencement of each Parliament, a Standing Committee for
the Scrutiny of Bills shall be appointed to report, in respect of the
clauses of bills introduced into the Senate, and in respect of Acts of
the Parliament, whether such bills or Acts, by express words or otherwise:
(i) trespass unduly on personal rights and liberties;
(ii) make rights, liberties or obligations unduly dependent upon insufficiently
defined administrative powers;
(iii) make rights, liberties or obligations unduly dependent upon non-reviewable
decisions;
(iv) inappropriately delegate legislative powers; or
(v) insufficiently subject the exercise of legislative power to parliamentary
scrutiny.
(b) The Committee, for the purpose of reporting upon the clauses of a
bill when the bill has been introduced into the Senate, may consider any
proposed law or other document or information available to it, notwithstanding
that such proposed law, document or information has not been presented
to the Senate.
SENATE STANDING COMMITTEE FOR THE SCRUTINY OF BILLS
SECOND REPORT OF 1999
The Committee presents its Second Report of 1999 to the Senate.
The Committee draws the attention of the Senate to clauses of the following
bill which contains provisions that the Committee considers may fall within
principles 1(a)(i) to 1(a)(v) of Standing Order 24:
Workplace Relations Legislation Amendment (Youth Employment) Bill 1998
Workplace Relations Legislation Amendment (Youth Employment) Bill 1998
Introduction
The Committee dealt with this bill in Alert Digest No 10 of 1998,
in which it made various comments. The Minister for Employment, Workplace
Relations and Small Business has responded to those comments in a letter
dated 19 January 1999. A copy of the letter is attached to this report.
An extract from the Alert Digest and relevant parts of the Minister's
response are discussed below.
Extract from Alert Digest No. 11 of 1998
This bill was introduced into the House of Representatives on 26 November
1998 by the Minister for Employment, Workplace Relations and Small Business.
[Portfolio responsibility: Employment, Workplace Relations and Small Business]
The bill proposes to amend the following Acts:
- Workplace Relations Act 1996 to:
- include in the principal object of the Act and the objects of Part
VI of the Act the protection of the competitive position of young people
in the labour market, the promotion of youth employment and the reduction
of youth unemployment;
- permanently exempt junior rates of pay from the provisions of the
Act intended to prevent and eliminate age discrimination in awards and
agreements; and
- promote the inclusion of junior rates of pay in awards and agreements;
and
- Workplace Relations and Other Legislation Amendment Act 1996 to:
- permanently exempt junior rates of pay from the provisions of the
Act intended to prevent and eliminate age discrimination in awards;
and
- promote the inclusion of junior rates of pay in awards.
General comment
Schedule 1, item 4
Item 4 of Schedule 1 to the bill provides, in part, that “junior
wage provisions are not to be treated as constituting discrimination by
reason of age”. In general terms, this amendment simply recognises
a state of affairs that has continued for a considerable period of time,
and it may have been included in the bill to avoid conflict with the provisions
of other legislation. Nevertheless, the Committee recognises that there
are some who may regard such a provision as trespassing on personal rights
and liberties, and the reason for its inclusion in the bill is not clear
to the Committee.
Accordingly, the Committee seeks the advice of the Minister on
the reason for including this provision in the bill.
Pending the Minister's advice, the Committee draws Senators' attention
to the provision, as it may be considered to trespass unduly on personal
rights and liberties, in breach of principle 1(a)(i) of the Committee's
terms of reference.
Relevant extract from the response from the Minister
This item amends section 88B of the Workplace Relations Act 1996
(the Act) to provide that, for the purposes of paragraph 88B(3)(e) of
the Act, junior wage provisions are not to be treated as constituting
discrimination by reason of age.
Paragraph 88B(3)(e) states that the Australian Industrial Relations commission,
in performing its award-making functions, must have regard to `…the
need to prevent and eliminate discrimination because of, or for reasons
including, race, colour, sex, sexual preference, age, physical or mental
disability, marital status, family responsibilities, pregnancy, religion,
political opinion, national extraction or social origin.'
The proposed amendment is to make clear that, in the context of the requirement
on the Commission to have regard to the need to prevent and eliminate
discrimination on the basis of the matters set out in subsection 88B(3)(e),
junior rates of pay do not constitute discrimination on the basis of age.
The Bill does not seek to exempt junior wage provisions in awards from
anti-discrimination law generally, or to prevent a party from seeking
a remedy under such laws. It seeks only to ensure that junior wage provisions
in awards do not constitute discrimination for the purposes of the Workplace
Relations Act 1996. The Bill reflects the importance of junior rates
of pay in creating employment opportunities for young people. The removal
of junior rates would severely damage the youth labour market, and would
be likely to result in many young people experiencing protracted unemployment,
with potentially permanently damaged prospects for labour force integration.
In the context of Australia's international obligations, it is relevant
to note that the achievement of full employment is an important principle
underpinning the work of the International Labour Organisation.
Thank you for bringing the Committee's concerns to my attention.
The Committee thanks the Minister for this response.
Barney Cooney
Chairman
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