If the Federal Government appoints a new member to the FWC, they are likely to be located in Sydney, the tribunal's general manager told a Senate Estimates hearing last night.
An unregistered "red union" said to be pursuing more than a thousand challenges to workplace vaccine mandates says it won't be stopped by a Queensland Government plan to ban unregistered associations from covering members under the State's IR laws.
Queensland's Palaszczuk Labor Government has accepted recommendations to boost sexual harassment protections, entitle independent "gig" drivers and riders to minimum pay and leave conditions and impose penalties for unregistered unions misrepresenting their status.
The religious discrimination bills now look unlikely to pass before the expected May election, after the Senate delayed debate until Parliament resumes next month.
Two high-profile advocates for survivors of sexual assault and abuse, Brittany Higgins and Grace Tame, have called for imposition of a positive duty on employers to prevent s-x discrimination, s-xual harassment and victimisation, ahead of the Government late this afternoon introducing legislation to implement two recommendations of the Jenkins report into parliamentary workplaces.
The Opposition says it will seek to address "big flaws" in the Morrison Government's religious discrimination legislation, moving changes in both houses, but it leaves the party with wiggle room for the bills to pass if its amendments fail.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese today led apologies for the "unacceptable history" of workplace bullying, s-xual harassment and s-xual assault in Commonwealth parliamentary workplaces.
Government senators on the inquiry into the religious discrimination bills have recommended it pass with minor amendments, and say it should be the role of future governments to "monitor the impacts" of contentious provisions allowing "statements of belief" and overriding state-based protections against discrimination in employment by faith-based bodies.
The FWC has thrown out an unfair dismissal case brought by a law student sacked from a full-time job as a legal assistant for failing to get a COVID-19 jab, finding she did not complete the required minimum employment term after taking time off to sit exams.
Tasmania's government and NGOs - including unions - have united in opposition to the proposed Religious Discrimination Bill because of provisions that override "gold standard" State anti-discrimination legislation that protects LGBTIQ+ employees in faith-based workplaces.
