Introduction
Just as 2014 was, 2015 has been rife with changes and
developments to the workplace relations landscape. It would be an
almost impossible task to comprehensively list all of the
year's relevant developments. However, we have chosen some of
them to highlight here as we say farewell to 2015 and look ahead to
all that 2016 may bring.
Fair Work Act Amendments
Possibly the most significant but certainly the most anticipated
of things to occur this year are the first amendments to the
Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) under the current Federal
Government. Those changes came into effect on 27 November 2015.
Originally proposed in February 2014 as a full package of
reforms, what has been introduced is a significant compromise on
what the Government had proposed (so as to secure the support of
the Senate crossbenchers), the result being that the changes are
limited. The changes of primary relevance pertain to:
