The business sector is not happy with the government’s plan for unions to oversee a workplace watchdog. 

The Business Council of Australia (BCA) has warned the Albanese government that a proposed overhaul of the national labour hire licensing scheme would expose sensitive and confidential business and financial information, give rise to claims of bias, and undermine public confidence. 

The BCA's warning comes in response to a consultation paper from the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations that has yet to be made public. 

The proposed changes would see union officials “oversee” the independent Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) and create a new “oversight board” composed of government, employers, and unions. 

In a formal submission published over the weekend, the BCA argued that the national scheme would impose a “cumbersome and complex” new system for casual employees and labour hire firms that would be “impossible for business to work with” and “risk sapping” jobs and economic growth. 

The BCA warned that if a “tripartite board” were permitted to have oversight of the FWO, it would compromise the ombudsman's independence, expose the FWO to allegations of bias and partisan behaviour, damage public confidence, and create privacy and confidentiality concerns for thousands of businesses and individuals.

The BCA, whose members include BHP, Qantas, and Wesfarmers, is likely to be among those most affected by the government's second tranche of workplace reforms, as its members are high users of labour hire in mining and aviation, and casuals in retail. 

The government's proposed reforms include minimum rates for gig workers and jail time for wage underpayments.

Business Council Chief Executive Jennifer Westacott said that a fit-for-purpose scheme for the licensing of labour hire businesses should be targeted to address real problems and provide specific solutions, such as those identified by the Migrant Workers' Taskforce Report. 

“Before jumping to cumbersome, complex and technical policy change, we need absolute clarity about the problems we're trying to solve,” she said. 

“The path to unnecessary complexity that leaves everyone worse off starts with overreach that goes beyond the identified problems.”

Australian Council of Trade Unions Secretary Sally McManus has been highly critical of the BCA's response on the issue. 

“When big business profits are skyrocketing and workers' wages are going backwards because business has worked out how to game the system to cut wages and job security – Australia has a problem,” she said. 

“But for the BCA; ‘There is nothing to see here’.”