The impact on public sector bargaining of the implied constitutional limitation on Commonwealth interference with state governments is still not well enough understood, according to long-serving CPSU Victoria secretary Karen Batt.
Employment Minister Eric Abetz says that no formal decision has been made to create an appeal jurisdiction for the Fair Work Commission, despite Prime Minister Tony Abbott flagging his personal support for the plan.
The Federal Court has fined the HSU and three former Victorian officials a total of nearly $68,000 for financial governance irregularities, and, in a first under registered organisations legislation, ordered one of them to repay the union more than $26,000.
Former Victorian Solicitor-General John Cain will give evidence tomorrow and former prime minister Julia Gillard on Wednesday as the Heydon Royal Commission resumes its investigation of the alleged slush fund linked to the AWU in the early 1990s.
The Heydon inquiry has heard evidence from five FWBC inspectors today about being abused and intimidated by CFMEU officials and delegates, prompting the royal commissioner to query the meaning of the word "dog".
The AiG has urged the Federal Government to release the terms of reference for the Productivity Commission's review of the Fair Work regime before next week's first anniversary of its September 2013 election, and said business was becoming "increasingly impatient" with the slow pace of reform.
