Senator the Hon Mathias Cormann

The Government is seeking public comment on its consultation paper on reforms to stop corporate misuse of the Fair Entitlements Guarantee (FEG) scheme.

The FEG is scheme of last resort funded by taxpayers that provides payment of employee entitlements following the insolvency of their employer.

The Government is seeking views on a range of options to reform the law to ensure businesses cannot exploit the federally-funded scheme and avoid their responsibilities to their employees.

Corporate misuse of the FEG scheme means liabilities that can and should be met by businesses are effectively being passed on to the taxpayer, which is unacceptable.

Options outlined in the paper include reforming the law to prevent abuse of corporate group structures designed to avoid employee entitlements in the event of insolvency.

A series of roundtable sessions will be held in Sydney and Melbourne in late May and early June 2017 to discuss the proposed reforms. To register send your details, including the organisation you represent, to ImprovingFEG@employment.gov.au.

Submissions on the consultation paper (http://employment.gov.au/FEGReforms) are sought by 16 June 2017.