The Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption will hold its first hearing next month and Royal Commissioner Dyson Heydon will hand his final report to the federal government at the end of the year.
The royal commission into union financial dealings will force some employers to give an account of their own dealings, according to Employment Minister Eric Abetz.
South Australian Employee Ombudsman Stephen Brennan has been charged with falsifying accounts and dishonesty when secretary of the TCFU's former SA/Tasmanian branch, while the Fair Work Commission is continuing to investigate the branch's financial affairs.
A Sydney-based silk with a strong suit in commercial law is tipped for the crucial role of counsel assisting the royal commission into the governance of unions and their financial dealings.
Flagging new strategies to give workers a collective voice, ACTU assistant secretary Tim Lyons has rejected recent calls for an "accommodation" with employers and told unions not to be afraid of conflict and controversy.
The CFMEU has lost the first of three appeals stemming from the Fair Work Commission's decision last year to review its right of entry practices at Lend Lease's Adelaide projects.
The FWC's HSU investigations and litigation have cost more than $2.5 million so far, with a further bill of up to $150,000 likely from current Federal Court proceedings against former national secretary Craig Thomson, a Senate committee has heard.
Fair Work Commission general manager Bernadette O'Neill will seek civil penalties against the Musicians' Union and one of its officials for 118 alleged breaches of the Fair Work (Registered Organisations) Act.
The Abbott Government says it has given former High Court judge Dyson Heydon a broad brief to probe employer behaviour and the role of police in industrial matters in the royal commission announced this afternoon, but the focus of its terms of reference is squarely on union misconduct.
