Closing Loopholes Acts 2023 and 2024 – overview and effective dates of changes.

We thought it timely to provide a refresher by way of topic summary, the changes, and the effective date of those changes to the Fair Work Act.  This is supported by a table below which summarises the date of effect of changes since 15 December 2023 and up to 26 February 2025.

Overview

Closing Loopholes Act 2023[1] – received Royal Assent on 14 December 2023. It introduced or made changes to:

• the small business redundancy exemption
• the regulated labour hire arrangement jurisdiction (see our legal alert here)
• workplace delegates’ rights
• protections for those subject to family and domestic violence
• compulsory conciliation conferences in protected action ballot order matters
• right of entry – where assisting health and safety representatives
• the intentional wage theft offence
• an industrial manslaughter offence (amendments to the Work, Health and Safety Act 2011 (Cth))
• amendments to the Asbestos Safety and Eradication Agency Act 2013
• amendments to the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988

Closing Loopholes No. 2 Act 2024[2] – received Royal Assent on 26 February 2024. It introduced or made changes to:

• casual employment (definition and casual conversions)
• the definition of ‘employee’ and ‘employer’ – impacting the classification of employment and contractor relationships
• intractable bargaining provisions
• enterprise bargaining provisions relating to multi-enterprise agreements and franchisees
• the Fair Work Commission’s process for making model terms for enterprise agreements
• the Fair Work Commission’s powers relating to ’employee-like’ workers performing digital platform work in the gig economy
• powers to support the regulation of the road transport industry
• powers to register collective agreements relating to regulated workers
• a right to disconnect (see our legal alert here)
• an ‘unfair contracts’ dispute resolution function for independent contractors (who earn below a high-income threshold, being an amount that is yet to be advised)
• workplace delegates’ rights for ‘regulated workers’
• enhanced ability for entry permit holders to enter a workplace to investigate suspected underpayment of wages

Summary timeline of changes at April 2024 – note that some of these changes have already taken effect.

[1] Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Closing Loopholes) Act 2023.
[2] Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Closing Loopholes No. 2) Act 2024.