Business Council of Australia accuses Murray Watt of misrepresenting its position in latest IR spat

A peak business group is accusing Employment Minister Murray Watt of twisting an old quote to falsely suggest it supports Labor’s controversial bargaining regime in the latest row between the Government and industry.

Business Council of Australia chief executive Bran Black has called out Senator Watt for his speech to last week’s Australian Workers’ Union conference in Perth, in which he used a three-year-old quote to seemingly imply the lobby group backed Labor’s controversial expansion of multi-employer bargaining.

Senator Watt’s office rejected the BCA’s interpretation of the comments as the minister accused big business and the federal Opposition of running “scare campaigns” about its workplace laws.

The BCA and other mining and industry groups are on the record vehemently opposing Labor’s new bargaining rules, which they fear could unleash industrial chaos on Pilbara mine sites.

But in his speech to the AWU conference, Senator Watt used an old quote from the BCA – whose members include BHP and Rio Tinto – to suggest the group was on board.

“Enterprise agreements enable business and workers to share success,” Senator Watt said, quoting the BCA.

“They remain the best way to keep people in work and enable businesses to grow and succeed so they can pay higher wages and employ additional workers.”

Senator Watt used the BCA quote again at a post-speech press conference when asked to respond to the Minerals Council’s criticism of the bargaining rules.

The BCA is seething at Senator Watt’s use of the quote, which was lifted from a 2021 report the group prepared on the decline of enterprise bargaining.

“It’s entirely incorrect to link the BCA’s 2021 position on enterprise bargaining with support for the Government’s recent industrial relations changes,” Mr Black said.

“The BCA does not support the productivity-sapping expansion of compulsory bargaining in the Pilbara.”

“This approach is bad for workers, businesses and the economy.”

Minerals Council of Australia Tania Constable backed in the BCA, saying “business groups remain in complete alignment over the negative impacts of the Albanese Government’s reckless industrial relations changes”.

Senator Watt’s office said the minister’s speech was “clearly” referencing the BCA’s position on enterprise agreements, not the Government’s new workplace laws.

The minister said big business and the federal Opposition were running a “scare campaign” about multi-employer bargaining.

He said since the new regime started in June, last year, the Fair Work Commission has authorised multi-employer bargaining just once in the mining industry – a case involving three NSW-based coal companies.

“Not one multi-employer bargaining process has been authorised to even begin in the Pilbara, or that covers mining production workers anywhere in Australia,” Senator Watt said.

“The same people who are now claiming the sky is falling are the ones who said our workplace laws would “close down Australia” — they were wrong then and they are wrong now too.”