• PM Morrison speech seeks Accord-style outcomes from unions, business.
  • five key areas – award simplification, enterprise agreements, casuals and fixed term employees, compliance and enforcement, and greenfields agreements
  • five ‘working groups’ of unions, employers and select others (rural, multicultural, women, families) will have until September to come with ideas
• The ACTU said they will approach process in good faith with two conditions:
  • ‘will any proposal make jobs more secure for working people’, and ‘making sure that working people get their fair share of the nation’s wealth.’
• The PM this morning says that the focus of possible IR reforms will be job creation rather than conditions at work. (ABC)
  • also said that he is considering introducing legislation to overrule a federal court decision making casual workers entitled to paid leave
• The PM yesterday flagged delays in several areas:
  • said the timetable for a referendum on indigenous recognition would depend on whether ‘consensus is able to be achieved for it to be successful’
  • religious freedom changes and an anti-corruption body ‘not something Cabinet has considered for some time’
• The federal government is working on a multi-billion scheme to construct residential housing (AFR):
  • being worked on by Treasurer Frydenberg and Minister for Housing Sukkar
  • expected to focus on large cash grants to buyers of new homes (SMH)
• Former Premiers Mike Baird and Jay Weatherill have jointly called for National Cabinet to be retained for at least another twelve months to build a federal (as opposed to national) economic plan. (Guardian)