Unemployment and job creation, pay rates and the interests of small business will be included in the framework for a sweeping review of national workplace laws.
The Federal Government on Friday released its terms of reference for the Australian Productivity Commission review of the Fair Work Act.
The terms are broad enough to consider a range of arrangements including penalty rates.
Employment Minister Eric Abetz said the inquiry into the five-year-old Fair Work Act would ensure it was still meeting its objectives and "contributing to productive, rewarding, competitive and harmonious workplaces".
The terms of reference for the inquiry include job creation, the needs of small business, productivity, competitiveness, business investment, and fair and equitable conditions for employees.
He said the Productivity Commission will be asked to make recommendations about how the laws can be improved both to ensure that workers were protected and businesses could prosper.
The government would seek a mandate for any changes recommended when seeking re-election. He said it was in the national interest to ensure Fair Work laws are "balanced and effective".
"Higher living standards, better pay and more jobs all depend on having fair, productive and effective workplaces," Mr Abetz said.
Australian Council of Trade Unions Secretary, Dave Oliver, said that launching an attack on wages and conditions including holiday penalty rates, on the Friday afternoon before Christmas, was "an absolute disgrace".
"The message from Australian unions is clear: penalty rates, wages, conditions, safety and rights at work are not up for grabs," he said.
"The terms of reference revealed today put the whole workplace system on trial – pay and conditions, rights at work, collective bargaining and unfair dismissal are all on trial by the Productivity Commission.
"Union-won conditions are a fundamental pillar of the decent living standards that Australians want protected and we are not going to sit back while the Abbott Government does the bidding of big business and tries to attack them."
