O75 Public Administration

Complex awards on IR agenda

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 1 & 6 : 22-Nov-19

Industrial Relations Minister Christian Porter will release a discussion paper on workplace relations in 2020. He has flagged a review of the modern awards system, reiterating recent comments by Prime Minister Scott Morrison that it has become too complex. Porter notes that awards in the hospitality, retail and restaur­ant sectors in particular merit review. Australian Industry Group CEO Innes Willox has suggested simplifying awards by enshrining some employee entitlements in the Fair Work Act, such as leave, redundancy pay and requests for flexible work arrangements.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF EMPLOYMENT, SKILLS, SMALL AND FAMILY BUSINESS, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, THE AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRY GROUP, BUSINESS COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA, ACTU, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, AUSTRALIAN PAYROLL ASSOCIATION, CENTRE ALLIANCE, ONE NATION PARTY, WOOLWORTHS GROUP LIMITED – ASX WOW, 7-ELEVEN STORES PTY LTD, SUPER RETAIL GROUP LIMITED – ASX SUL, MICHAEL HILL INTERNATIONAL LIMITED – ASX MHJ, AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION

Forget tax and spend, go for productivity: Albanese

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Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 22-Nov-19

Labor leader Anthony Albanese will emphasise the need to prioritise increased productivity in a speech on 22 November. He will identify microeconomic reform, fiscal management, infrastructure, and investment in people through skills and training as the key policy initiatives to lift productivity. He will also argue that the legislated increase in the superannuation guarantee must proceed, as it will encourage super funds to invest in productivity-boosting infrastructure.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET

Porter flags big Westpac penalty

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Original article by James Eyers, Michael Pelly
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 6 : 22-Nov-19

Attorney-General Christian Porter says he will keep a "watching brief" on the prosecution of Westpac for breaching anti-money laundering laws. He has also warned that Westpac is likely to incur a much bigger financial penalty than the Commonwealth Bank’s record $700m fine for far less serious breaches. Meanwhile, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority will look into the potential application of the federal government’s Bank Executive Accountability Regime to the Westpac case, while ASIC may investigate whether the bank has breached the Corporations Act.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. ATTORNEY-GENERAL’S DEPT, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, AUSTRALIA. ATTORNEY-GENERAL’S DEPT. AUSTRALIAN TRANSACTION REPORTS AND ANALYSIS CENTRE, AUSTRALIAN PRUDENTIAL REGULATION AUTHORITY, AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY

One Nation bill changes get nod

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 2 : 21-Nov-19

Attorney-General Christian Porter says the federal government is open to One Nation’s proposed amendments to the Ensuring Integrity Bill. One Nation wants to increase the threshold for banning union officials under Centre Alliance’s proposed demerits points system. One Nation leader Pauline Hanson argues that sanctions such as the deregistration of a union should not apply for minor breaches of workplace laws. One Nation’s two votes in the Senate would give the government sufficient numbers to pass the bill before parliament rises for the year.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. ATTORNEY-GENERAL’S DEPT, ONE NATION PARTY, CENTRE ALLIANCE, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, ACTU

PM to take a sword to red tape, boost jobs

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Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 6 : 21-Nov-19

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has outlined a range of initiatives aimed at boosting investment and jobs. He has used a Business Council of Australia speech to reveal plans for a one-stop online portal for companies to lodge applications for environmental approvals; he says it could slash the amount of time required to approve major mining and infrastructure projects by 6-18 months. Morrison also flagged an overhaul of the industry awards system, arguing that while the number of awards was reduced by Labor, many have become more complex.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, BUSINESS COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

$1bn scandal hits Westpac

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Original article by Joyce Moullakis, Greg Brown
The Australian – Page: 1 & 8 : 21-Nov-19

Prime Minister Scott Morrison says banks must "lift their game" in the wake of revelations that Westpac has been charged with more 23 million breaches of anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing laws. Amongst other things, Austrac’s statement of claim alleges that Westpac failed to conduct due diligence on 12 customers linked to child exploitation in the Philippines. Brett Le Mesurier of Shaw & Partners says Westpac may face a larger penalty than the Commonwealth Bank’s record $700m fine in 2018 for more than 53,000 breaches of financial crime laws. Westpac could potentially incur fines in excess of $1bn.

CORPORATES
WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, AUSTRALIA. ATTORNEY-GENERAL’S DEPT. AUSTRALIAN TRANSACTION REPORTS AND ANALYSIS CENTRE, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB

Unpaid wages bill at $1.4bn annually

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Original article by Andrew White, Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 17 & 21 : 20-Nov-19

More than $500m worth of wage underpayments have been disclosed to date; however, modelling by accounting firm PwC suggests that in total, Australian workers may be underpaid by up to $1.35bn a year. The modelling, which is based on data from the Fair Work Ombudsman, shows that up to 13 per cent of all workers may be underpaid, with construction workers found to be most at risk of being underpaid. The federal government is considering the introduction of criminal penalties for wage theft, as well as an increase in civil penalties.

CORPORATES
PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS AUSTRALIA (INTERNATIONAL) PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK OMBUDSMAN, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, WOOLWORTHS GROUP LIMITED – ASX WOW, 7-ELEVEN STORES PTY LTD, SUPER RETAIL GROUP LIMITED – ASX SUL, MICHAEL HILL INTERNATIONAL LIMITED – ASX MHJ, AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, AUSTRALIA. ATTORNEY-GENERAL’S DEPT

ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence down to 109.9

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 20-Nov-19

ANZ-Roy Morgan Australian Consumer Confidence fell 1.1% to 109.9 in the week ended 17 November. Households’ views towards current financial conditions fell 2.6%, while views towards future financial conditions declined by 4.9%; both these subindices are near their multi-year lows. However, consumers’ views toward current economic conditions rose 0.3% and views towards future economic conditions gained 0.2%. The ‘time to buy a major household item’ index gained 0.4% after falling 3.9% in the previous week. The four-week moving average of inflation expectations declined by 0.1ppt to 3.9% as the weekly reading fell to 3.8%, its lowest level since the end of June.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ

$25k gap shows gender pay parity a distant dream

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Original article by Stephen Lunn
The Australian – Page: 2 : 19-Nov-19

New data from the Workplace Gender Equality Agency shows that the gender pay gap has narrowed by 0.5 per cent in 2019, to 20.8 per cent. Meanwhile, the agency’s latest gender equality scorecard shows that more than 50 per cent of employers have yet to introduce employer-funded paid parental leave, while the proportion of female CEOs remains unchanged at 17.1 per cent. However, WGEA director Libby Lyons notes that more employers are now offering paid domestic violence leave.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. WORKPLACE GENDER EQUALITY AGENCY

There’s no point in homing in on pension asset test

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Original article by Judith Sloan
The Australian – Page: 12 : 19-Nov-19

No government for the foreseeable future is going to contemplate including a family home in the age pension assets test. For one thing, only about seven per cent of the nation’s two million age pensioners would be affected if homes valued at more than $1.5m were to be subject to the assets test. This would mainly affected pensioners in Sydney and Melbourne. Meanwhile, home equity release products are worth considering in relation to retirement incomes policy, although existing products of this nature are undesirable, including the federal government’s own Pension Loan Scheme.

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