Inquiry into the provisions of the Independent Contractors Bill
2006 and
Workplace Relations Legislation Amendment (Independent Contractors) Bill 2006
Information about the inquiry
The
Senate has referred to its Employment, Workplace Relations and Education
Legislation Committee an inquiry into provisions of the Independent
Contractors Bill 2006 (IC Bill) and
the Workplace Relations Legislation Amendment (Independent Contractors) Bill 2006. The
committee is expected to report on 25 August 2006.
This legislation is intended to allow independent
contractors to enter into commercial arrangements outside the framework of
workplace relations laws. The Independent Contractors Bill overrides state
and territory laws where they are in conflict with this bill, but
continues the operation of state laws which protect owner-drivers in the
road transport industry in New South Wales and Victoria and outworkers in
the clothing and textile industry. The IC Bill also provides for new
contract review processes. Amendments to the Workplace Relations Act
1996 are required as a consequence of the IC Bill, and provide for,
among other things, penalties for bogus contract arrangements.
Submissions from interested parties are invited and
should be emailed to the Secretary by Friday 21 July 2006. Two days of
public hearings are planned for these bills, to be held in Parliament House
on 3-4 August 2006.
When a Bills Digest on this legislation becomes
available from the Parliamentary Research Service, a link can be made
from this website.
Inquiries from hearing and speech impaired people should be directed to the Parliament House TTY number (02) 6277 7799. Adobe also provides tools for the blind and visually impaired to access PDF documents. These tools are available at: http://access.adobe.com/. If you require any special arrangements in order to enable you to participate in a committee inquiry, please contact the committee secretary.
For further information, contact:
Secretary
Senate Standing Committees on Education, Employment and Workplace Relations
PO Box 6100
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
Australia