Assistant productivity minister Andrew Leigh says Australians have used about a quarter of the post-1980 productivity dividend to "work less", as he revisited a 1930 John Maynard Keynes prediction that people in 2030 "would inherit a world shaped by rising productivity and the promise of abundance".
With the Greens pledging today to use their power in the Senate to create the "most progressive parliament" Australia has seen, labour law academic Andrew Stewart says there is "every reason" to expect movement on their priority IR issues, such as a four-day working week and reproductive leave.
In response to a grieving mother's petition, Workplace Relations Minister Murray Watt has committed to legislating to prevent employers from cancelling employer-paid parental leave for parents dealing with stillbirth or early infant death.
The Ai Group has accused Labor of disregarding its re-empowered IR umpire by taking out of its hands decisions to remove or reduce award penalty rates.
As Labor makes non-compete clauses an election issue with a promise to ban them for workers earning less than $175,000 a year, a court has agreed that a major cleaning services company could suffer "irreparable harm" if not granted a temporary injunction to prevent a former manager from soliciting clients or poaching employees.
Workplace Relations Minister Murray Watt has hinted at further IR election policies, while accusing the Liberal Party of directly lifting commitments to slash the public service and wind back WFH, diversity and inclusion policies from Donald Trump's Department of Government Efficiency playbook.
Queensland's Crisafulli Government will delay the implementation of "rushed" Anti-Discrimination law changes passed by the Miles Government last year, to conduct further consultation, in a move that Queenland Council of Unions secretary Jacqueline King described as "an outrageous betrayal of Queensland workers".
QCU general secretary Jacqueline King has warned ahead of the State election on Saturday that public sector pay rises of 2.5% will not be enough to avoid industrial action, regardless of who is in power, while unions are also continuing their push for a significant boost to paid parental leave entitlements.
Employers that restructure to take advantage of artificial intelligence would be "responsible" for reskilling their workforces to avoid unnecessary redundancies, under a policy to be considered by this week's ALP national conference.
