Summary

Amends the Fair Work (Registered Organisations) Act 2009 to: include certain serious criminal offences as a new category of 'prescribed offence' for the purposes of the automatic disqualification regime for registered organisations; establish an offence for a disqualified person to continue to act as an official or in a way that influences the affairs of an organisation; allow the Federal Court to disqualify officials from holding office in certain circumstances or if they are otherwise not a fit and proper person; allow the Federal Court to cancel the registration of an organisation and make alternative orders on a range of grounds; expand the grounds on which the Federal Court may order remedial action to deal with governance issues in an organisation; expressly provide that the Federal Court may appoint an administrator to an organisation or part of an organisation as part of a remedial scheme; introduce a public interest test for amalgamations of registered organisations where the Fair Work Commissioner has determined the test should apply; provide that the commissioner must prioritise matters that raise serious or systemic concerns in carrying out his or her functions; provide that the minister must cause an independent review of the amendments made by the bill as soon as practicable after the end of two years after the amendments commence; and make minor and technical amendments.