Around the Nation

Victorian news

Do the right thing: Wage theft is a crime

Intentional underpayment of wages by employers will become a criminal offence under new laws introduced to the Fair Work Act.

The amendment to the Act, Closing Loopholes, limits the presumption of innocence by imposing absolute liability for certain offences, which could result in a maximum penalty of 10 years’ imprisonment and/or fines of up to $7.8M.

Under the new law, the prosecution will have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant intended that their conduct would result in a failure to pay the required amount to, on behalf of, or for the benefit of, the employee in full on or before the day when the required amount is due for payment.

Master Plumbers Senior Workplace Relations Advisor Phil Eberhard said: “These fault elements should ensure that only serious conduct involving underpayments is caught by the offence provision, which justifies the corresponding sanctions.”

“Honest mistakes or miscalculations should not be caught by the wage theft offence.”

A small business, with 15 or less employees, found to have underpaid staff, may not be criminally prosecuted, if they comply with the Voluntary Small Business Wage Compliance Code that the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations is currently developing.

The Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO), responsible for investigating underpayments, will refer matters to the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions or the Australian Federal Police for prosecution under the new law.

These changes will commence on 1 January 2025 (or the day after the Code is first declared by the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations).

For more information on the new law or on any IR matters, call Phil on (03) 9321 0720 or email [email protected]

Heat pump acceleration

Master Plumbers, on behalf of its members, has thrown its support behind the new Roadmap for Heat Pump and Hot Water Systems in Australia.

Master Plumbers CEO Peter Daly said the roadmap was fundamental to ensure all leading industry associations could unite and work toward net zero in a practical way.

“We know domestic hot water use is responsible for about a quarter of household energy use in Australia,” Peter said. “This is about one fifth of our homes’ greenhouse gas emissions. Heat pump hot water systems are a critical technology to help Australia achieve net zero and as an industry, I am proud we have come together to agree on a roadmap that will work to reduce emissions and drive down energy bills for households.”

As a signatory to the roadmap, Master Plumbers along with 28 other industry leaders from across the country and supported by the NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water and Solar Victoria within the Victorian Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action, have collaborated on a set of principles and recommendations
to transform the hot water market in Australia.

Congratulating the industry bodies, Energy Efficiency Council CEO, Luke Menzel said the roadmap created meaningful industry commitment to actions that will support the scale-up of the Heat
pump hot water systems (HPHWS) market. Importantly, he said, the roadmap allows this to happen over time, “as Australia builds more capacity during this critical decade for action to reduce emissions”.

“Heat pump hot water systems will be an important feature in the smart energy homes of the future,” Solar Victoria CEO Stan Krpan said. “The prosperity of this growing industry requires leadership, so we are pleased to support the industry in its shared commitment to collaborate and work in partnership with government, so we can continue to meet the interests of consumers.”

Next gen awards

Matthew Hrkac (pictured below) and Lara Smyth (below, right) are just two of the 20 apprentice plumbers to receive a $3,000 grant as part of the Rheem Apprentice Plumber Grants. Rheem also awarded five individuals an extra $1,000 Recognition Award, bringing the total value of grants to $65,000. The judging panel, who reviewed more than 1000 apprentice applications from every state and territory, saw greater gender and age representation this year.

In a significant step forward, 30 per cent of this year’s grant beneficiaries are women, a 50 per cent increase on 2023, and half of this year’s recipients are mature age (over 21).

Rheem Australia’s John Collignon said: “This year’s participants reflect a new wave of plumbers entering the industry, showing great tenacity and diverse thinking. When combined with their strong work ethic and focus on self-growth we know they will have a lasting impact on our sector.”

Tasmanian news

President’s report

Kicking off the Spring season has seen Master Plumbers Association Tasmania join the High Vis Army Project to work on initiatives, over three years, alongside our partners NECA, HIA, Master Builders Tasmania, Civil Contractors Federation, Keystone Tasmania and the State Government.

These initiatives will include the employment of an Industry Engagement Officer (IEO) to support increasing workforce awareness and the attraction and retention of participants in the Tasmanian plumbing industry. Further, we will be launching an Industry Expert Pilot Program to attract our industry’s experts into the TasTAFE framework to provide expert learning experiences to our future tradespeople. We have a lot of work to do but we are prepared and committed to the High Vis Army project and we congratulate the State Government for the inclusion of the plumbing and electrical trades.

On a regulatory level, we are pleased to support the regulators’ introduction of the Occupational Licensing (Administrator’s Assessments - Plumbing) Determination 2024. (Go to www.cbos.tas.au and search Occupational Licensing Administrators Assessment Plumbing Determination 2024) This Determination endorses the Administrator’s discretionary power to request an additional assessment to verify the competence of a person making an application for any class of plumbing licence. This is extremely important given the ease of obtaining qualifications in some instances via RPL and online providers, which undermines the true learning and competency model.

Our regulator, the Consumer, Building and Occupational Services, has also introduced a new licence class available for Hydraulic Services Designers. More information on the scope of work and minimum qualification requirements for this class can be found. (Go to www.cbos.tas.au and search Occupational Licensing Building Services Work Determination V-2.2)

Lastly, an incredibly special congratulations to our member, Overeem Gas & Plumbing, who won the 2024 Kingborough Business Award for Manufacturing, Construction, Export & Trades Services. Michael and Andrea Overeem (pictured) run a strong business and are heavily involved in our Association. This is well-deserved recognition of your work and commitment to our industry.

Anthony Balik

Application Service coming soon

Since its launch in February 2022, PlanBuild Tasmania Enquiry Services has garnered significant attention and received over 110,000 enquiries via the portal. PlanBuild Tasmania is now ready to roll out the next phase - Application Services.

Within council areas that have adopted Application Services for the lodgement of Planning, Building, Plumbing, and related Environmental Health applications, building professionals will soon be able to submit applications and forms (such as Start Work Notifications), track form status, and interact with relevant authorities via PlanBuild Tasmania’s Application Services portal.

City of Hobart, TasWater, and Heritage Tasmania will be the first to adopt the solution on 12 August 2024. The timing and extent of adoption will depend on individual councils’ readiness and needs.

Tailored eLearning courses are available for Plumbers, with Continuing Professional Development (CPD) points offered to professionals who complete the relevant eLearning courses.

For more information, visit www.planbuild.tas.gov.au

Know your staff

There is nothing is as important to Paul Francis, Managing Director of Hobart’s Aqua Line Plumbing and Gas, than his staff, Kathryn Kernohan finds out why he puts his people first.

“At the end of the day, without our staff we wouldn’t have business,”

Paul Francis says. “We treat everyone as family and work hard to create a good environment for everyone so you can have a laugh and enjoy yourself at work, but also get the work done.”

It’s that philosophy that has served Aqua Line well for the past 20 years - with the business celebrating the milestone throughout 2024.

“We’re looking forward to taking all of our staff, their partners and family members out on a cruise later in the year when the weather gets a bit better, to celebrate the 20-year anniversary,” he says.

For Paul and his wife Emma, who began the business together in 2004, the past two decades have been “a pretty good ride.”

“I’ve been a plumber since I was 16,” Gary explains “I started my apprenticeship with my dad, Gary, and the company he was working for at the time, before moving to a larger commercial plumbing business doing a few of the bigger projects around the place,” he says.

“When I was around 29 or 30, I started thinking about going out by myself. I took some long service leave. Emma and I went to Bali to have a bit of a rest and when we got back. I took the plunge.”

The couple were living in the Huon Valley, around 40-minutes’ drive from Hobart, and Paul began working on new home builds and picking up local maintenance work.

“I started to get busier and busier, and put on an apprentice. I always had in the back of my mind that I wanted to get back into commercial work because that’s where I cut my teeth, and I always enjoyed it.

We started doing a few smaller commercial jobs and I put on some full-time employees, and then we started to grow quickly from there.”

Along the way Paul and Emma had two sons, Daniel and Luca, and moved the business twice, eventually settling in Huntingfield where they had a 300sqm workshop.

“We still do domestic work, like new homes, renos and maintenance, but we’ve branched off into mainly commercial-type work ranging from renovations in schools and apartments to hospitals, dental clinics and doing maintenance for retirement villages and fish farming companies,” he says.

“In the last five or six years we’ve had some pretty big projects in Hobart, like the Vibe Hotel and the University of Tasmania’s performing arts centre, the Hedberg. At those points we had about 18 staff. We’ve scaled that back a little bit now; we’re at 11 or 12 guys.

“Over the last 18 months, we’ve also started to do some work for TasWater. Initially, we were doing some flow meters for them and now we’re doing some domestic water rollouts, which has been really good. It’s another type of work we can have on our books rather than just being stigmatised to one area of work.”

As Managing Director, Paul’s role is mainly office-based, but he still enjoys getting back on the tools where he can.

“Sometimes I’ll jump on the excavator or do a bit of labouring and give the boys a hand if we’re getting a bit busy. I enjoy it, but I find that I get behind in the office, so it’s a balancing act,” he says.

“Emma gives me a hand, picking things up or running around helping out. We also have Sheree who’s been with us for 10 years in the office, doing everything from pay runs and invoicing to a bit of project management. It’s a great team and we all work together really well.

Some of our other staff have been with us for a fair while now, it’s Sean’s 15th year with the company this year.

Even Paul’s Dad still lends a hand: “Dad is retired now but he’ll come around to the workshop now and then, helping to sweep things up and talking to the boys, which is always nice.”

Reflecting on almost 35 years of experience in the industry, Paul says there have been significant changes over the past decade, including a continued shift towards green plumbing.

“There’s a push for water saving tools and on the commercial side we install solar and heat pump hot water systems these days. Across the board, tapware and fixtures are a lot more complex and modern now, and materials have changed a bit especially over the last 10 to 12 years, with copper press fittings and PEX pipes.”

At the end of the day, the one constant was the importance of relationships, amongst the team and with clients.

“A fair few projects come about through relationships, where we might have done a job previously and now the clients want an extension, and because we’ve been there previously and hopefully did a good job the client or builder will get us back.

“Like I always say to my guys, as long as we do things and do them right, we will get repeat work.”