MEDIA RELEASE
ACCI represents over 350,000 businesses in every State and Territory and all industries. Our network employs around
4 million employees, ranging from the top 100 companies to tens of thousands of small and medium businesses.
MR 001/10
LEADING AUSTRALIAN BUSINESS
Embargoed until 12.01am on 1 January 2010
NEW EMPLOYMENT LAWS MAKE DOING BUSNESS HARDER
Statement by Mr Peter Anderson, Chief Executive
The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Australia’s largest and most representative
employer organisation, says that being an employer is now more regulated, and for many
businesses, more expensive due to the Australian Government’s ‘fair work’ employment standards
that come into operation today.
“Not many new-year champagne corks are popping in employer and small business land.”
“We all want 2010 to be the year that real economic growth returns to Australia. It still can, but the
new IR laws make that task harder.”
“Impacts will differ between industries and between States. For some employers the changes will
seem to be slight, for others severe, and for most, costs will rise over time. That adds up to a slow
burn on the economy.”
“The biggest problem is the new standards are mostly one-size-fits-all. There is almost no
flexibility for businesses of different types or different health to make changes. A lack of
flexibility leads to unfairness.”
“Worryingly, today’s new standards are not the end of the story; they can be topped up by union
activism and tribunal intervention.”
“Not everything in the new laws is a backward step. A national set of laws rather than a hodge-
podge of duplicate and inconsistent federal and State laws makes more sense, even with
shortcomings. However, there are big caveats that apply to government claims of reduced
regulation.”
ACCI is advising employers to immediately use the services of their employer organisations to
find out how these new laws affect their business.
“The main Chambers of Commerce in each State and Territory and many industry associations
provide that advice independently and impartially.”
“Employers need to comply, not lose faith in employing people, and urge the government to make
changes when experience shows the new IR system to be too inflexible or costly.”
A more detailed assessment of the new IR changes and the impact workplace regulation has on
productivity, is contained in the December 2009 edition of the ACCI Review.
For further information:
Peter Anderson Chief Executive 0417 264 862
David Gregory Director of Workplace Policy 0417 052 390
Brett Hogan Director of Communications 0407 273 884
NEWS 
