The MCA thanks the Albanese Government and other parties in the Senate for the timely passage of the Coal Mining Industry (Long Service Leave) Legislation Amendment Bill earlier today.
The bill makes important amendments to coal long service leave legislation to deal with the impact of historic liabilities for employers who had believed they were not covered by the coal long service leave scheme but were found to be covered as a result of recent court decisions.
The Bill will introduce repayment plans for affected employers and partial debt waivers for employers who have unexpectedly found themselves with historic liabilities following the court rulings.
Those businesses had faced a significant level of uncertainty in both calculating the size of their liabilities and being able to meet their obligations under the scheme in a workable manner.
The MCA congratulates the government for heeding the concerns of affected businesses. In particular, the MCA thanks Minister Rishworth for introducing three important amendments that will improve the operation of the legislation, and which reflected proposals put forward by employer representatives during the Senate Committee process.
Importantly, the legislation will also preserve all existing employee entitlements under the scheme and no worker will be worse off as a result.
