O75 Public Administration

Big business challenge over penalty cuts

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 6-Jun-17

Employment Minister Michaelia Cash says the Fair Work Commission’s decision to phase in lower penalty rates will encourage small businesses to trade on Sundays and create jobs. Public holiday and Sunday penalty rates in sectors such as retailing and hospitality will be reduced over several years, a move that has been welcomed by the Business Council of Australia. However, the Australian Retailers Association argues that the full reduction in Sunday rates should have been made by mid-2018, while United Voice will seek to have the FWC decision overturned by the Federal Court.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF EMPLOYMENT, BUSINESS COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN RETAILERS ASSOCIATION, UNITED VOICE, ACTU, AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, TOURISM ACCOMMODATION AUSTRALIA, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

Corporate executives set to escape 457 visa changes

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Original article by Patrick Durkin
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 2 : 5-Jun-17

The Australian Government is expected to release a revised list of occupations that are excluded from the 457 visa scheme by the end of June 2017. The CEOs of several listed companies are among those to be affected by the visa reforms, but business groups are confident that the Government will relax the new rules with regard to senior executives. Sectors such as retailing, hospitality, tourism and higher education are also seeking exemptions from the new visa rules.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF IMMIGRATION AND BORDER PROTECTION, AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY, GRAINCORP LIMITED – ASX GNC, ORICA LIMITED – ASX ORI, NBN CO LIMITED, KORN/FERRY AUSTRALASIA, AUSTRALIAN MINES AND METALS ASSOCIATION (INCORPORATED), BHP BILLITON LIMITED – ASX BHP, WOODSIDE PETROLEUM LIMITED – ASX WPL, AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE IN AUSTRALIA, FRENCH CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY, MERCER CONSULTING GROUP INCORPORATED, WELLS FARGO AND COMPANY, GM HOLDEN LIMITED, 3M CORPORATION, EUROPCAR, UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY

Call for $10,000 limit on cash deals to fight black economy

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Original article by Nassim Khadem
The Age – Page: 18 : 5-Jun-17

Putting an expiry date on $A100 notes is one of the options that Michael Andrew is looking at in a bid to reduce the impact of the cash economy on government revenue. Andrew, who is in charge of the Australian Government’s Black Economy Taskforce, says other options include making electronic transactions more attractive by reducing card fees and imposing a ban on all cash transactions over $A10,000. It has been estimated that the cash economy costs the Government up to $A15 billion, due to "illegal welfare payments" and foregone tax revenue.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE, AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS, BUNNINGS GROUP LIMITED, AUSTRALIA. BOARD OF TAXATION, AUSTRALIAN CRIME COMMISSION, AUSTRALIAN CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION SERVICE

Slavery law to protect supply chains

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Original article by Adele Ferguson
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 40 : 5-Jun-17

The Federal Opposition will announce on 5 June 2017 that it plans to enact an Australian Modern Slavery Act. The proposed Act has the support of the Business Council of Australia, the union movement and Wesfarmers, which has noted the difficulty of ensuring that all parts of its supply chain are run ethically. The Global Slavery Index estimates that there are 4,300 slaves in Australia. Meanwhile, Fair Work Ombudsman Natalie James has confirmed to a recent Senate hearing that it is investigating pizza maker Domino’s over its possible involvement in wage fraud.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, BUSINESS COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA, WESFARMERS LIMITED – ASX WES, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK OMBUDSMAN, DOMINO’S PIZZA ENTERPRISES LIMITED – ASX DMP, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, WOOLWORTHS LIMITED – ASX WOW, PIZZA HUT AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, AUSTRALIAN GREENS, BAIN CAPITAL LLC, DEUTSCHE BANK AG

Trump pulls out of Paris climate deal

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Original article by Cameron Stewart
The Australian – Page: Online : 2-Jun-17

President Donald Trump has confirmed that the US will withdraw from the Paris climate agreement, although he is open to negotiating more favourable terms. Trump has stated that the climate accord in its current form is "very unfair" to the US and represents a "massive redistribution" of wealth from the US to other countries. He also said that the climate accord would have resulted in the loss of around 2.7 million US jobs by 2025. The US would have been required to reduce its carbon emissions by 26-28 per cent from 2005 levels by this date.

CORPORATES
UNITED STATES. EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY, UNITED STATES. DEPT OF STATE

Older Australians are using more drugs while more teens just say ‘no’

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Original article by Rachael Eddie
The New Daily – Page: Online : 1-Jun-17

The 2016 National Drug Strategy Household Survey has revealed a two per cent increase in the number of Australians over the age of 40 using illicit drugs since 2013. The survey was undertaken by Roy Morgan Research on behalf of the Australian Institute of Health & Welfare. Julie Rae from the Australian Drug Foundation suggests thar the need to cope with stress could be one of the reasons for the increase. The survey also found that 98 per cent of teenagers have never smoked, up from 95 per cent in 2013, while the percentage of all Australians who have never smoked rose from 60 per cent in 2013 to 62 per cent in 2016.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN RESEARCH LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN DRUG FOUNDATION, AUSTRALIAN INSTITUTE OF HEALTH AND WELFARE

PM sets regional terror role

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Original article by Dennis Shanahan
The Australian – Page: 1 & 6 : 2-Jun-17

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull will stress the need for greater effort in combatting terrorism within the Asia-Pacific region at the annual Shangri-La defence dialogue in Singapore on 2 July 2017. He will also call for continued free trade, stating that this, along with combatting the growing threat from Islamist-inspired terrorism, will help to ensure continued economic stability and security within the region. Turnbull is also expected to stress the importance of intelligence-sharing in the fight against terrorism.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, UNITED STATES. DEPT OF DEFENSE, ASSOCIATION OF SOUTH-EAST ASIAN NATIONS, SINGAPORE. PRIME MINISTER’S OFFICE, AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY

Both sides dig in for battle over top tax rate

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Original article by Phillip Coorey, Laura Tingle
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 1-Jun-17

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten will reiterate his party’s stance on increasing the Medicare levy in an address to the Committee for Economic Development of Australia summit. Labor wants the income threshold for the 0.5 per cent increase in the levy to be set at $A87,000, rather than being applied to all income-earners. Shorten will also defend Labor’s own increase in the levy in 2013, arguing that there was strong growth in wages at the time, while there had also been a recent increase in the tax-free threshold.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, COMMITTEE FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY

Ten new probes into Domino’s

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Original article by Mario Christodoulou
The Age – Page: 20 : 1-Jun-17

Domino’s Pizza Enterprises has advised that the scale of its internal investigation into wage fraud means a report on the probe will be released up to six months behind schedule. Meanwhile, the Fair Work Ombudsman has indicated that it is now carrying out 26 separate investigations into the underpayment of Domino’s employees. Domino’s CEO Don Meij said earlier in 2017 that about 2,400 employees had been underpaid over a period of three years.

CORPORATES
DOMINO’S PIZZA ENTERPRISES LIMITED – ASX DMP, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK OMBUDSMAN, AUSTRALIA. SENATE EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT LEGISLATION COMMITEE

Fall in collective agreements blamed on union coverage

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 2 : 1-Jun-17

Research shows that just 36.4 per cent of Australian employees were covered by collective agreements in 2016, down from 43.4 per cent in 2010. The authors note that the proportion of workers covered by union agreements has declined since 2014, while coverage by non-union agreements has steadied after falling between 2010 and 2014. ACTU president Ged Kearney claims that on average, full-time workers who are covered by union agreements are paid an additional $A410 per week.

CORPORATES
ACTU, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY