skip to Main Content
Government Freezes Funding For Wage Theft Watchdog

Government freezes funding for wage theft watchdog

The Federal Government has frozen funding for the Fair Work Ombudsman, the agency responsible for policing wage theft.

Instead, in a blatant ideological-driven move, it has given an additional $8 million to the agency that monitors unions.

Government freezes funding for wage theft watchdog

The government reduced Fair Work’s annual budget from $110,464 million to $110,009 million for this coming year.

This is despite tens of thousands of bosses stealing the wages of vulnerable workers in many industries.

In comparison, the Registered Organisations Commission, which regulates unions and employer associations, received an additional $8.1 million.

Priorities ‘all wrong’

Opposition spokesperson for employment and workplace relations, Brendan O’Connor, told Fairfax the government’s priorities are “all wrong”.

“Thousands of workers have been ripped off as a result of systematic wage underpayment, yet the Liberals would rather pump $8.1 million into the disgraced Registered Organisations Commission, than help vulnerable workers.”

Andrew Stewart, an employment law specialist from the University of Adelaide, agreed, saying there is ample evidence of wage theft across significant sections of the labour market.

“And the government is pouring money into going after trade unions rather than increasing the Ombudsman’s capacity to enforce wage laws,” he told Fairfax.

Fair Work Ombudsman Natalie James.

Fair fighting ‘hopeless battle’

Miles Heffernan, Director of Litigation at IR Claims, represents victims of wage theft.

“When you look at the numbers, it’s easy to understand how Fair Work is fighting a hopeless battle,” he said.

“They’ve got a couple of hundred of inspectors, to police more than 800,000 businesses across the country.

“Last financial year, they launched a pathetic 55 litigations, in addition to a handful of compliance actions.

“They need more money and a stronger focus on enforcement instead of education.”

The Government argues recent increases to penalties protect workers from exploitation, however, Mr Heffernan says penalties are not an effective deterrent.

“Wage theft must be brought into the criminal jurisdiction, and we must award those penalties directly to workers who are affected,” he said.


Call our team at Industrial Relations Claims today on

1300 045 466

To connect with us, please follow us on

 

Back To Top