EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
(Issued by the authority of the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations)
Independent Contractors Act 2006
Proclamation
The Independent Contractors Act 2006 (the Act) recognises and protects the unique position of independent contractors in the Australian workplace. The Act enshrines the freedom of independent contractors to enter into arrangements that are primarily commercial relationships, free from prescriptive workplace relations regulation.
Item 2 of the table in subsection 2(1) of the Act provides that sections 3 to 43 will commence on a single day to be fixed by Proclamation. However, if those provisions have not commenced within the period of six months beginning on the day the Act receives Royal Assent, they will commence on the first day after the end of that period. The Act received Royal Assent on
11 December 2006.
The Act:
- excludes the operation certain State and Territory laws which seek to limit the ability of genuine independent contractors to enter into commercial agreements or which seek to draw independent contractors into the net of workplace relations regulation;
- provides a fairer and more accessible national services contract review mechanism for independent contractors;
- retains existing State and federal protections relating to outworkers;
- retains existing State protections for owner-drivers in New South Wales and Victoria; and
- provides a transitional scheme for workers deemed by State or Territory laws to be employees.
This Proclamation fixes 1 March 2007 as the day on which sections 3 to 43 of the Act, the operative provisions, commence.