Australian Industry Group has made its final submission to the statutory review of the Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Closing Loopholes) Act 2023 and the Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Closing Loopholes No. 2) Act 2024. Information on the Review is available here.

It responds to a detailed Draft Report (proposing to make 52 recommendations) released on 18 May for urgent response. It also follows Australian Industry Group’s Initial Submission in March 2026.

Key issues under consideration in the Review and addressed in our submissions include:

• Casual employment and the replacement of a clear statutory definition with a complex and uncertain test of who is a casual employee
• Labour hire regulation and the operation of Regulated Labour Hire Arrangement Orders
• The right to disconnect in the Fair Work Act and its interaction with right to disconnect terms in awards and enterprise agreements
• Bargaining amendments, including unfair changes ‘intractable bargaining determinations’ and exit pathways from multi‑enterprise agreements
• Union delegates’ rights, and union right of entry
• Independent contracting, sham arrangements, and the statutory definition of employment
• New regulation of employee‑like workers and road transport contractors, including minimum standards orders and contractual chain orders
• Compliance and enforcement changes, including the wage theft criminal offence and further increases to civil penalties
• Paid Family and Domestic Violence Leave