The Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety has established a specialist employment conditions audit and compliance unit to monitor and audit the conformity of Government suppliers and ensure they meet their employment obligations.
The Department’s Supplier Wage Audit Branch is to focus on contracts for services, subject to the Procurement Act 2020, that target high-risk industries such as cleaning and security, among others.
In a statement, the Department said clauses had been added to goods, services and community services procurement templates to enable auditing and permit referrals in instances of non-compliance to the appropriate regulating authority.
Minister for Industrial Relations, Bill Johnston said the establishment of the unit represented another step towards combating wage theft and was an important part of the Government’s overall public sector reform election commitments.
Mr Johnston was supported by Minister for Finance, Tony Buti who said strengthening goods, services, community services and works procurement with these clauses was an important strategy for combating wage theft, particularly in high-risk industries.
“The changes to whole-of-Government procurement templates help to ensure that Government suppliers comply with employment and industrial relations obligations for their employees,” Mr Buti said.
Guidance is available on the Department of Finance website at this PS News link.
