Budget Review 2012–13 Index

Steve O’Neill

The workplace relations agencies reviewed in this brief fall under Outcome 4 of the Department of Employment, Education and Workplace Relations (DEEWR). One significant change to the agencies is the replacement of the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) with the Fair Work Building Industry Inspectorate, following the passage of the Fair Work (Building Industry) Act 2012.The new agency commences with somewhat fewer resources than its predecessor while retaining the staff of the former Commission. The Opposition has long opposed the replacement of the ABCC and would seek its reinstatement.[1]

The table below compares departmental expenses of the key workplace agencies along with average staffing levels (ASL) for 2012–13 against those of 2011–12.

Source: Portfolio budget statements 2012–13: budget related paper no. 1.6: Education, Employment and Workplace Relations Portfolio, Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra, 2012.

Comcare, which operates the Commonwealth’s workers’ compensation fund, will receive higher contributions from premiums.[3]  Workplace relations programs which continue in 2012–13 include Protected Action Ballots, Australia’s subscription to the International Labour Organisation and provision for the Commonwealth to meet asbestos-related compensation claims from its current and former employees, which is expected to cost around $70 million for this and future years.[4] The Home Workers Code of Practice program has been discontinued. 

Reflecting a general economic malaise experienced in particular sectors such as manufacturing, the Government has revised potential commitments under the General Employee Entitlements and Redundancy Scheme. The scheme meets unpaid employee entitlements in the event of employer insolvency. The GEERS budget was predicted to fall to $102.3 million in 2011–12 but the outcome has been revised to $199.3 million.[5] The GEERS budget in 2012–13 will be $202.6 million rising to $214 million in 2015–16. The Fair Work Guarantee legislation underpinning the GEERS system was to have been introduced in 2011 but is now likely to be introduced later in 2012.

For copyright reasons some linked items are only available to members of Parliament.

Creative Commons

With the exception of the Commonwealth Coat of Arms, and to the extent that copyright subsists in a third party, this publication, its logo and front page design are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Australia licence.

In essence, you are free to copy and communicate this work in its current form for all non-commercial purposes, as long as you attribute the work to the author and abide by the other licence terms. The work cannot be adapted or modified in any way. Content from this publication should be attributed in the following way: Author(s), Title of publication, Series Name and No, Publisher, Date.

To the extent that copyright subsists in third party quotes it remains with the original owner and permission may be required to reuse the material.

Inquiries regarding the licence and any use of the publication are welcome to webmanager@aph.gov.au.

This work has been prepared to support the work of the Australian Parliament using information available at the time of production. The views expressed do not reflect an official position of the Parliamentary Library, nor do they constitute professional legal opinion.

Feedback is welcome and may be provided to: web.library@aph.gov.au. Any concerns or complaints should be directed to the Parliamentary Librarian. Parliamentary Library staff are available to discuss the contents of publications with Senators and Members and their staff. To access this service, clients may contact the author or the Library‘s Central Entry Point for referral.