Tick-tock - deadline for building code compliance brought forward

Two months on from the commencement of the Code for the Tendering and Performance of Building Work 2016, the Senate has passed legislation to reduce the two-year transition period for enterprise agreement content rules.

Under the Building and Construction Industry (Improving Productivity) Amendment Bill 2017 (Cth), contractors wanting to undertake Commonwealth-funded building work now only have until 31 August 2017 to ensure their enterprise agreements are code-compliant. This brings the original deadline of 28 November 2018 forward by more than a year. Building contractors will have to decide sooner about whether to vary their enterprise agreements or to have these agreements terminated, opening the way for protected industrial action during bargaining for new or varied agreements.