Balance needed in higher education legislation

The peak body for Australia’s universities in industrial relations has welcomed the federal treasurer’s call for regulators and others to cut red tape.

The Australian Higher Education Industrial Association (AHEIA) said red tape and associated complex agreements are a handbrake on productivity in the higher education sector and are creating significant imbalance in the sector’s industrial relations landscape.

The Treasurer has called on regulators and the ‘left’ to be part of the solution to the red tape problem.

A degree of balance and fairness needs to be reintroduced, according to AHEIA.

The Association said present, new limitations on the Fair Work Commission (FWC) in relation to enterprise agreement disputes were a good example of red tape strangulation and a productivity handbrake that has created an unlevel playing field. 

“Now, when a long-running dispute regarding enterprise agreement provisions is declared ‘intractable’, the FWC is hamstrung in determining a balanced resolution, as it’s not permitted to invoke new proposals that diminish provisions of former enterprise agreements, no matter how inappropriate they are,” the Executive Director of AHEIA, Craig Laughton, said.

“Provisions set out in section 270A of the Fair Work Act, 2009, are a prime example and should be repealed.

“The provisions mean that when the union movement goes to the Fair Work Commission, they know they cannot lose.

“At a time when the sector needs to adapt to significant challenges, legislation has hobbled the independent umpire and perversely encourages unions not to enter into genuine bargaining. The government has created a significant imbalance in the system”

“Surely it was not the intention of Parliament to create such an inequitable playing field that hampers genuine productivity improvements for the sector.” Mr Laughton said.