IR review gives unions upper hand

The Gillard government’s review of workplace laws is set to anger business groups by allowing unions to take strike action over a wider range of issues they want included in collective agreements, according to the Australian Financial Review.

But business groups may welcome recommendations to allow them to call in Fair Work Australia for help when unions stall large resource projects before they get off the ground.

Employment and Workplace Relations Minister Bill Shorten is expected to release the review by the three-member panel today. It will recommend more than 60 changes to Labor’s Fair Work Act.

He will give the government’s response in four weeks.

The recommendations will include changing the name of the workplace tribunal, Fair Work Australia.

The tribunal would have increased powers to settle disputes between employers and unions on new projects, known as greenfield agreements.

Abbot Point expansion facilitator named

The Queensland government will appoint an independent facilitator to consult big mining companies about expanding the Abbot Point coal terminal in North Queensland, according to the Australian Financial Review.

Despite scrapping the former Bligh government’s $9 billion T4 to T9 expansion in May, the new appointment is an acknowledgment Abbot Point will need to get bigger to facilitate coalmining in the Galilee Basin.

Deputy Premier and Infrastructure Minister Jeff Seeney said any future expansion – which was likely to be incremental – would be funded by the private sector.

He will appoint Gladstone Coal Exporters executive project manager Barry Golding as facilitator to test private sector interest in expanding the facility.

Kloppers defends his position at BHP

BHP Billiton chief executive Marius Kloppers has defended his position at the helm of the world's biggest miner, declaring yesterday that shareholders were happy with the company because it had outperformed its peers amid a climate of global economic volatility and falling commodity prices, according to The Australian.

Kloppers, who has been in the job for almost five years, did not directly answer questions on whether he believed he enjoyed the confidence of BHP chairman Jac Nasser.