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Views towards changes to industrial relations laws and casual workers

15 Dec 2020

Q. According to the Fair Work Commission, “A casual employee does not have a firm commitment in advance from an employer about how long they will be employed for, or the days (or hours) they will work. A casual employee also does not commit to all work an employer might offer. For example, an employee who works to a roster that could change each week and can refuse or swap shifts is casual.”

Which of the following is closer to your view?

  Total Gender Age Group Federal Voting Intention
  Male Female 18-34 35-54 55+ Labor TOTAL: Coalition Greens TOTAL: Other
The law should be changed now to make it easier for casual workers to become permanent employees if they want to, so they have greater certainty in their lives 57% 56% 59% 52% 57% 62% 59% 56% 55% 67%
Now is not the right time to make changes to the rules for casual workers, because economic uncertainty means there needs to be as much flexibility in the workplace as possible 43% 44% 41% 48% 43% 38% 41% 44% 45% 33%
Base (n) 1,071 539 532 339 374 358 356 406 102 107
  • Views are split on whether this is the right time to change the industrial relations laws regarding casual workers. While the majority think the laws should be changed (57%), there is a sizeable minority (43%) who believe now is not the right time to make these changes.
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