Mallee farmers and small business owners face turmoil thanks to Labor’s Industrial Relation Laws being rammed through Parliament.

Member for Mallee Anne Webster said the new laws around casual employment will particularly hurt agriculture.

Casuals who have worked for six months, or 12 in the case of a small business, and have had a regular pattern of shifts will be able to seek to convert to a permanent role under the new laws destined to pass after a deal with Senate crossbenchers.

“Farm work is seasonal and casual workers are important for Mallee farmers to have flexibility, particularly during harvest,” Dr Webster said.

“Under Labor’s changes a casual worker can convert to permanent at times when there may not be any work on the property, costing farmers who are getting no income in down times.

“The agriculture industry is already worried about Labor’s imminent PALM Scheme changes with the guidelines stating workers must be paid even if they were stood down due to a lack of work, these changes cast further doubt.”

Employers’ right to refuse a casual worker becoming permanent will depend on the Fair Work Commission’s interpretation of ‘fair and reasonable operational grounds’, bogging small and medium businesses in Mallee in more red tape.

“More red tape lowers productivity which in turn leads to people losing their jobs,” Dr Webster said.

Independent contractors will lose their competitive position if a court determines that in a legislatively defined ‘reality’ they are employees, forcing employers to backpay minimum wages and conditions.

Dr Webster said the new changes further drove home the fact Labor’s IR Laws were payback for their union paymasters.

“Labor is out of touch with the reality in the workplace and especially in regional Australia and are simply cashing in on power for their union masters,” Dr Webster said.