Jacinta Collins (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for School Education and Workplace Relations) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—I think it will help if I elaborate on some of the background to this matter for the Senate. In 2009, the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission made a pay equity decision that increased wages for employees in the Queensland social and community services sector. The purpose of the Fair Work (Transitional Provisions and Consequential Amendments) Amendment Regulations 2011 (No. 1) was to require Queensland social and community service employers, who received funding from the Queensland government following this decision and who have returned to the Queensland system in the absence of the Queensland referral of workplace relations powers to the Commonwealth, to pay employees in accordance with that decision. The Australian government agreed to this request from the Queensland government and made the regulation using a list of employers that was provided by the Queensland government, we understand, in consultation with the ASU.

The government became aware of concerns of the Queensland social and community services sector about the accuracy of the list of employers and the ability of some employers to meet backpay requirements. After careful consideration, the government has acted on these concerns and will repeal the regulations before they commence on 1 October 2011. The government will commence a process to engage with representatives of Queensland social and community service providers, the Queensland government and the Australian Services Union over the next few weeks to clarify who are the employers required to pay employees in accordance with the Queensland decision and to determine the appropriate point in time from which those obligations should commence. To facilitate this, it is necessary that the current regulations be repealed and replaced. The government will repeal the regulations before they commence. Social and community service providers and employers in Queensland, however, should be aware that it is the government's intention to ensure that the current Queensland pay equity rates are paid to social and community service workers from 1 October 2011, as previously advised. This will be reflected in the replacement regulations.