Another aspect of Labor’s policy is closer to being implemented, with the introduction of the Higher Education Support Amendment (Removal of Higher Education Workplace Relations Requirements and National Governance Protocols Requirements and Other Matters) Bill 2008 (the Higher Education Bill). This Bill effectively provides that university funding will no longer be tied to universities offering Australian Workplace Agreements (AWA’s) to their employees.

The Higher Education Bill repeals section 33.17 of the Higher Education Support Act 2003. This provision places an obligation on higher education providers, to meet both the Higher Education Workplace Relations Requirements (HEWRR’s) and the National Governance Protocols, in order to receive increased levels of funding by way of Commonwealth Grant Scheme funds. Under these requirements, universities had to provide:

• choice in agreement making, including offering AWAs;
• direct relationships with employees, with third parties involved only at the employee’s request;
• workplace flexibility tailored to the needs of the employer and employee and extending to barring employment instruments from limiting the “forms and mix of employment arrangements;”
• productivity and performance, including fair and transparent performance management schemes
that rewarded high performers; and
• freedom of association, including neither discouraging or encouraging union membership, and barring
using Commonwealth grants to pay salaries of union employees or to support union facilities.

Failure to meet the HEWRRs and the Protocols under section 33.17, would result in a reduction of a higher education provider’s Commonwealth Grant Scheme funding. The Higher Education Bill removes this condition, leaving a higher education provider open to offering agreements and employment conditions without being subject to the requirements of the HEWRR’s and the National Governance Protocols.

This essentially means that higher education providers will be subject to the same laws as all other employers and will be able to manage their own industrial relations within those laws.