Royal Commissioner Dyson Heydon has rejected union applications for him to stand down from the inquiry on the grounds of apprehended bias, while acknowledging they could still apply to a court to make such a ruling.
The Queensland Labor Government has earmarked the IR reforms it took to the recent state election as a legislative priority and announced a wide-ranging review of the state's IR system by an employer-free panel.
NSW Labor will introduce new protections for women who are pregnant or on family-related leave, regulate employee surveillance outside of work, and reverse many of the Coalition's changes to public sector employment if elected on March 28.
Honouring one of its election commitments, the Victorian Labor Government will today introduce legislation to abolish the former Coalition Government's anti-picketing laws.
In a move that the government has dismissed as a political stunt, the ACTU has told Employment Minister Eric Abetz he should suspend his IR legislative agenda for at least a year to enable the Heydon trade union inquiry and the Productivity Commission Fair Work Act review to run their course.
The Fair Work Commission will have to consider whether enterprise agreements contain productivity improvements before it approves them, while unions face additional hurdles to protected action, under the Coalition's latest IR bill.
The Australian Institute of Employment Rights says the pending Productivity Commission review of the Fair Work laws risks being a narrow, market-oriented exercise if its terms of reference do not embrace international human rights and labour standards, in a discussion paper released today.
Victorian Labor has committed to abolishing the state's construction industry code of practice, repealing the Napthine Government’s anti-picket laws and creating two new public holidays if elected on November 29.
Employment Minister Eric Abetz has told the AiG and others lobbying for accelerated IR change to take a "deep breath" and focus on what is already on the table.
