The Victorian Labor government aims to shred freedom of association

The Associations Incorporation Reform Amendment Bill 2026 removes a central tenet of freedom of association from Victorian workers.

Godfrey Moase || Earlier this month, the Ben Carroll Victorian government introduced the Associations Incorporation Reform Amendment Bill 2026 to Parliament.

It’s ostensibly aimed at stopping workers getting ripped off by “fake” unions, meaning unions not registered under the Fair Work (Registered Organisations) Act 2009 (Cth) (“FWRO Act”).

The Bill directs the Registrar of Incorporated Associations to refuse an application for incorporation or direct an incorporated association to wind up if it has “an industrial relations purpose”. The Bill defines this broadly as “furthering, protecting or representing the industrial interests of members”.

It hands the Registrar authority to interrogate “the conduct that the body engages in”. Any association that is found to be acting in a manner that represents the industrial interests of its members faces deregistration.

Freedom of Association concerns

In constraining workers from creating new organisations with an industrial relations purpose under the Associations Incorporation Reform Act 2012 (Vic), the Bill limits every Victorian worker’s freedom of association.

Consumer Affairs Minister Tim Richardson acknowledges this human rights issue in the Bill’s Statement of Compatibility with the Victorian Human Rights Charter. Richardson told Parliament that the Bill “may limit individuals’ rights to freedom of association where an affected association is unable to access incorporation under another framework”.

The Bill does not give impacted associations a chance to incorporate under another framework like the FWRO Act.

The Bill makes an exception for organisations with an industrial relations purpose if they qualify as a “transferring association”. This means an organisation with an undetermined application to register under the FWRO Act. Such an application, however, must have been lodged before 1 July 2026.

There is no prospective window for impacted organisations to lodge their application to register under the FWRO Act.

Freedom of association includes not just workers’ rights to join a union but also establish their own unions.

Section 16(2) of the Victorian Human Rights Charter outlines that every person has “the right to form and join trade unions”. This wording expressly mirrors article 22 of the UN’s International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights. This right of every worker to form new unions ripples through international human rights law including the UN International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the ILO’s 1948 Convention concerning Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise.

Increasing the cost of judicial review

The Bill increases the costs of judicial review of the Registrar’s application of the “industrial relations purpose” test. The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) ordinarily reviews the Registrar’s decisions. Applicants contesting winding-up and registration decisions for industrial relations organisations, however, must appeal to the Supreme Court.

Minister Richardson justifies the change on the grounds that the Supreme Court is the “appropriate jurisdiction for complex issues regarding incorporated bodies”.

VCAT is accessible to property developers contesting planning decisions worth hundreds of millions of dollars involving complex environmental, infrastructure, and transport issues. Workers wanting to contest the Registrar’s determination about the industrial relations purpose test must, however, lodge a Supreme Court application.

The other framework

The Bill directs industrial relations organisations to seek incorporation under the FWRO Act. Minister Richardson admits, however, in his human rights impact statement that some groups “may not meet the strict eligibility requirements under that framework”.

Neither the FWRO Act nor the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (“FW Act”) defines a trade union. It establishes a system of registration with organisational privileges and responsibilities.

Under the FWRO and FW Acts, employee organisations can be registered or unregistered. Unions seeking registration are presumed to have an office, rules and members. That capacity is, in part, underpinned by incorporation as an association.

It’s an already existing organisation which applies for registration.

The Fair Work Commission places a high bar on workers registering new unions to participate in its processes. In any application, the Commission considers whether there is already an existing registered organisation that “members could more conveniently belong to” and “more effectively represent the members”.

The result of this test is that a union such as the Retail and Fast Food Workers Union (“RAFFWU”) remains unregistered under the FWRO Act due to its overlapping membership with the ALP-affiliated SDA. This is despite RAFFWU’s over 3000 members in the retail and fast food industries. RAFFWU also has a near ten-year record of bargaining, running industrial action, initiating wage theft actions, and successfully challenging the legality of enterprise agreements.

RAFFWU has been able to do this because the FW Act largely treats representation in workplace bargaining and disputes as an individual right of workers. This runs directly counter to the Victorian Labor government’s stated rationale for the Bill that workers may not be receiving “genuine lawful representation in workplace disputes” from groups such as RAFFWU.

If the Bill passes the Victorian government would likely wind up RAFFWU.

Premier Ben Carroll is a member of the SDA.

The Bill is due to be debated in Victorian Parliament on Wednesday 26 August 2026.