Home | Member Updates | AHEIA further submission to Review of the Closing Loopholes Acts
The Closing Loopholes Review examines the Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Closing Loopholes) Act 2023and theClosing Loopholes No. 2 Act 2024, alongside theFair Work Amendment (Paid Family and Domestic Violence Leave) Act 2022. The review was initiated to evaluate whether these amendments are functioning as intended, identify any unintended consequences, and consider if further legislative changes are necessary to improve workplace relations in Australia. Ms Susan Booth was appointed to conduct the review, which commenced on 15 December 2025, with a final report due by 15 June 2026.
AHEIA has lodged a further submission in response to the Draft Report of the Closing Loopholes Review (see below).
AHEIA submission builds on our earlier Closing Loopholes Review submission, our submission to the Senate Inquiry into the wage theft provisions and our Productivity Inquiry submission. Together, these submissions advance a consistent position on bargaining reform, workforce flexibility, enterprise agreement and IR complexity, sustainability, job security and productivity.
The Draft Report acknowledges several issues AHEIA has consistently raised with government. Our further submission focuses on where those issues have been recognised, but not meaningfully addressed, and where further reform remains necessary.
The submission responds principally to:
- Recommendation 3 – Tripartite Committee
- Recommendation 7 – Casual Employment
- Recommendation 23 – Enterprise Agreement Model Terms
- Recommendations 25–30 – Wage Theft and Compliance
Section 270A and intractable bargaining
The Draft Report acknowledges concerns raised by AHEIA regarding section 270A and its impact on enterprise bargaining.
However, rather than addressing section 270A itself, the Draft Report proposes additional procedural steps leading up to intractable bargaining and arbitration of mandatory clauses.
AHEIA's position remains unchanged. The issue is not a lack of good faith bargaining protections. The issue is that section 270A distorts genuine bargaining by discouraging compromise, entrenching legacy agreement provisions and makes productivity-focused bargaining and needed reform less likely.
Casual employment – Recommendation 7
The Reviewer does not accept AHEIA’s recommendation to repeal section 15A(4). The Reviewer also rejects an NTEU recommendation to remove reasonable business grounds that give Universities the right to reject casual conversions where substantial changes to an individual’s employment would be required to comply with sector EA workload allocation models.
We continue to maintain that the provision is producing unintended consequences for individual sessional academics, workforce planning and flexibility in teaching across the sector.
The Draft Report does, however, recognise that existing enterprise agreement structures can create barriers to casual conversion and recommends universities review and modernise relevant employment provisions with respect to teaching only and fixed term settings. That acknowledgement aligns with positions AHEIA has consistently taken regarding the need to modernise employment frameworks if more secure employment pathways are to be achieved.
Wage theft and compliance
The Draft Report places considerable emphasis on guidance, compliance tools and implementation support.
AHEIA continues to support criminal sanctions for deliberate and dishonest underpayment. However, universities' compliance challenges are fundamentally different. They arise from inadvertent error, contested interpretation and the administration of highly complex enterprise agreements, not criminal conduct.
Our submission argues that lasting improvement will come not only from better guidance, but from addressing the underlying sources of complexity and ambiguity that continue to create compliance risk across the sector.
Tripartite engagement
AHEIA supports the proposed tripartite forum but has recommended a broader mandate. In our view, the forum should focus not only on emerging workplace relations issues relating to closing loopholes but also on enterprise agreement complexity, compliance risks, productivity barriers and opportunities for meaningful workplace relations reform.
Next steps
The final review report will go to the Minister on 14 June 2026 and AHEIA will continue to actively engage Canberra in this policy space and to consult with and update members. Member feedback and practical examples have been invaluable to our advocacy.
The submissions mentioned and the Draft Report are set out below.