This Month
Homebuilders worry about costlier kitchens after benchtop ban
Builders and materials suppliers say there’s no clarity on alternative products for the to-be-banned material, and no supply chain to meet demand, either.
- Michael Bleby
Engineered stone ban must focus on silica levels: producers
The country’s largest supplier of the potentially lethal product is pushing for a solution that would allow its low-silica alternative.
- Michael Bleby
November
Contractor charged after worker fatality at Anglo mine
Gavin Feltwell was killed in an underground accident last year at an Anglo American mine. Now prosecutors have laid a charge against the contracting company.
- Liam Walsh
Qantas illegally stood down worker who raised cleaning concerns: court
The NSW District Court found the airline guilty of discriminating against a health and safety representative who spoke out over COVID-19 concerns.
- Ayesha de Kretser
Death of 26-year-old at Liontown lithium project prompts safety probe
The tradesman died after a medical episode while building the Kathleen Valley site in late September. The company says it was “non-work-related”.
- Brad Thompson
- Exclusive
- Retail
Stabbings and axe threats: Canberra offers help for retail workers
Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke wants to help protect retail workers from rising customer abuse and violence.
- David Marin-Guzman
‘Alpha’ culture: AACo bullying, homophobia claims raised
Australia’s beef giant proclaims to investors it wants an inclusive environment. But concerns have been raised about culture and safety processes.
- Liam Walsh
October
Engineered stone alternatives will double benchtop cost, industry says
With a ban on engineered stone increasingly likely, a cloud also sits over alternatives as they contain silica too, the country’s largest manufacturer warns.
- Michael Bleby
Super fund CEOs put ASX on notice over workplace conditions
Industry super funds are using their $3.5 trillion asset pool to influence companies on decent work conditions, secure contracts and banning sexual harassment.
- Updated
- Hannah Wootton
Lawyers, barristers put on notice over sexual harassment
Non-compliance could result in lawyers losing their practicing certificates or the disbarment of barristers, the profession’s watchdogs have warned.
- Hannah Wootton
September
Reluctant to learn: how we opened the door to cyberattacks
As Australia’s corporate regulator prepares to turn up the heat on directors and executives after a year of major breaches, employees are also in the frame.
- John Davidson
Sex Discrimination Commissioner puts mining, legal, retail on notice
Anna Cody says the commission is ready to enforce the new positive duty on employers to prevent sexual harassment.
- Hannah Wootton
August
Push for office defibrillators to stem sudden cardiac arrest tragedies
Defibrillators should be mandatory in all Australian workplaces and public buildings to reduce the number of sudden cardiac deaths, leading academics say.
- Euan Black
Why ‘bossware’ that counts WFH keystrokes doesn’t work
Workplace experts argue companies get better results when they focus on the outcomes employees are expected to achieve rather than how they achieve them.
- Euan Black
Why there’s a growing push for the ‘right to disconnect’
In today’s “always-on” culture the ability to carve out time away from work is shaping up as another front in the post-pandemic fight over how, and where, we do our jobs.
- Euan Black
- Exclusive
- Start-ups
Top VC resigned from struggling start-up’s board just months after investing
Promising tech start-up Bardee is struggling for survival after its lead investor Blackbird Ventures quit the board following a dispute with the founders.
- Paul Smith and Nick Bonyhady
July
CFMEU Qld boss fined over ‘blatant’ breaches at Cross River Rail
The CFMEU Queensland branch has been fined $225,000 for unauthorised entries, with a judge fining its boss personally to give the penalty the “necessary sting”.
- David Marin-Guzman
McKinsey claims to have bullying and harassment-free workplace
It comes as the firm refuses to appear before a Senate inquiry into consulting firms’ workplace management and conflicts of interest.
- Hannah Wootton
June
- Analysis
- Bridget McKenzie
Van allegations expose the wisdom of hindsight
If failing to expose senator David Van earlier is a crime, then culpability extends across the whole parliament.
- Phillip Coorey
- Updated
- Peter Dutton
Former senator Amanda Stoker says David Van groped her
David Van has been suspended from the Liberal Party room following allegations of sexual harassment levelled by Senator Lidia Thorpe, and a separate complaint from former colleague Amanda Stoker who said he groped her two and a half years ago.
- Updated
- Phillip Coorey
