Federal workplace relations/IR ministers page 40 of 51

Victoria's United Firefighters Union is calling on members to endorse a contentious in-principle CFA enterprise agreement at a special meeting next week, while employment minister Senator Cash has expressed "concern" that the union is seeking a similar deal in Queensland.

The ACTU has vowed to work with the new Senate crossbench to thwart the re-elected Turnbull Government's IR agenda.

Employment Minister Michaelia Cash will lead the push to re-establish the ABCC and to create a specialist regulator of unions, once the Federal parliament resumes on August 30.

The Coalition says it will put five workplace relations bills before the Federal Parliament if it is returned to office, but has flagged that it will not announce a full IR policy ahead of Saturday's election.

The CFMEU has won a document discovery order over the withdrawn prosecution of its national secretary Michael O'Connor, in a judgment that ropes in Employment Minster Michaelia Cash.

The Turnbull Government has pledged that if it is returned on July 2, it will introduce a public interest test for union mergers, which would put the planned tie-up between the CFMEU and the MUA under the microscope.

A second-term Turnbull Government will adopt the "overwhelming majority" of the Heydon Royal Commission's recommendations, including outlawing "corrupting benefits" such as those involved in the AWU-Cleanevent deal and giving courts the power to disqualify repeat-offender union officials, Employment Minister Michaelia Cash said today.

The Andrews Labor Government has brought in Victoria's Emergency Management Commissioner to help broker a peace deal in the standoff between paid and volunteer firefighters, which has spilled over into the federal election campaign.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has today criticised CFMEU construction and general division Victorian branch leader John Setka for reportedly comparing the Coalition's "attack" on the union and its members to that of Hitler's Germany, after Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull called on the Labor leader to "publicly disown" the union secretary.

A Turnbull Coalition Government, if returned at the July 2 election, will amend the Fair Work Act to make franchisors and parent entities responsible for their franchisees' and subsidiaries' exploitation of vulnerable workers, while increasing penalties tenfold for employers that underpay such workers and fail to keep proper records.