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Speaker 1: Now the federal government Center PC industrial Relations legislation appears

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Speaker 1: set to pass the Parliament this week federally, with support

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Speaker 1: secured from key cross bench Senator David Pocock. Now. The

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Speaker 1: government says that this bill is going to help push

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Speaker 1: wages up. However, the bill has been opposed by some

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Speaker 1: major employer groups who argue that the changes are going

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Speaker 1: to burden businesses with lengthy and complex negotiations and increase

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Speaker 1: the likelihood of industrial action. Changes have been made in

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Speaker 1: order to get the support of the Greens and Senator Pocock,

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Speaker 1: and the changes do aim, it's being reported, to ensure

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Speaker 1: that smaller businesses are not unfairly wrapped into agreements that

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Speaker 1: are not suitable for them. And an annual review of

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Speaker 1: support payments such as job Seeker is also going to happen.

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Speaker 1: But what exactly do these changes look like and what

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Speaker 1: do they mean for businesses here in the Northern Territory. Well,

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Speaker 1: joining me on the line right now is the CEO

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Speaker 1: of the Chamber of Commerce, Greg Island.

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Speaker 2: Hi Greg wanting Katie Happy Monday.

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Speaker 1: Happy Monday, Greg, There is a lot happening and well,

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Speaker 1: these changes, what exactly is being proposed under these industrial

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Speaker 1: relations laws.

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Speaker 2: Well, they're quite complex laws, Katie, and all business over

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Speaker 2: employing over twenty people. There's a significant amount of complexity

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Speaker 2: that needs to be worked through. And the problem is

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Speaker 2: that that's going to be very expensive for business to

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Speaker 2: comply with, and that business can be forced to adopt

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Speaker 2: a number of workplace changes without them actually being involved.

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Speaker 2: So it's pretty significant risk for business moving forward.

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Speaker 1: And I know that the federal government has said that

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Speaker 1: this isn't going to impact smaller businesses, and presumably they're

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Speaker 1: saying that based on the number of employees. But you know,

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Speaker 1: when you look at a lot of our hospitality businesses,

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Speaker 1: a lot of retail businesses, plenty of them would have

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Speaker 1: more than twenty employees that are casual. I'm assuming.

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Speaker 2: That's exactly the case, Katie. It's twenty sounds like a

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Speaker 2: lot that it is a barrier that's easily breached in

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Speaker 2: the current climate. And as we I guess, look to

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Speaker 2: move forward through to our forty billion dollar economy by

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Speaker 2: twenty thirty, you're going to see a number of businesses

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Speaker 2: across that threshold. So they might not be impacted right now,

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Speaker 2: but it's going to come by suspect now I.

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Speaker 1: Know that the legislation seems pretty hard for most people

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Speaker 1: to wrap their heads around. As you said, it's very complex.

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Speaker 1: But what are the changes going to mean for businesses

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Speaker 1: here in the Northern Territory. Does it mean Is it

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Speaker 1: going to mean that they're going to employ less people

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Speaker 1: to try not to be impacted.

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Speaker 2: I think that's very likely to be an outcome, Katie.

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Speaker 2: The Chamber here in the territory is surveyed our members,

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Speaker 2: as have pretty much every chamber around the country. Locally,

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Speaker 2: we found it about eighty five percent for businesses were

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Speaker 2: exceptionally concerned about these changes to the requirements, and that

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Speaker 2: looks like resulting in about seventy five percent of them

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Speaker 2: either employing less people, changing the way they do business,

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Speaker 2: investing more automation to have less and some are even

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Speaker 2: saying that they'll close their doors. So look, it is

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Speaker 2: a potential significant concern, and I think the main thing

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Speaker 2: is that you effectively lose control of your workplace through

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Speaker 2: this multi employer bargaining requirements. You can be forced into

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Speaker 2: that a third party will set those rules and you

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Speaker 2: just have to comply. The business knows it's business best

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Speaker 2: and it should be the one setting those local requirements.

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Speaker 1: Wow. So, Greg, obviously the chambers, like you've said, you've

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Speaker 1: already surveyed members and they are raising some really serious

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Speaker 1: concerns here by the sound of it.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. Absolutely, And everyone gets lumped into the same basket.

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Speaker 2: So if you're in a competing industry with another player

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Speaker 2: who's similar size to you, all of a sudden, you're

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Speaker 2: both being dictated exactly the same workplace conditions. It reduces

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Speaker 2: the ability for business to be competitive and it certainly

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Speaker 2: makes it very very difficult to negotiate anything with your

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Speaker 2: own employees, which I think is a bad outcome.

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Speaker 1: Greg. How many territory businesses completed that survey that you

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Speaker 1: guys conducted.

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Speaker 2: We were around about thee hundred mark. We only had

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Speaker 2: it open for a few days, so I'm quite well

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Speaker 2: responded to. I spoke recently to the of the Western

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Speaker 2: Australian Chamber on very similar survey and they had about

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Speaker 2: three hundred and fifty respondents, so their sizes size pools

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Speaker 2: probably about ten times out, so I was pretty comfortable

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Speaker 2: that that one hundred respondents was a pretty good sample.

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Speaker 1: Well, one hundred respondents in a few days is a

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Speaker 1: good sample, and if what they're saying is that they've

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Speaker 1: got really serious concerns. It sounds as though it's a worry.

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Speaker 1: What do locals need to be aware of? If there

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Speaker 1: are businesses listening this morning who are thinking, look, I'm

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Speaker 1: not one hundred percent sure how this is going to

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Speaker 1: impact me, what do they need to be aware of?

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Speaker 2: Look, as we keep saying, it is very complex and

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Speaker 2: it really does depend on quite a number of conditions

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Speaker 2: within your business. There will also be some influencers outside

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Speaker 2: your control. So what I would certainly recommend for people

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Speaker 2: is to contact the Chamber. Our workplace relations team will

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Speaker 2: be able to assist with answering some of those careers. Initially,

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Speaker 2: given that the legislation's got through yet and some of

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Speaker 2: the details and fully clear and obviously from us, we

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Speaker 2: would suggest that business who aren't Chamber members become Chamber

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Speaker 2: members and will be there to support them.

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Speaker 1: Are they annoyed that this is being pushed through as well?

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Speaker 1: Before Christmas?

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Speaker 2: The whole thing has been very much rushed through, So

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Speaker 2: part of our advocacy, and you probably saw some of

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Speaker 2: our media, was to actually take a bit more time.

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Speaker 2: There are some clearly some elements to this legislation that

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Speaker 2: should be pushed through reasonably quickly and there is no

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Speaker 2: issue with a lot of that requirement, but some of

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Speaker 2: this detailed multi employer bargaining agreement stuff has just been

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Speaker 2: shoved through this particular of the process and didn't need

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Speaker 2: to be certainly taking more time.

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Speaker 1: Well, Greg Island, the CEO of the Chamber of Commerce

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Speaker 1: here in the Northern Territory, always appreciate your time. Thanks

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Speaker 1: so much for having a chat with me this morning.

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Speaker 2: No worries, Katie.

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Speaker 1: Thank you