The main piece of law in the Federal Government's new Fair Work regime—the Fair Work Act—was made law in April this year. Most of the Act will start on a date to be proclaimed, but this is widely expected to be the start of July this year.

In the meantime, parts of the Act have been proclaimed and started on 26 May 2009. The parts that have now come into effect are mostly administrative and relate to the objects and definitions of the act, as well as establishing the new bodies Fair Work Australia and the Fair Work Ombudsman.

The government has previously said it is committed to starting the entire Fair Work system at the start of 2010. AFEI will continue to provide you with updates on this legislation.

For more information see the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth).