Legislation page 4 of 73

The Senate has today passed a substantial part of the Albanese Government's Closing Loopholes Bill after agreeing to a deal with key crossbench senators Jacqui Lambie and David Pocock.

The FWC has today launched the next stage of its gender pay equity research, in which it will examine a dozen awards covering highly-feminised sectors to uncover indicators of gender-based undervaluation of minimum rates, ahead of the 2023-24 annual wage review.

Limits on fixed-term contracts as a result of the Secure Jobs Act take effect on Wednesday.

Controversial former Victorian Liberal Senator David Van has put himself forward to negotiate changes to the Closing Loopholes legislation when it comes up for debate in the Senate early next year.

The Minns Labor Government has introduced IR changes that "remove the power to cap wages for good" and replace it with a "mutual gains bargaining" system, while also boosting the NSW IRC's powers and restoring it as an integrated court and tribunal.

Legislation introduced to Federal Parliament today to protect workers who bring sexual harassment claims from costs orders in most circumstances marks the "final legislative reform" in implementing the recommendations of the landmark Respect@Work report, according to the Albanese Government.

As the Albanese Government pushes for the passage of its Closing Loopholes legislation that provides new protections for "employee-like" workers, the ABS has revealed its first "experimental estimates" indicating that digital platform workers account for 1% of the working population and most commonly perform food delivery and personal transport tasks.

Employment rights legal centre JobWatch says a client survey suggests most employers are failing to take internal complaints of workplace sexual harassment and discrimination seriously or to adequately protect employees, prompting recommendations to expand positive duty and vicarious liability provisions, and actively monitor compliance.

Employers are using the new intractable bargaining declaration provisions to undercut pay and conditions by trying to revisit agreed terms, which is inconsistent with the legislation's aim of breaking bargaining deadlocks, United Firefighters Union national secretary Peter Marshall told the Loopholes inquiry this morning.

The Albanese Government's promised amendments to casual employment laws will do almost nothing to address employer concerns, according to legal advice from law firm Corrs Chambers Westgarth, while Workpac says it is concerned about "deeply troubling" comments on the casuals provisions by a senior DEWR official.