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Employers will only have a role in paying workers their government-funded parental leave entitlement if they want one, under legislation introduced into federal parliament by the Coalition this morning.

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.

The Federal Government is yet to decide whether it will introduce a FWC appeals jurisdiction, while its submission to the four-year modern award review leaves the door open for stakeholders to seek pay rises, a Senate committee has heard.

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 Federal Government is urging the Fair Work Commission not to be "distracted by" the former Labor Government's broader pay equity principles when assessing an equal remuneration application for childcare workers.

Changes to greenfields agreement provisions in the bill expected to be introduced by Employment Minister Eric Abetz next week will cut negotiation time from five months to three for major projects and cut business administration costs by $14.4 million a year, according to his department's regulation impact statement.

The Coalition has largely succeeded in neutralising IR as a 2013 federal election issue by promising to retain – at least for one term – Labor's Fair Work framework, but Australia's two major parties are still going to the September 7 poll with some significant policy differences, including on paid parental leave, right of entry, and construction industry regulation. Workplace Express compares their IR policies and those of the Greens, whose future hold on the Senate balance of power is uncertain.