The Federal Government is consulting on changes to entry laws that it could announce within weeks.
Workplace Relations Minister Bill Shorten told journalists at the AWU's national conference on the Gold Coast today that in the next few weeks the Government would talk about its plans for right of entry changes.
He said the Fair Work Act review panel had "sensible points to make" on the issue and that he was now "seriously engaging with employers and unions about those reforms" in a bid to reach consensus.
Asked if such a change would mean relaxing current provisions, the former AWU national secretary declined to comment, but said any amendment would be the result of "days, weeks and months" of consultation and reflect "what happens in the real world".
Shorten said in his speech to the conference that tests the Coalition would face ahead of the September 14 election included whether it would pass "reasonable" changes to entry laws.
Review panel members Professor Ron McCallum, former Federal Court judge Michael Moore and senior economist Dr John Edwards in their report last year recommended giving FWA more power to resolve disputes over the right of union officials to make workplace visits, and extending union right of entry to cover investigation of suspected breaches after a worker's employment has ended (see Related Article).
Shorten's speech to the conference today followed Prime Minister Julia Gillard's address to the conference dinner last night, when she told delegates that her government would "keep making announcements for change in workplace relations because the Fair Work Act is good but for me good is never good enough".
She emphasised Labor would not countenance reducing workers' wages to help industry compete as it struggled with the strong Australian dollar.
"Those who say the answer to the challenge of the strong dollar is cost cutting are asking working people to forego a third of their wages.
"That is what you'd need to do - cut the average wage for a full-time working people from $70,000 to $50,000, to try and offset the effect of the dollar's rise," she said.