Outstanding steps before WA Local Governments transition to the State IR system on 1 January 2023
The outstanding legislative steps that are required to be completed before WA Local Governments and Regional Councils (Local Governments) transition to the State industrial relations (IR) system on 1 January 2023 can be viewed
here.
In summary, the following two steps remain outstanding:
- The Federal Government is required to make Federal transitional regulations.
- The Federal Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations must endorse the declaration that WA Local Governments are not national system employers under s.14(4) of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (FW Act).
There has been a firm commitment from the Federal Government that both these matters will be finalised in December 2022.
State IR transition Q&A webinar with WALGA and DMIRS
WALGA Employee Relations hosted a webinar on 29 November 2022 to present an overview of frequently asked questions about the transition.
Over 100 attendees participated in the webinar with questions being answered by a panel of representatives from the Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety (DMIRS) and WALGA.
A total of 53 questions were asked about the following topics:
- Transitional instruments
- Interpreting transitional entitlements and the Minimum Conditions of Employment Act 1993 (WA)
- Application of the two Local Government State awards and other State awards
- Interaction of new State instruments with State legislation and general orders
- Relevance and application of the FW Act and the NES in the State system
- State record keeping obligations
- The State bargaining framework
- Applicability of paid family domestic violence leave and COVID-19 leave in the State IR system.
Any outstanding questions which were not addressed during the webinar (and that are not addressed by the online FAQs below) will be addressed in writing or by phone over the coming weeks.
During the webinar DMIRS representatives from the Private Sector Labour Relations Division also provided information about their
Compliance and Enforcement Policy, online resources and the role of
Wageline.
A recording of the webinar and the PowerPoint slides are available for subscribers on the WALGA website
here. You will need to be logged in to access this material. We will also email this information to all webinar registrants.
New FAQs published
Frequently asked questions and answers about the transition have now been uploaded to the WALGA website:
- For ER subscribers here
- For non-subscribers here
The subscriber version of this resource is more comprehensive while the sector resource addresses some key questions about the new State instruments. We will continue to update these resources as we receive questions about the transition.
New ER subscriber resources
Subscribers can also download a new fact sheet
here setting out the provisions of the FW Act that apply to State system employers.
WALGA ER is also working on an interpretation guide to the Local Government Industry Award 2022 (LGIA) to assist Local Governments with the application of each of the clauses of the LGIA when it becomes a new State instrument on 1 January 2023. We will notify you of the launch of this resource via the SIRT Bulletin.
If you subscribe to the WALGA Employee Relations service and have any questions about this alert, please email WALGA Employee Relations or call 1300 366 956.