Former Public Service Commissioner Andrew Podger has told a Senate inquiry that getting rid of bargaining altogether in the federal public sector would improve productivity.
The Turnbull Government’s plan to push its IR bills through the Senate have been thrown into doubt by legal questions over the eligibility of two crossbench senators.
The CFMEU construction and general division's Victorian branch is appealing a Federal Court decision that barred the union from paying an $18,000 penalty against an organiser after the judge concluded the union received part of its income from government grants.
The Coalition should have sought a "more extensive mandate" on IR and run a more active campaign on the subject during the last election, rather than supplementing the ABCC and ROC bills with a "last minute minor change on CFA volunteers", according to Abbott Government Employment Minister Eric Abetz.
The UFU's proposed High Court bid to overturn the CFA legislation is "misconceived and likely to fail", according to Employment Minister Michaelia Cash, who is confident the new law will survive any challenge.
The Turnbull Government has today lost the most hard-line backer of IR deregulation on the Senate crossbench with the resignation of former HR Nicholls officeholder Bob Day.
The Department of Employment has clawed back $54 million from failed businesses in the first 12 months of its enhanced program to recover funds outlaid under the Fair Entitlements Guarantee, more than doubling the previous year's figure.
The Greens and Labor have today combined to initiate an upper house inquiry into a "just transition" for workers displaced when coal-fired power stations close down to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, while the Senate is also set to examine federal public sector bargaining and "corporate avoidance of industrial obligations".
Senator Malcolm Roberts says he has won backing from the Pauline Hanson's One Nation party room to investigate further IR changes by "working with the Turnbull Government".
The Turnbull Government will introduce legislation early next year to give the Fair Work Ombudsman new examination powers and expressly prohibit employers from providing false and misleading information.
