The Albanese Government has retreated from proposed mandatory "guardrails" in its national AI policy released today, relying instead on existing regulators to report any legislative gaps to the newly-formed AI Safety Institute.
Shadow IR minister Tim Wilson has made it clear that he is some way from releasing any Coalition IR policy, but has nevertheless indicated that it must address AI's looming "reset" to the way people work and underlined that he strongly favours WFH and workplace flexibility, after the disastrous pre-poll stance earlier this year.
The FWC has approved the SDA's plan to add three women-only roles to its national executive, to guarantee 25% of the majority-female union's national executive are women, up from the current 11%.
Multi-employer bargaining is on the chopping block and the definition of casual employment might follow suit, but the Coalition has changed its tune on working from home and tax cuts, Opposition Leader Sussan Ley announced today.
Assistant productivity minister Andrew Leigh says Australians have used about a quarter of the post-1980 productivity dividend to "work less", as he revisited a 1930 John Maynard Keynes prediction that people in 2030 "would inherit a world shaped by rising productivity and the promise of abundance".
With the Greens pledging today to use their power in the Senate to create the "most progressive parliament" Australia has seen, labour law academic Andrew Stewart says there is "every reason" to expect movement on their priority IR issues, such as a four-day working week and reproductive leave.
In response to a grieving mother's petition, Workplace Relations Minister Murray Watt has committed to legislating to prevent employers from cancelling employer-paid parental leave for parents dealing with stillbirth or early infant death.
The Ai Group has accused Labor of disregarding its re-empowered IR umpire by taking out of its hands decisions to remove or reduce award penalty rates.
