Justice and Order: Part 10 Last Saturday (29th November) in the state of Victoria, a state election was held. The Labor Party defeated the Liberal Party by a very large margin. In Victoria, where the unemployment rate climbs by the day, the new leader’s first policy speech focused on the expansion of employment. Will the new leader be able to change the policy of international automotive makers withdrawing from Australia? Although the Liberal Party holds federal government, from now the Labour Party will govern the state of Victoria. Will the new Victorian state government, in opposition to the federal government, implement labour law changes as desired by the automotive industry? The Australian Constitution states that in the case of conflict between state and federal laws, the state law will be stated as invalid. However, the Australian Constitution does not empower the federal parliament with legislative power in respect of employment. Does this mean the federally legislated Fair Work Act is invalid? The Western Australian Parliament does not recognize the Fair Work Act. All other states have recognized the act. In other words, the federal law applies in all states apart from Western Australia. The Federal Parliament does not possess legislative power in respect of employment, but it does in respect of corporations. Therefore, the corporations’ power was the constitutional basis for the introduction of the Act. However, the Constitution’s corporation power does not grant the federal parliament the power for the Fair Work Act to extend to non-corporate individual businesses. Accordingly, each state parliament was requested to enact their own version of the Act to remedy this deficiency. Western Australia, considering greater policy independence, did not accept this request of the federal government. The Western Australia version of the Fair Work Act is still yet to be amended to protect individual, non-corporate entities. It is possible that the new Victorian government could overturn some aspects the state Fair Work Act and send it back to the federal government, however, the scope of possible reform is limited and companies would still be protected by the federal Act. In other words, there is a limit to the scope of possible labour law amendments for the new state government. The new state government is unable change minimum wage laws for corporations. The amendments desired by the automotive industry will require consent of the federal government. It is not possible at the state level.
Posted on: Wed, 31 Dec 2014 00:56:49 +0000
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