Press Conference, Adelaide

AMANDA RISHWORTH, MINISTER FOR EMPLOYMENT AND WORKPLACE RELATIONS: We know that many matters may get to the Federal Circuit Court or indeed the Federal Court and that can be a very long process for many. So having a jurisdiction that can clearly deal with matters about workplace relations to uphold that. And I do think that the more efficient pathway will not only help workers, but they will help employers, particularly small business, who have also told very hard to navigate. So I'm now going to hand over to Sarah first, and then to Vince, to share their experience and also their views on a Fair Work Court. So, Sarah.

SARAH, RETAIL WORKER: Thank you for allowing me a chance to speak. When I was probably 17, I was working in a fast food industry. Much like other people, I experienced an underpayment by my manager- by my employer, and it took nearly two- no, over two years to get that payment back. I should have already had that money. It was already mine, I’d already worked for it, earned it. Over two years to get it back seems really rather- hardly fair. Something like an extra court here would be extremely important. That ability to get that movement and actually get the money that I already earned back quicker, beyond any sort of thing that I could really imagine, moving it that much quicker than over two years. On top of this, in today’s crisis with your minimum wage payments, getting money that little bit quicker when we all really need it would be amazing. Incredibly impactful. I couldn't really imagine anything better.

AMANDA RISHWORTH: Great. Thank you, Sarah.

JOURNALIST: Sarah, could also speak about, did that have any impact on your mental health at the time as well? In that delay, waiting?

SARAH: Absolutely. Knowing that this money that I should have already had wasn't mine, wasn't with me. I couldn't use it, I couldn’t- that was always going to have a huge impact on my mental health. On top of this, just knowing that I should have had that money, I was taken advantage of as a child. Because, realistically at 17, who's asking what they- what entitlements they should have? Nobody. I didn't know I should have had it, and then to find out after I've already moved away from that industry and that workplace, that I was owed money, and then to wait over two years to get that money. Yeah, I felt pretty low about myself not knowing that I should have already known.

AMANDA RISHWORTH: Anyone else for Sarah? Otherwise we'll get Vince up.

SARAH: Thank you so much.

AMANDA RISHWORTH: Great, thank you Sarah, well done. Vince…

VINCE, SECURITY WORKER: I appreciate the chance to have a chat about what this commission will do for the workers of this country. There's too many times when there’s a small dispute and things get dragged down in courts, they take forever. Sometimes it's a small amount of money, sometimes it’s a big amount of money. And it's just not fair that workers have to wait for money that they should have received through their employer. The Labor Government has done an amazing thing by implementing this court and it's going to make a real impact. There's so many people that work in lower paid industries. There's so many people like in my industry, I work in the security industry. There’s so many providers that don’t do the right thing by their workers. There's so many contracts that go out, and it's the cheapest price and they make the cuts by trying to rip off people that work in those industries. I know of a person at the moment who's got a dispute of $26,000. It's gone on for over six months and it hasn't even got to the court. That person deserves that money. He's got to feed his children. He's got to look after them, pays bills. He’s going to use that money for whatever he needs it for. He hasn't got access to that money through the current system. This is the most, in my opinion, one of the most important things that the Albanese Government has done for workers. And once again, I thank them and I appreciate it as a worker. And I think that it's just the start, you know? It's about the start of people being looked after with workers, and it's about the start of people getting their entitlements and conditions and the respect they deserve. Especially a lot, a lot of paid workers that work in industries like cleaning, security, aged care. You know, these- fast foods, retail, these are the sorts of industries that are prone to people being ripped off. And this is what the court is going to fix. So thanks very much.

AMANDA RISHWORTH: Excellent. Okay. Thank you. Any questions for Vince? No? I’ll go to questions to me then.

JOURNALIST: How do you guarantee that these people who are chosen for this, the judges, the judicial officers, aren’t Labor aligned? Is that the exercise here? To stack this court?

AMANDA RISHWORTH: What this court is about is about getting people with workplace law expertise. That people will be appointed on a merit base and importantly have the expertise. So look, obviously we're going through the consultation process about the structure of the court, but this is about efficient and fair justice for workers but also employers. You can't tell me that employers want to have cases running for two, three years, particularly small businesses. So this is about more efficient, effective, but also specialised understanding in workplace relations laws, that's what this is about.

JOURNALIST: Minister, the Federal Circuit Court already has a small claims jurisdiction which is intended to deal with underpayment matters, small underpayment matters more efficiently. Are you saying that’s not working, and why not?

AMANDA RISHWORTH: Well, what we want to do is ensure that we have the specialist understanding of workplace relations expertise in one place. We also want to make sure that this is better integrated and aligned with the Fair Work Commission. It is very clunky for workers that may have to go through conciliation in the Commission and then find themselves in a completely different jurisdiction. In terms of the interaction, in terms of how it will all come together and work together, we of course will consult. But efficiency and effectiveness is actually one of the guiding principles through our consultation and what we want to achieve as a result of this.

JOURNALIST: How long will that consultation actually go for, Minister? And when would we, in an ideal world, want this court all set up? And also, who would make the determination about what cases can be heard by the Commission, or [Indistinct] by the small claims [Indistinct]…?

AMANDA RISHWORTH: So in terms of the Commission, we don't expect any changes to the function of the Fair Work Commission. It does an excellent job at conciliation and arbitration. But as I have said, there are matters that then must either go the Federal Court, or the Federal Circuit Court, or must go immediately there. And so we want to see those sort of matters, and they have been increasing over the last few years, the number of workplace relations matters, both to the Federal Court and the Federal Circuit Court. So we think an efficient way is to stand up this specialised court with better alignment and coordination with the Fair Work Commission.

In terms of consultation, look, we haven't put a timeline on that. We want to consult deeply. We do want to get the detail right. We're very committed to getting the detail right. But we think this is a really important step forward to ensure that workers get justice.

JOURNALIST:    Will it be operating before the election?

AMANDA RISHWORTH: Look, I can't give you that timeline, but we do want to get this court up and running as soon as practically possible, at the same time making sure that we get the details right.

JOURNALIST: Minister, now that the party platform mandates the payment of super for under-18s regardless of hours worked, when will your government look to implement that promise, and will that be forced across small business cash-in-hand arrangements as well?

AMANDA RISHWORTH:   Well of course the platform puts in a very clear party platform, but in terms of timing and implementation, as you would have heard, that is a matter for Cabinet and the Government, and I can't give you any further details on that.

JOURNALIST: What about the lockout divisions? You spoke strongly about that yourself yesterday. Did you think that will be going forward quickly?

AMANDA RISHWORTH: I do expect that we will look to how we legislate the ability for workers or unions to apply to the Fair Work Commission to end disproportionate lockouts. We will consult on the detail of that legislation, but we do think as a party, and I do think as Minister, it is unfair that if employees take just a few hours of work - we heard for example from some workers that they just took their lunch break, and enforce their lunch break right, they would then cut a day's pay. That is disproportionate, and we see that time and time again. So we want to ensure that there is a process in which workers can apply to the Fair Work Commission. In terms of the details of the legislation, we do want to get that right. We are not suggesting some outright ban, but we are looking at how we can allow employees to end disproportionate lockouts and make those applications to the Fair Work Commission.

JOURNALIST: Before the end of the year?

AMANDA RISHWORTH: Look, I will be looking at introducing legislation as soon as practical. But there are, of course, big details to work out. But I will update you, no doubt, as we get closer to introducing the legislation.

JOURNALIST: You spoke about- the Fair Work Court will deal with underpayment matters, but also other matters as well. Will that include adverse action, unlawful termination laws?

AMANDA RISHWORTH: Look, we'll continue to consult across the board, but we are very keen for this specialist court to deal, and as I said, we'll deal with all the interactions, but we want to see matters that need workplace relations expertise being dealt with at the new Fair Work Court. But in terms of the matters, the interaction, all the details, we’ll continue to consult on that.

JOURNALIST: Minister, on another matter. Our public broadcaster the ABC is aired on the controversial remarks about Gina Rinehart on the Race Around the World show. Are you aware of them and did you find those remarks appropriate?

AMANDA RISHWORTH: I am not aware of those remarks. I haven’t seen it. I've been a little bit busy here at the National Conference, so I'm sorry I haven't seen those remarks.

JOURNALIST: They related to torture. Do you think that that's appropriate on our public broadcaster?

AMANDA RISHWORTH: I really, really cannot comment. I haven't seen them and I wouldn't want to be commenting on something that I just have not seen.

JOURNALIST: Minister, one of the themes of this conference and in your community. How do you feel with that theme going at the same time as Victoria looks like it’s, once again, destabilising the leader potentially replacing the leader so close to an election?

AMANDA RISHWORTH: Well look, they- that is entirely for the Victorian Labor Party and indeed the Parliamentary Party in Victoria. What I would say is that when it comes to the Federal Parliamentary Party and the Federal Government, we are absolutely focused on how to make a difference for people now but also into the future. And the Prime Minister's speech very clearly articulated that we do know people are hurting, but- and we are very focused on making a difference right now, but also using this opportunity to set Australia up for the future. And I think the platform that we will adopt at the end of this conference is a very strong platform. It's a united platform, but one that is progressive and we can be very proud of.

JOURNALIST: Do you think Jacinta Allan's the right person to lead Victoria’s election?

AMANDA RISHWORTH: Oh, look, I am not going to make a comment, I think, on leadership, or leadership challenges. What I would say about Jacinta Allan, I think she has and is a great Labor Premier, and she has delivered a lot of great things for the state of Victoria. And things that make a difference to people's lives, infrastructure, range of other key initiatives in early childhood, for example. She does a great job and that's all I'm going to add.

JOURNALIST: Just going back to the Fair Work Court, a lot of these Federal Court judges in the Fair Work Division of the Court are actually specialist industrial relations judges, they're former industrial relations barristers, they've got years and years of experience in this. You’re saying that they’re having a problem dealing with these cases, how are other specialist judges going to do that faster?

AMANDA RISHWORTH: This not a reflection on any individual judicial officer, I need to be really clear about that. What this is about a better pathway for workers. We know if you've gone to the Commission and you've reached the end stage of the Commission, you then now have to go to the Federal Court or indeed the Federal Circuit Court. That is really confusing. We want to have a better pathway for workers. We also know that that workers are waiting too long currently. And we want to see better outcomes and faster, more efficient outcomes for workers. So, look, this is not about any particular judgement or judicial officer. This is about an institution that is really important and how we can better integrate the experience of the Fair Work Commission and then the upholding of the rights of workers in a Fair Work Court.

JOURNALIST: Do you think workers will be able to go straight to the court? Is that your ambition?

AMANDA RISHWORTH: Look, we are looking across the board and consulting on how that might work. And, of course, there's different models that could work in terms of the entry point and how workers would find their pathway through the justice system.

JOURNALIST: The last Industrial Relations Court in ‘97, you could only appeal, I understand, to the High Court. Is that how it's going to work in this court?

AMANDA RISHWORTH: Well, that is one of the details that we will currently consult on.