Discrimination and equity page 23 of 89

Qantas did not have any "witching hour" deadline for pushing ahead with a plan to outsource up to 2000 ground crew jobs, a full Federal Court heard today.

A tribunal has opened the way for a job applicant to sue RMIT University for discrimination on the basis of his age, race and presumed industrial activity after 12 years of unsuccessful applications and a ban on further attempts, but it has thrown out the bulk of his claims.

The Victorian Supreme Court has confirmed that an investigation by leading barrister Kate Eastman SC found that one of its former judges subjected two former associates to sexual harassment and/or sex-based discrimination.

The Federal Government has settled claims from three of the six associates sexually harassed in the workplace by former High Court judge Dyson Heydon.

Queensland's Palaszczuk Labor Government has accepted recommendations to boost sexual harassment protections, entitle independent "gig" drivers and riders to minimum pay and leave conditions and impose penalties for unregistered unions misrepresenting their status.

The religious discrimination bills now look unlikely to pass before the expected May election, after the Senate delayed debate until Parliament resumes next month.

Two high-profile advocates for survivors of sexual assault and abuse, Brittany Higgins and Grace Tame, have called for imposition of a positive duty on employers to prevent s-x discrimination, s-xual harassment and victimisation, ahead of the Government late this afternoon introducing legislation to implement two recommendations of the Jenkins report into parliamentary workplaces.

The Opposition says it will seek to address "big flaws" in the Morrison Government's religious discrimination legislation, moving changes in both houses, but it leaves the party with wiggle room for the bills to pass if its amendments fail.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese today led apologies for the "unacceptable history" of workplace bullying, s-xual harassment and s-xual assault in Commonwealth parliamentary workplaces.

The FWC has taken Westpac to task for staging a networking soirée in a sports bar with free alcohol and found it appeared to cloud the judgement of a senior manager who touched a junior colleague's buttocks, but has nevertheless upheld his "catastrophic" sacking.