Inquiry into the impact that combining work and care responsibilities has on the wellbeing of workers, carers, and those they care for.

We understand the focus on work and care to apply to both the intersection of workplace laws with informal caring responsibilities, but also the intersection of the workplace laws with employment in the care sector. Indeed, there is considerable overlap between these issues, as formal employment in the care sector is often designed so that it is one of a limited number of options available to those with informal caring responsibilities.

In this submission we address some of the issues that carers face in balancing work and employment. An area that we believe needs urgent and thoughtful reform is the effect that the IR system has on working conditions for carers juggling paid and unpaid work. We have applied a gender lens to our analysis, and as such the entire submission should be read as addressing gendered differences in experience and in potential responses and the experience of informal carers(ToR (g)and (h)).

With this focus in mind, in NFAW’s view a three-part approach to reform of the industrial relations system is needed, and is set out in our response to ToR (c ) and (e ):

• •First, tighten the safety net. A raft of amendments is required to rebalance the Fair Work Act, which has been deliberately skewed to favour employers at the expense of employees generally and of women in particular. Many of these amendments are part of Labor’s pre-election commitments and should be legislated quickly.
• Second, prevent employers from moving employment outside the safety net through arms-length arrangements such as gig work and sham contracting. Again, Labor has pre-election commitments to making the relevant amendments, which should be legislated as soon as possible.
• Third, make the safety net gender neutral. In the longer term, Government should examine the scope to re-design the industrial relations system so that it no longer reflects the gendered assumption that a 38-hour week is ‘normal’ and ‘full-time’, and that all shorter hours employment is a deviation from that norm and so subject to inferior employment protections, conditions, training and career paths.

Other barriers faced by women juggling work and care are addressed in our comments in relation to ToR (d) and (f). We have not made comment on the specific experience of regional and First Nations carers, or the experience of the disabled and their carers(ToR (g) to (i)).