Penalty rates, the minimum wage and the workplace flexibility of 11.5 million Australian workers will come under the microscope in a sweeping review of the industrial relations system.
In an interview to mark the launch of five issues papers that set out the key areas the inquiry will put under the microscope, Productivity Commission chief Peter Harris has promised the review of Australia's workplace laws will "bust myths" in the broadest review of IR laws in a generation.
The long-awaited review of Australia's workplace laws will examine the effect of the minimum wage on employment, how penalty rates are set and what economic effect the loadings have on business and employees.
The issues papers were accidentally published online on Thursday.
The review was meant to be published on the Commission's website at midnight but went live on the homepage on Thursday morning and was seized on by at least two Labor MPs who tweeted a link to it and broke the embargo.
Enterprise bargaining, individual agreements between employers and employees, unfair dismissal, anti-bullying laws and public sector employment issues will all be examined too.
The release of the papers re-ignited political debate about workplace reform, with Employment Minister Eric Abetz pledging to Fairfax Media the government would not attempt to legislate any of the commission's recommendations before the next election.
"The only people who have anything to fear from this inquiry are those who know deep in their hearts that they don't have robust evidence to put before the commission," he said.
"This is a review that we are not committed to accepting and if we do accept them [recommendations], they will be in our policies in the 2016 election."
Senator Abetz said the government would not alter the "basic fundamentals" of the IR system, such as an independent umpire setting the minimum wage and penalty rates.
Mr Harris stressed the "human dimension" of the labour market would be considered by the economically dry commission and that "no nation aspires to be a low-wage economy. This is not a review aimed at cutting wages or removing conditions."
"When we look at the minimum wage for example, we won't be looking at the minimum wage in isolation, we will be asking questions ... whether or not there is an impact from the minimum wage on employment - we will try and prove up that, or determine if it is a myth."
Mr Harris predicted lots of submissions from employer groups calling for more flexibility but that "we'll be considering this from the perspective that almost all of us have a stake in this system, those of us aged between 15 and 64, roughly speaking, either want to participate in the system and are training to do so or are participating in the system."
The review, a pre-election promise from Prime Minister Tony Abbott, is launched against a backdrop of a push from the backbench and business groups for cuts to penalty rates and greater workplace "flexibility".
The paper states that the inquiry is not "intended to maximise the benefits to any particular group" and that the commission will consider the social and economic aspects of the workplace system.
The paper notes Australia has a high minimum wage rate relative to median earnings when compared to other OECD countries – though this is declining. The current minimum wage in Australia is about $33,000 a year, or $16.87 an hour.
On penalty rates, the paper notes that "there are polarised views about the appropriateness of weekend penalty rates in some sectors".
Submissions are invited on how penalty rates are determined, what changes could be made to the system and on whether wages would fall if penalty rates were deregulated.
The situation in the UK, New Zealand and the US, where penalty rates are generally not required on the weekend, are also to be taken into account by the review.
Labor employment spokesman Brendan O'Connor said that WorkChoices was "merely sedated, not cremated as the Prime Minister had promised. Well, the sedative has worn off".
"The last 'review' that examined workplace laws was the Abbott government's Commission of Audit and that recommended a reduction of the minimum wage by 1 per cent a year for a decade in real terms."
However, Senator Abetz pointed out the Coalition had rejected that recommendation.
ACTU President Ged Kearney said the review was a tool for the government to pursue its "obsession" with penalty rates and individual contracts.
But the Business Council's Jennifer Westacott welcomed the review as a chance to "rethink how we work and how we stay competitive to succeed in a global economy".
