Owner-Drivers

Thank goodness for the independents! Loophole Bill is a huge PILL

November 24, 2023 by Self-Employed Australia

There’s no doubt that the Senate independents have brought common sense to the Albanese government’s Loophole (industrial relations) Bill. And it’s a great victory for common sense that the firm stand taken by the independents has forced the government to start making amendments to the Bill.

First, the independent Senators refused to pass the entire Bill given that it is one huge pill too enormous and complex to swallow!
Second, the independent Senators carved out four vital work-safety-related items from the Loophole Pill/Bill and passed these (in the Senate) but the government voted against this and insisted the entire Pill/Bill should be passed/swallowed in its entirety.
Third, the government has carved out three amendments to bits of the Pill/Bill, presenting these as a great victory for them—as if they are masters of negotiation!

We don’t yet know the details of the government’s three amendments, but from the government’s media output they relate to changes to:

‘Service contractors’ under labour hire;
Some aspects of the casuals definitions; and
Some aspects of the gig provisions.

We see these as minor changes given the massive size, complexity and far-reaching implications of the Loophole Bill. And the government seems to be desperate to get some industry associations and businesses to agree to some aspects of the Bill as part of a political game to pass the entire Pill/Bill.

But the truth is that the government has started making changes (very minor on our assessment) only because the independent Senators have said ‘NO, this Bill must be studied and looked at in its detail’. (And the Lib/Nats have supported this.)

Sometimes our parliamentary democracy actually does what it’s supposed to do—that is, make for better government. There are huge parts of this Bill that are super bad and should not be passed.

We say that the following sections of the Bill should not be passed—namely, the sections that:

Outlaw the bulk of self-employment;
Outlaw digital (gig) platform operations in Australia and therefore deny self-employed people the right to earn their income through digital (gig) platforms; and
Destroy self-employed owner-drivers’ businesses.

One big reason for not passing the Bill/Pill is that it is designed to damage competition law in Australia. This would create opportunity for a further concentration of economic power by big business. This would hit small business people in the guts.

So far, every indication from the independents is that they are not going to be bullied and are looking at the Bill in its detail.

Defend your right (and the right of anyone) to be your own boss

October 27, 2023 by Self-Employed Australia

We’ve been sending you lots of information on the Albanese government’s small business destruction (Loophole) Bill currently being investigated by a Senate Committee. We have more information still to send you, but if you’re interested, there is a series of Australia-wide information sessions on this being run by the Master Builders Association.

You don’t have to be a tradie to attend, because this Loophole Bill kills YOUR self-employed small business whether you’re a tradie, an IT contractor, a hairdresser or whatever!

You can find more about the sessions (includes regional/country) and make a booking if you can attend through this link to the MBA campaign page.

We had one hairdresser contact us and say, “I just work for myself. Who’ll be my employer if I’m turned into an employee? My customers?” Brilliant question. And here’s the stupidity of this Bill. It literally declares self-employed, independent contractors to be employees. So, yes. Who’s our employer? Great question that the Bill doesn’t answer. Just dumb!!! (That’s a technical term for a stupid law by the way!)

Because this Loophole Bill is so complicated we’ve been sending you information and analysis in ‘bits’. But we’ve now updated our campaign page:

Defending Your Right to Be Your Own Boss.

We’ve put all our analysis in one spot and will keep updating this.

Remember—your future and your income as a self-employed person is in the hands of the seven independent Senators.

Trashing casuals’ incomes – The Loophole Bill

October 23, 2023 by Self-Employed Australia

Last week we explained how the Albanese government’s Loophole Bill will trash the incomes of casuals. That’s a pretty big claim on our part, particularly when we calculate the actual amounts that casuals can/will lose. That is, that casuals on:

minimum pay will lose up to $3,062 a year;
average pay will lose up to $5,354 a year.

But we don’t make such claims without proper analysis and facts.

In my Substack post on this we provide the analysis (8-minute read). And we include the full details of the wording of the relevant section in the Loophole Bill in our briefing paper to the Senate independents. This shows that the Bill effectively outlaws casual employment. This is how so many people (2.7 million of them) will have their incomes trashed.

You’d think that this is a very strange thing for a Labor government to do. Labor always says that it looks after low-income people, but this Bill clearly does the reverse. Why would they do this? Well, that’s for them to explain.

But Australian business columnist Robert Gottliebsen (23 October) has commented that the Loophole Bill:

“…is really a multitude of different actions, so people keep discovering new horrors as they study the pages, particularly the nasties hidden in the 500-page explanatory memorandum.”

Robert explains how the Bill attacks casuals’ incomes:

“Step one is to virtually abolish casual work by making the definition so complex that no one can risk employing a casual because the fines for paying people extra via the casual employment classification can be up to $93,000. Accordingly the casual labour “loophole” is closed.”

“Most existing casuals will need to transfer to full-time employment, or, more likely, part-time employee status. That means 2.7 million will receive a lower income.”

He says,

“There will be a riot when 2.7 million casuals discover they are a “loophole” and must have their cash pay cut.”

The issue is so huge Robert believes that if the Bill passes the Senate,

“…Peter Dutton is highly likely to become the next prime minister.”

After the massive rejection of Albanese and Labor’s attempt at the Voice, put this Loophole Bill on top—and anything could happen!!

A bill to destroy self-employed small businesses across Australia

October 2, 2023 by Self-Employed Australia

We really need to let you know what’s going on with the new industrial relations Bill, called the ‘Loophole Bill’.

Hold on to your hats. This is something much more radical and far-reaching than anyone could have expected. To call it a Bill closing ‘loopholes’ is to lie. Its contents prove the lie.

The Bill proposes a transformation of key, core underpinnings of the Australian economy and society. It is perhaps the most radical change of its type seen since Federation.

To remind you, the Bill:

Is 284 pages long, with a 521-page Explanatory memorandum.
Covers multiple agendas.

The government had wanted this passed before Christmas this year, but the Senate has delayed it until February next year. The Senate is holding an inquiry. Submissions were due last Friday, 29 September. We’ve put in a submission that we can’t make public until the Senate Committee formally accepts it.

Putting our submission together was a formidable exercise and we haven’t even covered all the issues. But our 13,000-worder gets stuck into core, major items.

In summary:

The Bill seeks to make commercial transactions subject to industrial relations regulation.
It will do this in relation to commercial transactions undertaken by individuals in the earning of their income.

In practical terms, the Bill will outlaw:

the bulk of self-employment;
digital (gig) platform operations in Australia;
self-employed people from earning their income through digital/gig platforms; and
self-employed owner-drivers;

as well as:

casual employment.

Further, the Bill will:

Damage competition law in Australia, creating opportunity for a further concentration of economic power by big business.

In short, the Bill will make a huge percentage of Australian small businesses illegal. This is why describing the Bill as ‘radical’ is warranted and accurate.

Our line-by-line analysis of key terms, sentences and structures of Bill shows how it achieves the above by:

Overriding the High Court’s determinations on ‘employee vs self-employment’.
Breaching Australia’s International Labour Organisation obligations to protect the status of self-employment.
Overriding Australia’s competition laws and limiting the power of Australia’s competition regulator (the ACCC).
Defining the commercial contract as an employment contract.
Regulating self-employed people as employees.
Regulating digital (gig) platforms to remove their commercial basis.
Regulating owner-drivers as employees.

We’ll release our analysis of the Bill to you in ‘bits’ over the next few weeks so you have a chance to absorb it all.

Campaigning is under way—Defending your right to Be Your Own Boss

June 7, 2023 by Self-Employed Australia

We thought we’d give you an understanding of the mechanics of our campaign to try and stop the Albanese government from implementing its ‘employee-like’ agenda.

We explained early in May that the government had started the implementation process with the release of the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations’ (DEWR) consultation paper.

Our first task was to assess and respond to the paper. We lodged our long submission (11,000 words) to DEWR and in late May provided you a brief overview. The reason for the long submission is simple. The government is throwing up a concept—‘employee-like’—which at first glance could appear reasonable. But it’s only when you delve into the detail of what this means that a full understanding is possible. And it means a direct attack upon your right to be your own boss, to be self-employed.

The next phase in our campaign started last week. This involves focusing on the independent Senators that the government needs to pass any legislation in the Senate. There are seven independent Senators. The government needs four of them to pass legislation.

Last week we began the engagement process with the Senators. It needs to be understood that all Senators and MPs are incredibly busy trying to comprehend a huge range of complex issues. Our responsibility is to present our arguments clearly, factually and as concisely as possible. To this end we’ve produced a four-page summary of our position.

Last week we had initial discussions with staff of some Senators and had one Senator ask us to come to Canberra to explain the issues in person. We did this and had a very productive discussion. It was pleasing to have this level of interest.

We’ve been conducting pro-self-employed advocacy campaigns for over 20 years and we’ve learnt one thing. It’s essential to sit down with Senators and MPs and explain one’s position face-to-face. We’re committed to this. And it’s not just independent Senators we seek to talk to, but also the government itself, the opposition and independent MPs.

This costs money, of course, and this is where your membership fees go.

For example, a one-day trip to Canberra (from Melbourne) usually involves:

$500 in airfares, $100 for buses, taxis, etc.

And staying overnight in Canberra (if needed) is expensive during Parliament sitting days—usually starting at around $250 a night (just for basic accommodation!!!)

The government plans to introduce its contentious legislation later this year. To run our advocacy campaign, we anticipate that around eight to ten trips to Canberra will be required before years’ end.

If you’d like to help fund any of those trips, you can do so through our dedicated campaign membership link here.

There’s quite a ‘battle’ going on, with the ACTU (unions) putting out a very aggressive ‘research’ paper which attacks the High Court and is hugely misleading on many fronts. It’s this sort of thing that we need to explain to Senators and MPs otherwise the union agenda will prevail.

We’ll keep you informed.

Labor’s agenda to outlaw the self-employed – Here it comes!!

May 7, 2023 by Self-Employed Australia

We’ve alerted you in the past to the Albanese government’s plan to deny people the right to be self-employed. It’s an attack upon your basic freedom to decide how you earn your income. That attack plan is now unfolding.

The Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR) has released a consultation paper on the implementation of Labor’s plan. We’re preparing a detailed submission (due on 12 May). Legislation is set for the second half of this year.

Be very clear. We totally reject this agenda. It’s bad on many fronts. We’ll explain the multiple problems progressively over the following weeks.

We have started talking to Senators and MPs about why this is so bad and should be stopped. We’ll be very actively pushing to defend the right to be self-employed.

We’ve prepared a summary of the DEWR consultation paper. We’ve tried to reflect what they are saying accurately.

In broad summary, Labor’s plan is to:

Treat the commercial contract used by self-employed people as an employment contract.
Regulate self-employed people through the Fair Work Commission, thus creating conflict with commercial law and regulation by the Australian Consumer and Competition Commission. The DEWR papers says that this will be done on a limited selective basis. But those limits are as yet unknown.

Frankly, we see our campaign as perhaps the most important one that we have conducted in SEA’s 24-year history. We must attempt to stop this.

We argue that Labor’s plan is a recipe for commercial contract confusion and uncertainty. We find the consultation paper to be a confused hotchpotch itself, as it is forced to weave a path through well-established legal, regulatory and policy principles and practices. This is so because the plan would generate conflict with those principles and practices on a wide scale.

At this stage we seek to understand the detail of Labor’s agenda. The difficulty is that the agenda is wrapped up in seemingly good intentions which mask its true consequences.

Many people have asked us for more information. We suggest that you read our summary first and see what you think. We’ll release our analysis progressively.

Defending the self-employed: 2023 Campaign to counter the creeping attack!

March 22, 2023 by Self-Employed Australia

There is no doubt that, in the second half of this year, major legislation is going to be pushed through Federal Parliament that will do harm to self-employed people.

We know this because of the government’s stated agenda. In a significant speech to the National Press Club on 1 February 2023, the Workplace Relations Minister, Tony Burke, laid out the government’s wide-ranging agenda. There are four items on that agenda list that we must oppose.

These are:

The creation of ‘employee-like’ legal definitions for self-employed people.
Limiting the self-employed’s capacity/rights to engage in the gig economy.
Imposing business-crushing ‘employment’ regulations on owner-driver truck drivers.
Giving the Fair Work Commission power over self-employed people.

Each of these agenda items is presented by the government as a form of ‘protection’ for the self-employed. But in fact these items reduce the right of Australians to be their own boss. There’s the harm.

We have long fought for protections for self-employed people. But these protections can and must come through commercial law and regulation.

The government’s approach on the items listed above is instead a process of denying the full right of people to be self-employed and instead forcing people into employee-like situations. This approach stems from an ideological view that only employment regulation provides workers with protection. This is a wrong, narrow and harmful perspective. Wherever this is done, great harm is inflicted on self-employed workers. Think of the AB5 laws in California which harm truckers and many others. We must try to prevent such harm being done in Australia.

We’re not saying that the Albanese government is all bad on the self-employed front. In fact, we were and are full of praise for its speedy passing of the ‘beefed up’ unfair contract (protection) laws in October last year. This is exactly the model of protection laws that self-employed (own boss) workers need—namely, protections under commercial law. But where the government heads in the wrong direction we need to oppose it.

Today we’re announcing the start of our campaign. This means:

Writing submissions (even if not invited to do so).
Communicating directly with government advisers and MPs.
Seeking support from the Coalition opposition and Senate/House independents.

One thing that we have learnt over many years is that if we don’t go to Canberra and walk the halls of parliament knocking on doors, presenting our views, and raising awareness, then we will not get anywhere.

We’re asking for your $ support. This campaigning costs money. It requires effort, persistence and money. We will put in the effort and the persistence. But our only revenue is from you—our members/supporters.

You can contribute/Join here as a:

Full member ($44 a month)
Standard member ($22 a month)
Campaign member (you choose $)

More information will follow as our campaign unfolds.

PS: You can also follow Ken Phillips through his Self-Employed Aren’t Stupid, Substack postings.

Trucking billionaires business boost

February 17, 2023 by Self-Employed Australia

Federal Labor is set to bolster the businesses of trucking billionaires and corporations. Unsurprisingly, the billionaires are more than happy to have this happen.

Naturally, Labor’s billionaires business boost is not being promoted this way by Labor. Labor says that its plan is about making trucking rates ‘safe’. But anyway this is looked at, this is about eliminating independent truck drivers as competitors to the big trucking corporations and billionaire trucking empires.

We know this because Labor set up a ‘safe rates’ scheme in 2012. But it wasn’t until 2016 that the Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal (RSRT) started dictating trucking rates. It was a disaster for the 35,000 affected self-employed, long-haul truck drivers. Large numbers of these truckies were in the process of being bankrupted and several desperate truckies committed suicide. The Small Business Ombudsman released a report on how bad the laws were.

We campaigned hard against the laws to the extent of mounting a High Court challenge to them. In our hearing before the Chief Justice of Australia he stated that we “may have an arguable case.” However the Turnbull government passed legislation to close down the RSRT in 2016 and we didn’t need to proceed with the rest of the legal challenge.

This saved the livelihoods and businesses of these thousands of hard-working, self-employed Australians. What we know from the 2016 experience is that the ‘trucking safe rates’ argument has a theoretical claim about safety, but is in fact about putting small business people out of business to the benefit of big business. That’s the truth.

The argument about safety is heavily promoted by the Transport Workers Union (TWU) and goes something like this. The TWU says independent truck drivers work too hard. They drive long hours and the rates they charge are too low. These low rates mean that independent truck drivers have crashes. So, according to the TWU, the independent truckies need to be forced by legislation to charge more. Then the roads will be safe. That’s the TWU argument.

But look at the argument from a different angle—that is, from the viewpoint of competition.

Self-employed independent truck drivers are big competitors to the big trucking conglomerates (and they tend not to be union members!) By the nature of their businesses, independent truckies are able to be highly flexible. If, for example, an independent truckie is long-hauling between Perth and Brisbane and different jobs pop up along the way, they can respond in ways that the management bureaucracies of big companies cannot. This gives the independents big competitive advantages.

It’s this flexibility and fast responsiveness to customer needs that is key for the independents. But this does not suit the big transport bosses. And it does not suit the TWU which effectively enforces membership through the big transport bosses.

Now that Labor is in government and seems to have the support of the Greens in the Senate on labour issues, Albanese’s Labor is looking to target independent truck drivers again. Labor has announced that it intends to re-introduce a scheme of ‘safe’ rates for ‘employee-like’ independent truck drivers. They will do this in the second half of 2023.

Again, they are going to control the rates that independent truck drivers must charge. This will be a repeat of 2016. Independent truck drivers will be pushed into hardship, bankruptcies and suicide. Big trucking billionaires will get richer. This is Labor’s direct attack against Australian small business people.

Campaign to defend self-employed people: It’s going to be a battle

July 7, 2022 by Self-Employed Australia

With the election of the Albanese government, there’s been a frenzy of academic, union and Labor government commentary about how big changes are coming for self-employed people. There’s the:

Demonisation of the ‘gig’ economy, as if every gig worker works in some sort of oppressive Dickensian environment.
Pushing of ‘employee-like’ independent contractor concepts and of bringing such people into employment regulation.
Calls to change the definition of self-employment/independent contracting.
Renewed attack against owner-drivers.

Let’s be clear. The Albanese government has stated its intent to implement new, aggressive policies around each of these issues. Workplace Relations Minister Tony Bourke explained on ABC Radio the ‘big shift’ that’s to happen.

Frankly, we (SEA) have been around too long (since 2000) and we are too experienced to fall for the spin that this is to ‘protect’ self-employed workers. These types of agendas have been promoted by the broad Labor movement (unions, ALP, Labor academics) since the 1990s. The agenda is to squeeze the life blood out of people who are, and want to be, their own boss. We know the game.

But this time is different from the last three decades-or-so. With The Greens and at least one independent Senator, Labor has the numbers to push its agenda through parliament.

Their agenda is, of course, damn nonsense and will be cancerous to the livelihoods of Australia’s 2.1 million self-employed people. You won’t know the cancer is there until you start feeling the pain.

However, don’t expect something different from the Dutton opposition. After the Morrison government’s 2019 win, the Coalition demonstrated a brain deadness on small business issues.

Yes, it introduced some good ‘pay small business on time’ requirements but didn’t go far enough.

But,

It continued to allow the ATO to bully, harass and oppress small business people without any checks and balances.
It failed to implement the beefing up of unfair contract laws that were ‘ready to go’. Did it do a deal with the big end of town to put this off?

Now for some balance. While we’re warning about, and will campaign against, Labor’s destructive agenda for the self-employed, there’s some good news.

The Albanese government has just announced the requirement that 20 per cent of government procurement must go to small and medium businesses.
Labor has in the past been a strong supporter of beefed-up unfair contract laws. We ask the government to bring this legislation back into parliament and pass it quickly.
Labor supports stronger ‘pay on time’ laws. This should be a priority.

The upshot is that we have a battle on our hands. The are some positives in the Albanese government’s small business agenda, but also some shockers. We’ll be producing considerable commentary and analysis to explain the good and the bad over the coming months.

ICA launches Constitutional challenge to anti-truckie laws

April 12, 2016 by Self-Employed Australia

You’ll be aware of our campaign to stop the Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal.

We can now advise that, as of 4.10pm today in Sydney, the High Court confirmed the filing of Independent Contractors Australia’s constitutional challenge to the Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal Act. ICA is asking the High Court to consider that the Commonwealth does not have the power to fix prices and therefore that the RSRT Act is invalid and that any orders of the Tribunal are consequently invalid.

ICA has at the same time asked for an urgent injunction against the Tribunal and its orders that would effectively freeze the Tribunal’s orders until such time as the constitutional questions have been answered. We are in the hands of the High Court in terms of the timing of an injunction decision. We hope it will be soon.

Last week we asked for your owner-driver stories. We have been inundated. We have not been able to reply or process the huge number. But our massive thanks. We worked with several people to turn their stories into affidavits which involves a lot of work for filing with the High Court. We will ring these people to thank them.

This is the first phase of a lot of work. We may need to use many more stories in affidavits.

Thanks also to the huge number of people who have joined ICA. Your money is going to the legal fees but we will need to raise a good deal more. Lawyers for High Court challenges are expensive.

We will keep you informed.