{"id":884618,"date":"2026-09-08T16:14:13","date_gmt":"2026-09-08T16:14:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/884618\/"},"modified":"2026-09-08T16:14:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-08T16:14:13","slug":"government-moves-to-ban-non-compete-clauses-for-millions-of-workers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/884618\/","title":{"rendered":"Government moves to ban non-compete clauses for millions of workers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Millions of Australians<\/a> could gain thousands in extra pay and stronger bargaining power under new laws that will make it easier to switch jobs.<\/p>\n

The federal government<\/a> this week released draft legislation to ban non-compete clauses for workers earning less than $190,100 a year, which would cover about nine out of every 10 employees.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The Albanese Government this week released draft legislation to ban non-compete clauses for workers earning less than $190,100 a year.\u00a0Louie Douvis<\/p>\n

Research by the e61 Institute mentioned by the government suggests scrapping the clauses could lift affected workers\u2019 wages by up to four per cent<\/a>, worth about $2500 a year for a typical worker.<\/p>\n

Non-compete clauses can restrict an employee from working for a rival business or setting up a competing operation for a period after leaving a job.<\/p>\n

About one in five workers<\/a> has one in their employment agreement, according to the e61 Institute.<\/p>\n

Assistant Productivity Minister Andrew Leigh said removing them would give workers greater freedom to chase better pay and conditions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re getting rid of those for everyone earning under $190,100 \u2013 reforms that will kick in next year,\u201d he told Canberra\u2019s 2CC Radio Canberra on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The government is arguing making it easier to change employers could also help address Australia\u2019s productivity problems by allowing people to take jobs better suited to them.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrankly, we know that over the course of a career, people\u2019s biggest wage gains come not from getting wage gains from your current employer, but from shifting to a different employer,\u201d Leigh said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, you get those big personal wage gains, but you also get big productivity gains when people move to a company that\u2019s a better fit.\u201d<\/p>\n

The government says the laws \u2013 first proposed in the 2025 federal budget<\/a> \u2013 would still protect confidential information and intellectual property, while client non-solicitation clauses could remain.<\/p>\n

But employer groups have warned the plan goes too far.<\/p>\n

\"Cash<\/p>\n

Removing the clauses could give workers thousands in extra pay and stronger bargaining power.\u00a0AAP<\/p>\n

Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox warned businesses could be left in the lurch if staff with sensitive commercial information jump ship to competitors.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are many employees earning below $191,100 who are engaged in roles involving access to commercially sensitive or otherwise confidential information,\u201d Willox said.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust think about employees working in sales roles, preparing commercial tenders or privy to confidential production processes or business plans.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also said businesses could become less willing to spend money training staff if employees were then free to take those skills directly to a competitor.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis will undermine our competitive position internationally and will foreseeably hurt rather than help our already abysmal productivity levels,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The government rejects that businesses need broad non-compete clauses to retain staff, with Leigh saying employers should instead compete on what they offer workers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, I think if you want to hold on to your apprentices, you might need to make sure you\u2019re offering them good conditions and good pay,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the basic rule of thumb for any employer.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u200b<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Millions of Australians could gain thousands in extra pay and stronger bargaining power under new laws that will…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":884619,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,99],"class_list":["post-884618","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/884618","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=884618"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/884618\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/884619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=884618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=884618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=884618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}