The resignation from the Greens today of Senator Lidia Thorpe over the party's position on the Voice to Parliament has introduced new uncertainty for Labor in the Senate, where it will now have to win support for its second tranche of IR legislation from two crossbenchers in addition to her former party.
The Albanese Government will soon introduce further IR legislation to include superannuation payments in the National Employment Standards (NES), clarify coverage of temporary migrant workers and ensure stronger access to unpaid parental leave.
The Committee for Economic Development of Australia has urged employers to formalise access to flexible work as part of a national effort to address high levels of occupational gender segregation.
Woolworths has told the Senate work and care inquiry that 37.4% of its casuals accepted offers to convert from casual to permanent, which chair Barbara Pocock says is much higher than the committee has otherwise heard.
A leading IR law academic has welcomed the Albanese Government's return to a more open process for FWC appointments, as DEWR seeks expressions of interest for vice president, deputy president, commissioner and expert panel member roles, but he says structural reform is needed to rebalance the tribunal.
The Human Rights Commission's latest survey of workplace sexual harassment shows little change in incidence over the past four years, while only two-thirds of workers reported their employer had anti-harassment policies and just one third had received training, Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins told the National Press Club yesterday in a speech that also marked the first anniversary of her "Set the Standard" report on federal parliamentary workplaces.
South Australia's Malinauskas Labor Government has become the latest jurisdiction seeking to introduce industrial manslaughter laws, as proponents await the Federal government's next moves towards delivering on its election promise of national "harmonisation".
In the final hearing before the Senate inquiry into the Secure Jobs Bill releases its report today, key ACT Independent senator David Pocock this morning sought more clarity on how interest-based bargaining will work and probed a finding that the government's impact analysis is merely "adequate".
The ACTU says the Albanese Government's push for multi-employer bargaining is at risk of being "frustrated" unless enterprise bargaining is knocked off its pedestal as a preferred object of the Fair Work Act.
