In recent days a number of developments have emerged from the National Cabinet and its chief economic committee as part of Australia’s nationally coordinated response to COVID-19.
The ‘National Cabinet’ comprises the Prime Minister and Premiers and Chief Ministers of all states and territories. Established on 13 March 2020 and meeting several times a week, National Cabinet is the foremost government authority leading the COVID-19 response.
The ‘National COVID-19 Coordination Commission’, or NCCC, is the body established on 25 March 2020 to provide advice to National Cabinet on actions to anticipate and mitigate the economic and social effects of the global coronavirus pandemic.
Chaired by former Fortescue CEO Nev Power, the NCCC is responsible for all non-health aspects of the pandemic response.
National Safe Workplace Principles
On 24 April the Prime Minister announced National Cabinet had agreed to a set of nationally-consistent, industry-specific work health and safety guidance on COVID-19.
The guidance will be developed and endorsed through Safe Work Australia, working with its members (the Commonwealth, states and territories, employer groups, and unions). The guidance will be housed on a revamped Safe Work Australia website.
The intention is for Australian workplaces to use this central hub of WHS guidance and tools to help manage health and safety risks posed by COVID-19.
The ‘National COVID-19 safe workplace principles’ are as follows:
Recognising that the COVID-19 pandemic is a public health emergency, that all actions in respect of COVID-19 should be founded in expert health advice and that the following principles operate subject to the measures agreed and implemented by Governments through the National Cabinet process.
- All workers, regardless of their occupation or how they are engaged, have the right to a healthy and safe working environment.
- The COVID-19 pandemic requires a uniquely focused approach to work health and safety (WHS) as it applies to businesses, workers and others in the workplace.
- To keep our workplaces healthy and safe, businesses must, in consultation with workers, and their representatives, assess the way they work to identify, understand and quantify risks and to implement and review control measures to address those risks.
- As COVID-19 restrictions are gradually relaxed, businesses, workers and other duty holders must work together to adapt and promote safe work practices, consistent with advice from health authorities, to ensure their workplaces are ready for the social distancing and exemplary hygiene measures that will be an important part of the transition.
- Businesses and workers must actively control against the transmission of COVID-19 while at work, consistent with the latest advice from the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee, including considering the application of a hierarchy of appropriate controls where relevant.
- Businesses and workers must prepare for the possibility that there will be cases of COVID-19 in the workplace and be ready to respond immediately, appropriately, effectively and efficiently, and consistent with advice from health authorities.
- Existing state and territory jurisdiction of WHS compliance and enforcement remains critical. While acknowledging individual variations across WHS laws mean approaches in different parts of the country may vary, to ensure business and worker confidence, a commitment to a consistent national approach is key, including a commitment to communicating what constitutes best practice in prevention, mitigation and response to the risks presented by COVID-19.
- Safe Work Australia (SWA), through its tripartite membership, will provide a central hub of WHS guidance and tools that Australian workplaces can use to successfully form the basis of their management of health and safety risks posed by COVID-19.
- States and territories ultimately have the role of providing advice, education, compliance and enforcement of WHS and will leverage the use of the SWA central hub in fulfilling their statutory functions.
- The work of the National COVID-19 Coordination Commission will complement the work of SWA, jurisdictions and health authorities to support industries more broadly to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic appropriately, effectively and safely.
More information and employer resources can be found on the Safe Work Australia website.
New COVID-19 industrial relations working group
Nev Power
Meanwhile, the National COVID-19 Coordination Commission (NCCC) has announced the establishment of an Industrial Relations (IR) Working Group to help businesses to operate and keep their employees and customers safe.
The group will be headed by Greg Combet, a former member of the Australian Parliament, Minister in the Rudd and Gillard Governments and Secretary of the ACTU.
He will be joined by experts in health and industrial relations, including private sector legal advisers, former Fair Work Commissioners, a representative from Safe Work Australia, and the Commonwealth’s Deputy Chief Medical Officer.
“The very necessary restrictions in place to protect people’s lives mean that businesses need to adapt and restructure how they operate to maintain their businesses, and the jobs they provide,” NCCC Chair Nev Power said.
“Making sure there are appropriate physical distancing and other measures in place in workplaces to protect customers and workers is critical, both for those businesses and services still operating now, but also to ensure a successful return to business for others as restrictions are gradually lifted.
“We have set up an IR working group, led by NCCC Commissioner Greg Combet, to look at those immediate workplace safety aspects, and also a whole range of broader issues that may crop up as we move into new phases of COVID-19.”
The group will focus on five key areas:
- Complement the work of Safe Work Australia and State and Territory agencies in the development of COVID-19 safe working approaches in particular industries and workplaces to ensure employers and employees are properly informed of health issues, risks and mitigation measures.
- Complement the role of the Fair Work Commission and other entities by troubleshooting WHS and IR disputes relating to COVID-19 safe working practices.
- Help to tackle problems related to industrial relations disputes and misunderstandings that may arise in implementing the JobKeeper payment.
- Facilitate ideas to help critical businesses plan and pre-empt circumstances where the workplace is impacted or interrupted by an employee’s COVID-19 illness or exposure.
- Consider particular workplace issues associated with return to work and normalisation efforts as social restriction measures are relaxed.
Greg Combet
“Our focus will be on helping employers put in place COVID-19 safe working practices to protect their businesses, their employees and customers, and to make sure they are prepared to respond quickly to any COVID-19 issues in their workplaces,” Mr Combet said.
“The specialised experience and networks of members of the IR Working Group will allow them to help employers and employees nip issues in the bud before they can threaten jobs, business livelihoods and the further spread of coronavirus in our workplaces.”
In addition to Commissioner Combet, the IR Working Group includes:
- The Hon Jenny Acton – Former Senior Deputy President of the Fair Work Commission
- Mr Josh Bornstein – Principal Lawyer and National Head of the Employment and Industrial Law, Maurice Blackburn
- Mr Saul Harben – Partner and lead of the national Workplace Relations, Employment and Safety team, Clayton Utz
- Professor Michael Kidd AM – Principal Medical Advisor & Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health
- The Hon Graeme Watson – Former Vice President of the Fair Work Commission
- Ms Bianca Wellington – Acting Branch Manager, Safe Work Australia.
AMMA has a strong working relationship with a number of individuals on the NCCC’s IR Working Group. Any AMMA members wishing to provide case studies, evidence or general experiences to the group can contact [email protected].
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