The Federal Government should consider "a right of access" to workplaces rather than a right of entry", to overcome the presumption that workers attend a physical location to perform their jobs that "ignore[s] the reality" of post-COVID-19 remote and digital work environments, a union leader suggests in a paper she will present at the Australian Labour Law Association conference next week in Geelong.
The FWC has refused to extend an entry permit for a CFMEU construction and general division Victorian branch Indigenous Organiser who is facing "very serious" charges of threats to kill and inflict serious injury, while it has foreshadowed that the process for considering his application for a new permit is "unlikely to be a straightforward one".
The FWO has applied to suspend an entry permit issued to a CFMEU construction and general division WA branch official who faces four serious criminal charges.
Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan has appointed former Justice Department secretary Greg Wilson to examine the State's construction sector and help eradicate its "rotten culture", including by boosting its ability to weed out criminal activity and protect whistleblowers.
Shadow workplace relations minister Michaelia Cash has quizzed FWC general manager Murray Furlong on a "potentially serious" bullying or harassment allegation involving a tribunal member, and has questioned the ability of a former gang member to retain his entry permit while facing criminal charges.
ASU officials will no longer have to be escorted to the bathroom when exercising entry rights at the ATO after the FWC found it an unreasonable request, while giving union delegates "time release" to accompany them would be "frankly quite ridiculous".
A FWC presidential member has taken exception to a HSU official's description of a clinical handover area as a meal room suitable for conducting meetings, dismissing it as a "self-serving label. . . border[ing] on dishonest".
A judge has warned the FWO of a possible "perception" it failed to comply with its model litigant obligations after dropping the "most serious" claim of threatening behaviour from a CFMEU right of entry case as part of a liability deal.
The FWC has handed back MUA WA branch secretary Will Tracey's entry permit after more than a decade, finding he can "be assumed to have left behind his past propensity to engage in unlawful conduct".
The FWC has suspended the entry permit of the CFMEU construction division's sole Wollongong organiser over a "moderately serious" breach soon after the union engaged him five years ago, and which late last year earned him a $4000 fine.
