What can the recruitment industry expect from the re-elected Labor government?

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The new Albanese ministry was announced earlier in the week, and there were some changes at the top of the ministries that are most relevant for the labour market and the recruitment industry.

I solicited some comments from RCSA CEO, Charles Cameron, an experienced industrial relations advocate, for some recruitment industry context.

Cameron prefaced his comments about the individual minister with a business analogy; “I often assimilate Ministers to CEO’s. In essence, there are three types of CEO. Those that come in to reform a business, when there is a need for significant change (the reformer), those that inherit a solid business and are brought in to scale the business (the scaler) and those that are caretakers (the caretaker).”

All the comments in italics, below, are from Charles Cameron.

Let’s start with the most relevant portfolio: employment and workplace relations.

Forty-six-year-old MP, Amanda Rishworth, from South Australia and a member of the right faction, replaces Murray Watt as Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations. She was previously the Minister for Social Services.

Most would appreciate that Tony Burke (the minister who preceded Watt) was brought in to the workplace relations portfolio to reform workplace relations, to return the favour to the union movement, which has been so dominant in the Labor Party since its inception. Based on the ‘returning favours’ reform mantra he did a fantastic job for the union movement. Murray Watt, on the other hand, was a caretaker and has no aspirations for reform, other than to throw a wet blanket over the CFMEU debacle. Arguably, given it played no part in the election, he did that very well. Said nothing that drew media attention and did nothing that would become an election issue. Astounding really.

Amanda Rishworth is likely to be a caretaker as well. She is driven by her experience opposing AWAs under the Howard Government’s WorkChoices era of workplace relations and this will ensure she gives no ground. Whilst the Treasurer has espoused that this term of government will be focused on productivity improvement, the Labor form of productivity is, as one hard left ALP politician put to me a few years back, about ‘multi-factorial productivity’ rather than labour productivity. Therefore, workplace relations will not be a key reform area. This minister will simply deliver on existing policy positions, such as banning non-compete clauses, enshrining penalty rates so they can never-ever be changed again, and the introduction of national labour hire licensing. Each of these will be supported by the Greens, who hold the balance of power (in the Senate), and they will be simple for Mrs. Rishworth to implement. Nothing to see here….move along.

The industry portfolio has a direct impact on the labour market as government investments, subsidies and tax breaks all create market signals that flow through to employment decisions by businesses.

Fifty-one-year-old Senator Tim Ayres, from New South Wales, has been named as Australia’s new Industry Minister, controversially taking the place of Ed Husic, who was ousted last week in a factional power play. Ayres was the Assistant Minister for Manufacturing, Trade, and a Future Made in Australia in the Albanese government’s first term. Prior to entering parliament Ayres was state secretary for the Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union and is factionally aligned with the left. Ayres’s new role is a substantial promotion.

It is sad to see Ed Husic removed by the ALP faction machine as he is one of the Ministers that, I feel, genuinely understood the needs of industry. Mr. Husic was focused on the need for a ‘growth agenda’ and I fear that Mr. Ayres will be focused on a union growth agenda. I hope I am wrong. To see the hard left given the industry portfolio is very concerning. I hope to be proven wrong. I recall working as a workplace relations consultant seeking to assist a food production business in the northern suburbs of Melbourne establish an EBA that would ensure they remained viable, and would not go into liquidation. The AMWU told me they would rather see the business fail than to agree to terms and conditions in an EBA that would go against AMWU policy. It is this approach to Australian industry that concerns me greatly.

Ayres will have responsibility for the National Reconstruction Fund, Labor’s $15 billion manufacturing fund, which has allocated more than $430 million across eight investments since late last year. Ayres will also oversee the government’s efforts around artificial intelligence and quantum computing, including the $470 million investment in PsiQuantum’s efforts to build a commercial quantum computer in Brisbane.

Last week, Treasurer Jim Chalmers said that the government in its second term would “do more to embrace technology, particularly the AI opportunity”.

Fifty-four-year-old Tony Burke MP, from New South Wales, and leader of the government in the House, retains his Immigration and Citizenship portfolio. He was the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations in the original 2022 Albanese cabinet.

As the COVID border closures demonstrated, the flow of migrants, both short-term, medium-term, and permanent, dramatically affects the labour market, especially in lower-skilled roles, notably retail, hospitality, and agriculture.

Tony Burke is a very effective Minister. He gets things done, regardless of whether you agree with his ideology or not. It will be intriguing to see how he, and others, balance the skills shortage with the impact of immigration on local communities. Both major parties committed to reducing immigration by about 40% over the next three years. This will be extremely difficult for a country that is growing old and already has full workforce participation.

Fifty-one-year-old, Andrew Giles MP, from Victoria, retains his outer ministry in Skills and Training after being demoted from Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs last July in a cabinet reshuffle.

Twelve of the 23 cabinet ministers are women.

The coming three years of the Federal Labor Government will need to draw on all its various ministers’ respective talents to effectively deal with the global challenges of the economic chaos caused by the Trump Administration’s flip-flopping on tariffs, a politically-fractured Europe, transformation in the global labour market due to the impact of GenAI on white collar employment and the rapdily ageing local population.

As Charles Cameron concluded, “As is the case with all Ministers, we will need to separate the rhetoric from the results. A tough three years to govern.”

It’s never been a more critical time to be united as an industry.

Strength in numbers and collective action help lift the whole industry, so if you are not an RCSA individual or corporate member, please consider becoming one.

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Posted in Recruitment