There is an overwhelming case for change to the Fair Work Act, but neither a Shorten Labor Government nor a returned Coalition administration are likely to undertake fundamental reform, according to Adelaide University Professor of Law, Andrew Stewart.
A federal Labor government would establish a single Whistleblowing Act and protection authority to ensure "companies are held to the same standard as unions", according to the ALP, but IR Minister Kelly O'Dwyer says its planned reward scheme could benefit those involved in misconduct.
The Coalition government intends to use a new Fair Work regulation to shield employers from "double dipping" where long-term casual employees are deemed to be eligible for leave entitlements.
The FWC will no longer be required to conduct four-yearly reviews of modern awards, while being given powers to approve enterprise agreements despite minor procedural or technical errors, under long-delayed legislation passed by the Federal Parliament last night.
The Fair Work Act should be changed to prohibit full-time, direct employees being replaced by "permanent casuals", according to a Coalition-dominated Federal parliamentary inquiry chaired by former Nationals' leader and ex-Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce.
Former ABC managing director Michelle Guthrie has told a Senate inquiry that she had "no option" but to lodge an adverse action case with the FWC after the broadcaster's board failed to respond to her claims of editorial interference by the chair before sacking her.
Labor's emphatic win in the Victorian election will deliver numerous unionists to the State Parliament, while there has been a major change of IR cast as Minister Natalie Hutchins today announced she would step down and shadow Minister Robert Clark lost his formerly safe Liberal seat.
The Jobs Department has told a Senate Estimates hearing that it met with labour hire company Workpac following the full Federal Court's crucial casual leave decision in Skene, but that it hasn't drafted a Bill to address the ruling.
