The Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Public Service has outlined the new policy for conducting enterprise bargaining in the Australian Public Service.

The update replaces the Australian Public Service Bargaining Framework and the Australian Government Employment Bargaining Framework, and has been announced amid the re-negotiations of many such agreements.

Senator Eric Abetz launched the new laws this week, saying the policy applies to all Australian Public Service (APS) Agencies and non-APS Agencies, Government Business Enterprises and staff employed by the Parliamentary Departments and under the Members of Parliament (Staff) Act 1984.

The Australian Defence Force is not covered by the policy.

The previous Labor Government's effort to introduce APS-wide bargaining now appears to have been buried.

According to the new policy, Agency heads hold responsibility for dealing with workplace relations matters within their Agency.

This includes enterprise bargaining, which must be undertaken with regard to relevant legislation, the new policy and existing Government policies.

The bargaining policy says terms and conditions of employment for non-Senior Executive Service employees must now be clearly detailed in enterprise agreements at the APS Agency level. It also says enterprise agreements’ durations must at least three years.

The policy says in terms of affordability, improvements in pay or conditions must be funded from within existing budgets, not by the redirection of any program funding.

It says remuneration increases should be applied prospectively, and not backdated.

It also said in order to fully realise the potential benefits of the new scheme, it would apply to all Commonwealth Agencies. This means Agencies are expected not to seek changes to paid parental leave entitlements, pending commencement of the new scheme.

The Australian Public Service Commissioner must sign off on any proposed remuneration increase, signalling they are satisfied it is affordable and comes with genuine productivity gains.

Affordability is the key, as the new policy includes a number of stipulations to keep increases in check.

Agency heads must determine the affordability of any remuneration increase, in consultation with the Secretary of the Department of Finance, before making such an offer. The affordability will be judged against any future budget allocations as well.

The new policy also states that the relevant Ministers' approval must be received before any agreements are put to a vote of employees.

More details of the new bargaining framework are accessible here.