Ashurst partner Peter McNulty says HR leaders must plan bargaining early as Fair Work Commission test cases reshape the rules
The independent review of Australia's Closing Loopholes reforms landed on the desk of Employment and Workplace Relations Minister Amanda Rishworth on 15 June 2026, confirming what many industrial relations practitioners have argued for months: the legislative changes themselves have largely settled, but how they play out in the Fair Work Commission and the courts is now the real battleground for employers.
That is the assessment of Peter McNulty, a partner in Ashurst's employment team, who spoke to HRD Australia ahead of his session at the Employment Law Masterclass Australia 2026, an online event running on 19 August.
McNulty's session, "The 2026 IR Playbook: Winning Strategies for the New Bargaining Landscape," will unpack how employers should be negotiating enterprise agreements under a framework that has moved from theory into lived practice.
"There have been huge changes over the last three or four years with various iterations of legislative changes to the Fair Work Act," McNulty said.
"I think it's fair to say now that the legislative changes have slowed, but now the implementation of those changes and what they mean in practice for HR and IR practitioners is really sort of starting to play out in a real way."
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