The Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption will hold its first hearing next month and Royal Commissioner Dyson Heydon will hand his final report to the federal government at the end of the year.
There is no barrier to federal and state governments immediately putting in place Victorian-style procurement arrangements to improve IR on infrastructure projects, according to a Productivity Commission draft report.
The royal commission into union financial dealings will force some employers to give an account of their own dealings, according to Employment Minister Eric Abetz.
Employment Minister Eric Abetz has vowed to take the existing legislation to re-establish the Australian Building and Construction Commission to a vote in the Senate, arguing that Labor and the Greens would not give their support even it was amended.
The Federal Government is yet to decide whether it will introduce a FWC appeals jurisdiction, while its submission to the four-year modern award review leaves the door open for stakeholders to seek pay rises, a Senate committee has heard.
A Sydney-based silk with a strong suit in commercial law is tipped for the crucial role of counsel assisting the royal commission into the governance of unions and their financial dealings.
The Abbott Government has presented its first tranche of changes to the Fair Work Act to Parliament today, including proposals to free up greenfields impasses, expand the subject matter of IFAs, wind back the ALP's right of entry changes and require bargaining before protected action.
The Federal Government is urging the Fair Work Commission not to be "distracted by" the former Labor Government's broader pay equity principles when assessing an equal remuneration application for childcare workers.
Changes to greenfields agreement provisions in the bill expected to be introduced by Employment Minister Eric Abetz next week will cut negotiation time from five months to three for major projects and cut business administration costs by $14.4 million a year, according to his department's regulation impact statement.
FWC releases bullying guide, flowchart; Vale Terry Ludeke and Keith Marshall; Abetz consulting on appeals jurisdiction policy that's yet to be released, says Opposition.