Fair Work Ombudsman Anna Booth says that a KPMG review of the watchdog is supportive of "collaborations" with the Fair Work Commission and other "workplace participants".
The Fair Work Ombudsman will not automatically respond to complaints or requests for assistance about commercial construction matters by conducting site visits, the watchdog told a Senate committee last night.
The Secure Jobs, Better Pay Act has received Royal Assent, stamping out pay secrecy clauses in new employment contracts, paring back MSD requirements and making it harder for employers to terminate agreements during bargaining, while the ABCC has entered a transition period ahead of its abolition.
Despite Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke's reluctance to hold back parts of the Secure Jobs, Better Pay Bill and its many "positive reforms", a leading labour law and IR academic says drafting issues and crossbench concerns will make fast passage a challenge.
The Albanese Government, in its first Budget, has allocated almost $70 million over four years for the FWO to take over the ABCC's regulatory role after its abolition, while delivering $20 million over the same period for the FWC to handle gender equity pay cases.
The Albanese Government consulted with unions on its plan to abolish the ABCC before it held meetings with state and territory IR Ministers and the National Workplace Relations Consultative Council, according to information tabled in the Federal Parliament.
Key independent Senator David Pocock says he laughed when recently described as a kingmaker, preferring the role of "peacebroker in the 47th Parliament", ahead of the upper house today considering an Opposition bid to strike down the regulation that guts the ABCC's powers.
ABC Commissioner Steve McBurney says the construction watchdog will close if it is defunded, even if the Albanese Labor Government fails to win Senate support for legislation to abolish it.
