Treasury Laws Amendment (2020 Measures No. 2) Bill 2020

The majority voted in favour of an amendment to the usual second reading motion, which means it succeeded. It was introduced by Tasmanian Senator Peter Whish-Wilson (Greens). Motions like these don't make any legal changes but are politically influential because they represent the will of the Senate.

Motion text

At the end of the motion, add:

", but the Senate:

(a) notes that:

(i) the JobKeeper scheme requires that employers that have decided to participate must ensure that all eligible employees are nominated for the scheme,

(ii) the decision about employee eligibility is entirely at the discretion of employers, and

(iii) there is currently no avenue for employees to dispute decisions made by their employer to include some, but not all, employees in the scheme; and

(b) calls on the Government to give the Fair Work Commission the power to deal with disputes about whether a worker of an employer participating the JobKeeper scheme is eligible for the JobKeeper payment".