What we learned today, Friday 6 October
And with that, we are going to put the blog to bed. Before we go, let’s recap the big headlines:
Improve whistleblower protections to clean up consultancy firms, inquiry to be told
Voice ‘not constitutionally risky’, constitutional and public law teachers say
Voice ‘won’t have a direct impact’ on non-Indigenous Australians, PM says
All state and territory leaders support voice, including Tasmanian Liberal premier
Thank you so much for spending part of your day with us. We will be back tomorrow morning to do it all again.
Updated
Union to proceed with $9m wage theft claim against Monash University
The National Tertiary Education Union will proceed with a multimillion-dollar wage theft claim against Monash University in federal court, after the university’s second attempt to dodge repaying staff in the Fair Work Commission failed.
A full bench of the commission on Thursday rejected Monash’s appeal against deputy president Bell’s decision in June, which dismissed the university’s application to retrospectively change its enterprise agreement.
Monash University wanted to change the agreement to mean that any scheduled student consultation delivered within a week of tutorial or lecture delivery would be paid for as part of the lecture or tutorial rates.
The union argues that the current provisions require staff to be paid separately for these consultation hours.
The Full Bench’s decision paves the way for the NTEU to pursue an estimated $9m in wages the union alleges Monash is liable for in federal court.
NTEU’s national president, Alison Barnes:
This is the end of the road for Monash’s extraordinary attempt to dodge a wage theft claim.
Retrospectively allowing an employer to change an enterprise agreement would have been a dangerous precedent for all Australian workers.
Casual staff at Monash will get their overdue day in court over these incredibly serious wage theft allegations against Monash.
Updated
