The Heydon Royal Commission has recommended that the Turnbull Government introduce special legislation to disqualify officers of the CFMEU who are deemed by Parliament to be not to be fit and proper persons, while stopping short of recommending the union's deregistration.
The Heydon Royal Commission has confirmed it will deliver its final report - which will run to "several volumes" - to the Federal Government by the end of the year.
Former HSU national secretary Kathy Jackson has today failed in her attempt to appeal a Federal Court decision for her to repay about $1.4 million to her old union.
The Federal Court has this morning ordered former HSU national secretary Craig Thomson to pay about $458,000 in compensation and fines for inappropriate spending during his reign.
Former NUW NSW branch secretary Derrick Belan has rejected legal arguments by his old union that he was largely responsible for its governance problems.
CFMEU national secretary Michael O'Connor has been described in Federal Parliament as the "Sepp Blatter of the union movement" by a Nationals senator in tabling affidavits by three former CFMEU officials who continue to claim they were driven out of the NSW construction branch for whistleblowing.
A partner at Keddies Lawyers, a former leading workers' compensation firm accused of gross overcharging of clients, has been granted a barrister's practising certificate, despite staunch opposition from the NSW Bar Association.
The NUW's NSW branch has admitted "very serious governance failures" in recent years, while seeking to defend president Marilyn Issanchon and new state secretary Wayne Meaney.
The HSU has told the Federal Court it should not hear an appeal by former national secretary Kathy Jackson against repaying $1.4 million, because her status as an undischarged bankrupt means she has no standing.
A "grave failure of governance" within the NUW's NSW branch allowed "apparently criminal conduct" to go undetected for years, according to counsel assisting the Heydon Royal Commission.