The Federal Treasury used a "cabinet sensitive" briefing to urge newTreasurer Scott Morrison to boost labour market flexibility, seizing the opportunity presented by the Productivity Commission's review of Australia's workplace system.
A Queensland parliamentary inquiry will consider licensing and registration of labour hire companies as the state becomes the third jurisdiction to launch investigations into allegations of sham contracting and abuses of visa workers by labour suppliers.
At the National Reform Summit in Canberra today, the ACTU will urge the Turnbull Government to adopt measures to boost multifactor and capital productivity, arguing that labour productivity has been growing and "is not the problem".
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 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.
Royal Commissioner Dyson Heydon has rejected union applications for him to stand down from the inquiry on the grounds of apprehended bias, while acknowledging they could still apply to a court to make such a ruling.
The Federal Court has ordered former HSU national secretary Kathy Jackson to repay about $1.4 million to her old union, in an important judgment on the conduct of officers in registered organisations.
Awards should be limited to one per industry, with the FWC establishing a "new definition for unsociable hours" for each of them and determining "economy-wide" penalty rates, Business Council chief executive Jennifer Westacott has told a Sydney University gathering.
