The IR portfolio has been demoted in Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's reshuffle this afternoon, with the role given to a new junior minister, Craig Laundy.
The Flight Attendants Association national divisional council has dismissed secretary Andrew Staniforth for gross misbehaviour and neglect of duty, amid a bruising dispute which has taken its toll on all parties.
Employment Minister Michaelia Cash faces another grilling in Senate Estimates hearings over the AFP's raids on the AWU at the behest of the Registered Organisations Commission.
The giant miner Glencore has extended the lockout of about 190 workers at its Oaky North coal mine in Queensland for another two weeks, to 132 days. Meanwhile, the union that represents the mineworkers has a new general secretary.
Employment Minister Michaelia Cash said last night that she made an offer to the Opposition to split-off into a separate Bill elements of the "four-yearly review" legislation that enable the FWC to overlook technical and minor errors in agreements, after tribunal president Iain Ross twice wrote asking her to urgently secure its passage.
Employment Minister Michaelia Cash says one of her staffers has resigned after admitting he leaked information to the media about the AFP raids on the AWU yesterday.
Embattled Flight Attendants Association national division secretary Andrew Staniforth has taken to social media to assert he is innocent of financial impropriety, ahead of an independent investigator's report which will on Friday determine whether he should be immediately reinstated.
The ABCC's in-house counsel has resigned after just weeks in the job, in order to "totally disassociate" himself from the actions of the watchdog's former leader, Nigel Hadgkiss.
