"The militant, hard line unions have lost and entrepreneurship, small business, and a flexible family friendly workforce have won. Independent contractors in the ICT industry are free from state and commonwealth legislative interference and protected in common law," Lacy said adding that SkillsMatch data shows 76 percent of all placements in the ICT industry are for contractors.

Commenting on the move, Opposition spokesman for small business and independent contractors, Craig Emerson, said when the ALP talk about the broader labour movement, it isn't just the organised, unionised workforce.

"We are part of that. But that doesn't mean that we're not part of a group of people who choose different ways of organising themselves in the workplace, namely small businesses, namely independent contractors. There's nothing mutually exclusive about this," Emerson said.