The Heydon Royal Commission has confirmed it will deliver its final report - which will run to "several volumes" - to the Federal Government by the end of the year.
Federal Labor says it is ready to support the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement after securing "legally binding safeguards" requiring labour market testing, use of enterprise agreements as a reference point for 457 visa workers' salaries and a 90-day deadline on obtaining occupational or trades licences.
FWC Vice President Michael Lawler has used a secretly-recorded phone conversation with tribunal president Iain Ross to challenge his claim that he never said the besieged member had an unlimited entitlement to sick leave.
A Queensland parliamentary inquiry into fly-in, fly-out arrangements recommends that proposed new minimum accommodation standards "advise against" motelling and hot-bedding arrangements and that the state discrimination statute outlaw job advertisements that exclude workers who live near projects with non-residential workforces.
The federal government has introduced legislation to outlaw "payment for visa" activities and will give the immigration minister the discretion to cancel the visas of those involved in the practice.
Employers have warned a Victorian parliamentary inquiry that they will seek to reduce wages, benefits or hours if a new state-wide portable long service leave scheme is implemented, while unions have provided detailed outlines of model schemes.
Employers are likely to maintain their own paid parental leave schemes even if the Abbott Government's proposed Bill to prevent so-called parent "double-dipping" into government and employer-funded schemes becomes law, according to a key employer group.
The ACTU is seeking to build opposition to cutting weekend penalty rates through a mass door-knock in marginal seats across Australia in mid-September, while employer associations are pushing crossbench senators to back the Government's bill to re-establish the ABCC.
