On Thursday 9 July 2009 the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, Julia Gillard, released the revisedImplementation Guidelines for the National Code of Practice for the Building and Construction Industry.
These Guidelines reflect the Fair Work Act 2009 (FW Act) and the commitment of the Australian Government to a fair and balanced workplace relations policy.
The Australian Government is committed to ethical tendering requirements to ensure that the Government enters into contracts with organisations that uphold the principles and behaviours expressed in the National Code of Practice for the Building and Construction Industry and the FW Act. Organisations that breach their legal obligations face preclusion from future tendering opportunities for Australian Government funded work.
The new Guidelines will apply to all projects where expressions of interest or tenders are called for on or after 1 August 2009. The current version of the Guidelines will continue to apply to all projects commenced before this date.
The ABCC is currently reviewing how the new Guidelines will impact National Code sites. Updated information will be available on the ABCC website soon.