Australia’s labour government announced that as part of its next set of workplace reforms, it will ensure that eligible casual workers who want to become permanent workers can do so.

As part of the reforms, the government said it would legislate a fair, objective definition to determine when an employee can be classified as casual.

Tony Burke, minister for employment and workplace relations and minister for the arts said, “There will be a new pathway for eligible workers to seek permanency, should they wish to do so. This will help more than 850,000 casual workers who have regular work arrangements, giving them greater access to leave entitlements and more financial security if desired.”

Burke added that the conversion will be effective from the date it occurs, without involving backpay. Furthermore, he said no one will be forced to convert from casual to permanent if they don't want to.

The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) has been calling for a ‘common sense’ definition of casual work arguing the current law diminishes the rights of workers.

"It allows the employer to write whatever they want in a contract and so even if you've got regular hours every single day, week in week out, they can say you're a casual," ACTU secretary Sally McManus told ABC News Australia.

Burke continued, “We are keeping much of the existing framework that unions and business groups agree should not change, including existing processes to offer eligible employees permanent work after 12 months. This delivers on our election commitment, ensuring that where a worker’s pattern of work is no longer casual, they have the choice to move to permanent employment and gain the benefits of secure employment.
“This forms part of a broader set of reforms to be introduced into Parliament later this year aimed at closing loopholes that undermine wages and conditions,” he added.

“Many casuals won't want a permanent job. If you're a student or just working a casual job to make some extra money, this change won’t matter to you,”Burke said. “But there are casual workers who are trying to support households.”

“They're being used as though they're permanent workers and the employer is double dipping - taking all the advantages of a reliable workforce and not providing any of the job security in return. That loophole needs to close,” Burke said.

Meanwhile, The Australian (paywall) reports that with employers sceptical about changes around casual workers, the labour government remains at odds with business groups over its second wave of workplace reforms, which Burke said was aimed at closing loopholes.

These reforms include the ‘same job, same pay’ rules to crack down on the use of labour-hire firms, pushing for more protection for gig-economy workers, and criminalising wage theft.

Burke dismissed concerns that the same job, same pay’ rules would mean workers with more experience would get the same pay as greener employees. He said he had told employer groups ‘privately and publicly’ that this was never a part of the proposed changes.

Minerals Council of Australia chief executive Tania Constable said the changes had nothing to do with closing loopholes. “It is a policy that will smother every sector of the economy and prevent workers being paid according to their skills and experience,” she said.

The Guardian reports that Burke claimed there would be ‘zero cost to the economy’ because casual workers would swap extra loading for leave entitlements as permanent employees.

“There’ll be some people where security is their top priority,” Burke said. “We’ve got more people now working multiple jobs than we’ve had at any other time in Australia’s history, and we want those people who really need job security to have a pathway to be able to get it.”

The changes are part of a broader set of reforms to be introduced into parliament later this year, expected after September.