Closing Loopholes delivering good outcomes in Australian workplaces

This week marks a major milestone in the implementation of the most significant workplace relations reforms in more than a decade.

It is 12 months since key reforms in the ‘Closing Loopholes’ legislation took effect, removing the loopholes that undermine a level playing field for employers, as well as pay, job security and safety for workers.

The reforms were a key plank in the Government’s first term package of workplace reforms aimed at promoting secure jobs, boosting pay, closing the gender pay gap and encouraging more cooperative workplaces.

These important reforms were motivated by the strong belief that a race to the bottom on wages and conditions benefits no one – not employers, not workers, and not the nation.

Low wages might look like a cost saving for a business, but they undermine productivity, competitiveness and economic prosperity for companies and the country.

Despite the Henny Penny predictions of those in Liberal and other parties, the sky hasn’t fallen in. In fact, quite the opposite.

The Australian labour market is performing strongly. Unemployment is low. Real wages are growing. All at the same time inflation is down.

Employment has risen by 879,100 (or 2.4 per cent on an average annualised basis) since December 2022, when the Secure Jobs, Better Pay Act was passed, to a record high of 14,641,400 in July 2025.

The number of small businesses continues to grow. As at 30 June 2024, there were 2,589,595 small businesses - 2.7 per cent more than the same time in 2023.

The rate of industrial disputation remains low. In the Coalition’s last quarter in office in June 2022 Australia saw a massive 128,000 days lost to industrial action. While under Labor, in the March quarter of this year 13,900 days were lost to industrial disputes.

Our Labor Government wanted to get wages moving at the same time as improving employment outcomes and in addition to strong jobs data we’re seeing great wage growth. Over the twelve months to June 2025, the Wage Price Index rose by 3.4 per cent. And the June quarter 2025 marked the 7th consecutive quarter of annual real wages growth. 

The Government put gender equality at the heart of the Fair Work Act, and we now see the Gender Pay Gap is at its equal lowest level on record, and Australian women are now earning more than $250 a week more on average, than they were before we came to government. Reducing the gender pay gap was one of the key reasons the government funded the 15 per cent pay increase for aged care carers. The Fair Work Commission recognised the historical gender-based undervaluation of work in aged care, leading to significant wage increases that our government funded.

Our legislative reforms were designed to reinvigorate enterprise bargaining, to bring parties together to negotiate the outcomes that worked at an enterprise level and outcomes so far, have been strong.

Agreements approved in the past 12 months (to March 2025) covered almost 1.18 million employees. As at 31 March 2025, 2.67 million Australians were covered by a current enterprise agreement, the highest recorded since enterprise bargaining commenced in 1991. These agreements are delivering average annualised wage increases of 3.8 per cent, outpacing inflation and economy wide wage increases.

Those reforms have had the flow on effect of extending the benefits of enterprise bargaining to lower paid sectors which have historically not been able to access it. Our new supported bargaining stream has for example allowed early childhood educators to secure a pay increase of 15 per cent over two years.

Our same job, same pay reforms have ended the labour hire loophole which was creating unfairness for businesses and workers alike in industries like the mining, aviation, meat work, warehousing and distribution and automotive industries. So far, more than 5000 labour hire workers have received pay increases as a direct result of these reforms. These are meaningful reforms that redress inequality and make wages fair.

Our reforms have strengthened access to flexible working arrangements, with employers and employees benefitting from win-win arrangements, including work from home.

The independent review of our paid family and domestic violence leave provisions  found that, of the workers who had taken paid FDV leave, 91 per cent of surveyed leave users said the paid FDV leave helped them maintain their income, and 89 per cent said it helped them to retain their employment – and that is what those reforms were designed to achieve.

Improving workforce stability for employers and employees is a central aim of the Closing the Loopholes workplace reforms and they are delivering positive outcomes.

By making the definition of ‘casual employee’ fairer and clearer, we are paving the way for employers to benefit from a stable workforce and employees, from secure employment.

We’ve empowered the Fair Work Commission to set minimum standards in the gig economy and we currently have businesses and unions working together to land fair minimum standards as we speak.

And we have encouraged a constructive workplace conversation about out of hours contact through our new right to disconnect provisions. Despite dire predictions by the Liberal and National parties, these laws are working to benefit both workers and businesses. In fact, over the past 12 months, no significant disputes have been raised with the Fair Work Commission under the new laws. Conversely in May this year, the Australian HR Institute’s report showed the majority of employers surveyed (58 per cent) said the right to disconnect had improved employee engagement and productivity.

As Workplace Relations Minister, I believe that the key to productivity and fairness at work is constructive dialogue – at the enterprise level, at the industry level, and nationally.

At the workplace level, constructive dialogue between employers, employees and their unions generates better trust, employee engagement and productivity, improves safety outcomes and improves employee well-being.

At the industry level, constructive dialogue has enormous potential to bring industry participants together to solve entrenched problems. For example, the National Construction Industry Forum has built an unprecedented level of trust with industry stakeholders, who for the first time have engaged in a collaborative rather than adversarial manner. Unions and employers have worked together to develop a ‘Blueprint’ for the future of the industry, which identifies priority challenges and sets out a forward workplan to address them.

Our workplace reforms are designed to create a dialogue and deliver outcomes in our workplaces. Employers, employees and their unions are coming back to the bargaining table and having open discussions about supporting employees to balance their work arrangements. And this is delivering more secure jobs and increasing wages.

This opinion piece was published in The Australian, Tuesday 26th August 2025.