The Turnbull Government has won support for an earlier start for the tougher national construction code, after a dramatic about-face by crossbench Senator Derryn Hinch.
Fair Work Commission President Iain Ross has revealed he has asked the Abbott and Turnbull governments four times to clarify its plans for the stymied review of default superannuation funds.
Tensions in the senior ranks of the FWC have again entered the public domain with the resignation of Vice President Graeme Watson, effective from the end of next month.
Australia's two biggest employer groups have joined forces with the ACTU to ask the Turnbull Government to scrap mandatory four-yearly reviews of awards.
A Senate inquiry has urged Public Service Minister Michaelia Cash to intervene in the federal public sector bargaining dispute and soften the "intransigent" Coalition's "brutally hard-line" bargaining policy by relaxing the 2% wages cap and removing the prohibition on backpay, but Government senators have flatly rejected the recommendations.
Key crossbench senator Nick Xenophon will push for a security of payments working group in return for supporting the Turnbull Government's legislation to re-establish the ABCC.
The Department of Immigration and Border Protection is to put forward a draft workplace determination to the FWC by this Friday and the CPSU will then have a fortnight to respond.
A Registered Organisations Commission with ASIC-style powers and penalties will be established within the FWO, using transferring FWC staff, after the Coalition won crucial support from crossbench senators in exchange for greater protection for whistleblowers.