Appendix 5 - Answers to Senator Murray's question on notice no.50

Appendix 5 - Answers to Senator Murray's question on notice no.50

Australian coat of arms

MINISTER FOR EMPLOYMENT AND WORKPLACE RELATIONS

SENATE

Question No. 50

Senator Murray asked the Minister representing the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, upon notice, on 16 November 2004:

  1. Can a table be provided of all unfair dismissal applications under federal and state law for the 1996 calendar year for each state and territory, showing the number of applications under federal law, state law, and the total.
  2. Can a table be provided of all unfair dismissal applications under federal and state law for the 2003 calendar year for each of the states and territories, showing the number of applications under federal law, state law, and the total.
  3. Can a table be provided showing the number and percentage change of applications for the 2003 calendar year against the 1996 calendar year for each of state and territory, broken down by whether the applications were lodged under federal or state law.
  4. Can a breakdown be provided showing the same information shown in (1) to (3) above in relation to small business (classified as 20 or fewer employees).
  5. Can an estimate be provided of the numbers of small businesses that fall under state and federal workplace relations law separately, for each state and territory.
  6. Can an estimate be provided of the numbers of small business employees that fall under state and federal workplace relations law separately, for each state and territory.

Senator Abetz – The Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations has provided the following answer to the honourable senator’s question:

  1. The following table provides information on the number of termination of employment applications lodged under federal and state law for each state and territory for the 1996 calendar year.

    State/Territory Termination of employment applications lodged during the 1996 calendar year1
    Federal 2 State Combined
    New South Wales 4290 2186 6476
    Queensland 512 1932 2444
    Western Australia 1875 918 2793
    South Australia 633 1240 1873
    Tasmania 360 114 474
    Victoria 5958 358 6316
    ACT3 509 N/A 509
    NT3 396 N/A 396
    Total 14,533 6748 21,281

    Notes

    1. Federal and state figures are based on calendar months, and incorporate estimates and interpolations where original data are not available. Official and unofficial sources are used.

    2. Data collected on federal termination of employment applications do not differentiate between unfair dismissal and unlawful termination.

    3. There are no separate territory unfair dismissal systems.

  2. The following table provides information on the number of termination of employment applications lodged under federal and state law for each state and territory during the 2003 calendar year.

    State/Territory Termination of employment applications lodged during the 2003 calendar year1
    Federal 2 State Combined
    New South Wales 1270 4083 5353
    Queensland 397 1642 2039
    Western Australia3 316 1314 1630
    South Australia 153 980 1133
    Tasmania 109 280 389
    Victoria4 4242 N/A 4242
    ACT4 227 N/A 227
    NT4 240 N/A 240
    Total 6954 8299 15,253

    Notes

    1. Some figures in this table are based on records of monthly lodgements and may differ slightly from final annual figures.

    2. Data collected on federal termination of employment applications do not differentiate between unfair dismissal and unlawful termination.

    3. Western Australian state figures include both unfair dismissal applications and applications which combine claims of unfair dismissal and denial of contractual benefits.

    4. There are no separate territory unfair dismissal systems, and there has been no separate Victorian unfair dismissal system since 1996.

  3. The following table provides information on the number and percentage change in termination of employment applications for the 2003 calendar year against the 1996 calendar year.

    State/Territory Change in the number of termination of employment applications
    —1996 v 2003 calendar years1
    Federal 2 State Combined
    number % number % number %
    New South Wales3 -3020 -70.4 1897 86.8 -1123 -17.3
    Queensland -115 -22.5 -290 -15.0 -405 -16.6
    Western Australia4 -1559 -83.1 396 43.1 -1163 -41.6
    South Australia -480 -75.8 -260 -21.0 -740 -39.5
    Tasmania -251 -69.7 166 145.6 -85 -17.9
    Victoria5 -1716 -28.8 -358 -100.0 -2074 -32.8
    ACT5 -282 -55.4 N/A N/A -282 -55.4
    NT5 -156 -39.4 N/A N/A -156 -39.4
    Total -7579 -52.2 1551 23.0 -6028 -28.3

    Notes

    1. Federal and state figures are based on calendar months, and incorporate estimates and interpolations where original data are not available. Official and unofficial sources are used.

    2. Data collected on federal termination of employment applications do not differentiate between unfair dismissal and unlawful termination.

    3. Between 1996 and 2003, the number of unfair dismissal applications made in the NSW State jurisdiction increased substantially and the number of applications in NSW in the federal jurisdiction declined substantially. These shifts may be attributed to: the fact that applications in 1996 were made under the more expansive unfair dismissal provisions in the Industrial Relations Act 1988 rather than the more limited scheme in the Workplace Relations Act 1996, which did not come into effect until 31 December 1996; and the expansion in the NSW jurisdiction effected by the Industrial Relations Amendment (Federal Award Employees) Act 1998 (NSW).

    4. Western Australian state figures include both unfair dismissal applications and applications which combine claims of unfair dismissal and denial of contractual benefits.

    5. There are no separate territory unfair dismissal systems, and there has been no separate Victorian unfair dismissal system since 1996.

  4. The Australian Industrial Registry (AIR) asks employers who are nominated as respondents in federal termination of employment matters a question relating to the size of their business. Around one third of such employers have responded to the AIR’s question . The information collected by the AIR relates only to unfair dismissal applications under the federal Workplace Relations Act 1996, and has only been collected since 1 December 1997. As far as the Federal Government is aware, no state or territory is able to provide reliable data on the number of small businesses involved in unfair dismissal applications for the 1996 or 2003 calendar years. Therefore, it is not possible to provide tables for all small business unfair dismissal applications for the 1996 calendar year, small business unfair dismissal applications under federal and state law for the 2003 calendar year, or changes in the number of small business unfair dismissal applications between 1996 and 2003, as requested.

    The following table provides information on federal unfair dismissal applications, broken down by the state and territory in which the application was lodged, for the 2003 calendar year. As not all employers involved in federal unfair dismissal matters responded to the AIR’s request for information on employer size, the information in the table is considered indicative only. The number of employer respondents who provided information on employer size is included in the table.

      Federal unfair dismissal applications lodged during the 2003 calendar year1,2
    Registry Number of termination of employment applications lodged Number of employer responses to AIR’s question on employer size Number of responses received from small businesses Small business responses as a percentage of all responses received
    New South Wales 1270 275 76 27.6
    Queensland 397 186 29 15.6
    Western Australia 316 64 16 25.0
    South Australia 153 59 16 27.1
    Tasmania 109 38 6 15.8
    Victoria 4242 1353 524 38.7
    ACT 227 53 18 34.0
    NT 240 125 50 40.0
    Total 6954 2153 735 34.1

    Notes

    1. The figures in this table are based on monthly lodgements and may differ slightly from final annual lodgement figures.

    2. Data collected on federal termination of employment applications do not differentiate between unfair dismissal and unlawful termination.

  5. It is not possible to provide a reliable estimate of the numbers of small businesses that fall under state and federal workplace relations law separately for each state and territory.

    A broad indication of the number of non-farm small business that fall under federal workplace relations law can be provided. Non-farm businesses exclude those in the agriculture, forestry and fishing industries.

    Drawing upon a combination of data sources, the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations estimates that around one third of non-farm businesses with fewer than 20 employees have employees who are covered by federal awards, Australian Workplace Agreements or federal certified agreements, or are located in the Australian Capital Territory, the Northern Territory or the State of Victoria. It is not possible to break this figure down by state and territory.

    The most recent estimate from the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ publication Small Business in Australia [ABS cat. no. 1321.0] is that, in 2000–2001, there were 539,900 employing non-farm small businesses in Australia.

    Based on these estimates, it is estimated that that around 180,000 non-farm small businesses fell under federal workplace relations law in 2000–2001.

  6. Similarly, it is not possible to provide a reliable estimate of the numbers of small business employees that fall under state and federal workplace relations law separately for each state and territory.

    A broad indication of the number of non-farm small business employees who fall under federal workplace relations law can be provided. Employees of non-farm small businesses are those small business employees who were are not employed by businesses in the agriculture, forestry and fishing industries.

    The Department of Employment and Workplace Relations estimates that around 35 per cent of employees of non-farm businesses with fewer than 20 employees are covered by federal awards, Australian Workplace Agreements or federal certified agreements, or are employed by businesses located in the Australian Capital Territory, the Northern Territory or the State of Victoria. It is not possible to break this figure down by state and territory.

    The most recent estimate from the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ publication Small Business in Australia [ABS cat. no. 1321.0] was that, in 2000–2001, 2,269,400 employees were employed by Australian non-farm small businesses.

    Based on these estimates, it is estimated that that around 795,000 employees of non-farm small business fell under federal workplace relations law in 2000–2001.

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