The document accompanying the statement of reasons for the bill also included a footnote on a web page, “How Much Do Payroll Services Cost?” on the bark.com business marketplace website.
Opposition labor relations spokeswoman Michaelia Cash said bureaucrats had “Googled rather than consulted” about the sweeping legislation, which has sparked a backlash from business.
Labor Relations Minister Tony Burke accused critics of the bill of spreading false information. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
But a department spokesman said the consultancy charges taken into account to estimate trading costs “involve consulting a wide range of sources”. There was no response regarding the second.
“This approach has previously been used by the department and was approved by the Office of Best Practice Regulation,” the spokesman said. “In this case, the department used rates for an IR manager, IR advisor and HR administrator post in Sydney from salary verifier Hays.”
Burke also used part of question time to address several criticisms of the bill that he described as “badly misguided,” including a claim that small businesses would incur $75,000 in costs during multi-business negotiation. “Face the facts. We need to move wages,” he said.
According to the regulatory impact statement accompanying the bill, small businesses with 15 or fewer employees will pay bills of $14,638 each to negotiate with employees of multiple businesses under the low-pay bargaining stream.
The website referenced by the Department of Labor Relations in its bill’s regulatory impact statement.Credit:authentic.com.au
Estimated costs for companies take into account hours spent negotiating and external consultant fees. Asked by Cash on the final day of an inquiry into the bill how the department arrived at the $175-an-hour figure for a consultant, the department’s first assistant secretary, Jody Anderson, said the figures of the impact statement were “usual costs”.
However, the cost footnote refers to a website for Authentic Education and a page titled “How much should I charge as a consultant in Australia?”
Department of Employment and Labor Relations First Assistant Secretary Jody Anderson answers questions about the bill during a Senate inquiry. Credit: Rhett Wyman
The author of the article, Benjamin J Harvey, is described on the website as: “a cross between business strategist, modern spiritual healer and personal development expert”.
“Which department member googled how much he should get paid as a consultant?” Cash asked the panel, to which Anderson replied, “I would have to give notice.”
Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry director Andrew McKellar said the hearing’s revelations “confirm what we’ve known all along”.
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“This bill has been rushed and is half-baked at best,” McKellar said, while Business Council of Australia chief executive Jennifer Westacott said the Senate “still was in the dark” after the inquiry’s last chance to explain critical elements of the bill. .
“In fact, the only new data provided today shows that compliance costs for small and medium-sized businesses are skyrocketing,” he said.
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