Recent news
Latest items of recent news relevant to Australia as reported in our fortnightly newswire ‘Dernières nouvelles’.
Australia: Split leave
Employees that qualify for paid parental leave (PLP) may now split their leave periods in two and take them within a period of 24 months …
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Australia: Victoria battles to contain coronavirus
The resurgence of COVID-19 in Victoria remains a serious problem and we probably have not seen the end to measures being taken to curb the virus …
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Australia: Fair Work rules on minimum wage increase
The national minimum wage has now been increased by 1 …
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Australia: Coronavirus and workplace laws
The Fair Work Ombudsman continues to extend and enhance guidance on workplace laws in respect to the coronavirus emergency …
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Australia: Almost 80% of labour hire construction companies broke workplace rules
According to the latest Labour Hire Campaign Report released by the Australian Building and Construction Commission, of the 63 labour hire construction companies audited last year, only 21% were found to be legally compliant …
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Australia: Extended deadlines for submitting modern slavery statements during COVID-19
The deadlines for reporting entities (operating on reporting periods ending on, or before, 30th June 2020) to lodge modern slavery statements under the Modern Slavery Act 2018 (Cth) have been extended by 3 months …
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Australia: National public spending deficit
The national public spending deficit has been growing at $18bn a month this year, due to the health crisis and the summer’s bush fires …
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Australia: Ekka public holiday moves for Brisbane residents to enjoy a long weekend
Brisbane’s Ekka public holiday has been moved this year from Wednesday August 12th to Friday August 14th …
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Australia: Agreements in progress
There has been a slowdown in collective bargaining in recent months, but at the end of April there were over 300 agreements still awaiting approval on the Fair Wage Commission (FWC) website …
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Australia: Tasmania to give cash payments to temporary visa holders affected by coronavirus pandemic
Visa holders who are stuck in the state of Tasmania because of the coronavirus pandemic will be eligible for a one-off payment of $250 (US$163) for individuals and $1,000 (US$652) for families, as long as they can demonstrate genuine financial hardship …
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Australia: Labour hire licence applications received before 30 June 2020
According to the Labour Hire Authority in Victoria, labour hire firms may continue to operate without a licence for the time being, provided a licence application is submitted by midnight on the 30th of June 2020 and there is no evidence of previous non-compliance …
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Australia: Fair Work Commission amends award entitlements
The Federal Work Commission has temporarily suspended sections of 99 modern awards in order to allow employers to send employees home on 2 weeks’ unpaid leave if they have to self-isolate, or the employee is unable to work because the government has temporarily closed their business …
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Australia: Fair Work Commission – two applications to reduce redundancy pay due to incapacity to pay – two different outcomes
There is some confusion around the scope that the Fair Work Commission (FWC) is giving employers in financial difficulty to reduce statutory redundancy pay …
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ANZACs: Coronavirus: Will summer make a difference?
There has been much speculation about why Australia and New Zealand have not appeared to be hit by the pandemic as much as most other countries …
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Australia: Religious Discrimination Bill
Although a second draft Religious Discrimination Bill was published last December, the current health crisis has limited parliamentary debate …
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