SA workers’ watchdog faces axe
The State Government is planning to axe the functions and office of the Employee Ombudsman.
Industrial Relations Minister John Rau will today give notice of amendments to the Fair Work Act to repeal the section that establishes the office of the Employee Ombudsman.
He told InDaily the office’s functions could be performed by other bodies, with an annual saving of about $500,000.
“I’ve come to the conclusion that there’s just no justification for that body sitting there doing not much,” Rau said.
The position, first established in 1994, has been under a cloud for more than a year.
Current Employee Ombudsman Stephen Brennan was stood down last year, with pay, and was charged this year with multiple counts of fraud relating to his previous role as a union official. The legal action is ongoing.
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Under the requirements of the Act, the Employee Ombudsman can only be removed from the position by a vote of both houses of Parliament.
Rau hopes to solve that problem by axing the role from the state’s industrial relations system, with amendments to the Act to be introduced tomorrow.
He said today that despite the incumbent Employee Ombudsman being absent from duty, “nobody noticed a thing”.
“That a pretty clear signal that they’re surplus to requirements,” Rau said.
He said he had had some discussions with unions about axing the role.
“I think most of them are accepting of the fact that it’s not achieving a great deal,” he said.
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“In this day and age when Government has to question every dollar it’s spending, it doesn’t seem to be an appropriate expenditure.”
InDaily understands the office of the Employee Ombudsman employs three staff in addition to the Ombudsman himself.
The Ombudsman’s salary is $143,381, but he also receives a conveyancing allowance of $15,361 and a communication allowance of $800.
According to the Act, the Ombudsman’s role includes advising employees on their rights and obligations under enterprise agreements, investigating claims of coercion in negotiations, representing employees in some proceedings, and providing advice to home-based workers not covered by awards.
In 2008-09, the Employee Ombudsman reported that the office had dealt with about 3100 requests for assistance.
The recently tabled annual report of 2013-14 estimated a decline in assistance requests to around 2000 (an IT problem led to issues in collating the data).
The last accurate data showed that 78% of requests for assistance were from private sector employment areas, outside the jurisdiction of the Employee Ombudsman.
The Budget papers show that $507,000 was allocated to the office for the 2014/15 financial year.
Rau told InDaily the functions of the office could be fulfilled by the federal Fair Work Ombudsman, industrial organisations and employer groups.
Liberal industrial relations spokesman Rob Lucas said that while most industrial relations matters were now in the federal sphere, he still wanted to be assured by the Government that workers with a genuine complaint had an alternative avenue to the Employee Ombudsman.
“We are prepared to consider the proposition, but we need to have a look at the detail of the Bill,” Lucas said.
