MEDIA RELEASE – Coalition will simplify definition of casual employee

Senator the Hon Michaelia Cash

Shadow Attorney-General

Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations

Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate

Senator for Western Australia

MEDIA RELEASE

16 MAY 2024

COALITION WILL SIMPLIFY DEFINITION OF CASUAL EMPLOYEE

A future Coalition Government will simplify the definition of a casual worker so that businesses and employees can have certainty as to their situation.

Leader of the Opposition Peter Dutton made the commitment in his Budget-in-reply speech.

It stands in stark contrast to the Albanese Government, which has deliberately created uncertainty for businesses when employing casual workers by repealing the definition of casual employment in the Fair Work Act.

Labor’s radical industrial laws leave it up to the Fair Work Commission to determine whether an employee is casual or permanent, based on numerous factors including work patterns and length of employment.

Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, Senator Michaelia Cash welcomed the commitment to simplify the definition of a casual worker.

“The former Coalition Government first introduced the definition of a casual employee in 2021 in order to provide greater certainty for those in casual employment and to all small businesses across Australia,’’ Senator Cash said.

“What we have seen however, since the election of the Albanese Government, is a wholesale attack on small and family business, at the instruction of Labor’s union overlords.

“In their Closing Loopholes legislation, the Government has gone to war with the principle of casual employment, impacting job creation and those workers who embrace the flexibility of casual jobs.

“If elected we will wind back the union power grab that the Labor party have enacted to payback the unions for their support at the last election.

“Labor’s industrial relations framework has added cost, confusion and complexity at a time when households and many businesses are struggling to pay their bills.

“Tonight’s commitment reaffirms the Coalition as the party of small and family business and of aspiration.”

ENDS