• Steve O'Neill
• Information and Research Services, Parliamentary Library

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14 October 2008The enactment of the Workplace Relations Amendment (Work Choices) Act 2005 significantly altered the framework of federal and state awards which previously constituted the award safety net, in part, supplementing these through the introduction of the Australian Fair Pay and Conditions Standard. Work Choices amended the Workplace Relations Act 1996 (hereon the WR Act, which includes the Work Choices amendments) and took effect, in the main, from 27 March 2006.


This Research Paper sets out some of the key features associated with the safety net/s for wages and employment conditions. It outlines:


• the widened coverage of the federal system brought about by bringing in employers and employees formerly falling under state jurisdictions


• the role of specific parts of the federal safety net , and


• a case study about a hypothetical application of the safety net to employees of an award-free employer to indicate how the legislated safety net works in practice.