The Albanese Government will be able to make substantial progress on its promise of "rebalancing" the FWC, after the tribunal confirmed today that it has funding for 13 new members, or a quarter of its primary appointments.
A High Court majority has ruled that caps on union spending in NSW by-elections are unconstitutional, finding they "impermissibly burden" freedom of communication on governmental and political matters.
The FWC has given the CFMMEU's legal team access to the mining and energy division's membership roll ahead of a hearing into its demerger bid, after the amalgamated union argued it owns the division's records and rejected suggestions its in-house lawyers might misuse the information.
The CFMMEU has foreshadowed jurisdictional challenges to the applications by two of its divisions to demerge and operate as separate standalone unions, in a sign of lengthy legal proceedings to come.
The CFMMEU's mining and energy division has launched two-pronged legal action in the Federal Court, seeking to overturn the broader union's recent rule changes and to secure an inquiry into the election of former MUA WA branch leader Christy Cain as national secretary.
The Perrottet Government's legal action over strikes by NSW public health nurses seeks to impose fines on their union, while also offering a pathway to pursue deregistration.
The AWU has admitted to more than 24,000 historic contraventions of registered organisations' obligations to report their membership numbers, a Senate Estimates committee has heard.
The leadership of the CFMMEU's manufacturing division will soon discuss demerging from the rest of the union, declaring that its operations are "clearly broken".
