AUSTRALIA – POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT

Government cracks down on dodgy private colleges

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Tim Dodd
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 11 : 16-Oct-15

The Australian Government has introduced a bill in Parliament to make it easier to cancel students loans that are issued under the VET FEE HELP scheme. Vocational Education and Skills Minister Luke Hartsuyker said on 15 October 2015 that said the bill will offer students more protection against unscrupulous private colleges.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING, AUSTRALIAN CAREERS NETWORK LIMITED – ASX ACO

PM deflects barbs over tax haven

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 11 : 15-Oct-15

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has been accused by the Australian Labor Party of having investments in companies registered in the Cayman Islands. Labor senator Sam Dastyari said on 14 October 2015 that it is inappropriate for Turnbull to have investments in a tax haven. In response to Dastyari’s accusations, Turnbull said his investments were made in accordance with the ministerial code of conduct.

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

Resources companies welcome industrial relations law changes

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Joanna Mather
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 14-Oct-15

The Senate has passed amendments to the Fair Work Act which enable the Fair Work Commission to make a ruling when enterprise bargaining negotiations on new projects have been stalled for six months. The Australian Mines & Metals Association and the Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association say the reforms should boost investment.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN MINES AND METALS ASSOCIATION (INCORPORATED), AUSTRALIAN PETROLEUM PRODUCTION AND EXPLORATION ASSOCIATION LIMITED, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, FAMILY FIRST PARTY AUSTRALIA LIMITED

Labor to pass China FTA despite unions

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 14-Oct-15

The Australian Government is expected to agree to some minor changes to the free trade agreement with China that have been endorsed by the Opposition’s caucus. The three amendments to the Migration Act relate to foreign workers who are hired on 457 visas. The trade deal is now expected to be passed by Parliament within weeks, allowing it to come into effect by the end of 2015. However, ACTU president Ged Kearney says the protection of Australian jobs is still a concern.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, ACTU, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND TRADE, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF IMMIGRATION AND BORDER PROTECTION

Denials wear thin as evidence mounts

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Ben Schneiders
The Age – Page: 5 : 14-Oct-15

Melbourne’s EastLink tollroad project was finished well ahead of schedule, but evidence presented to the trade union royal commission demonstrates that industrial peace came at a cost. Julian Rzesniowiecki was a senior executive at Thiess John Holland, who kept records showing that the Australian Workers’ Union had proposed that Thiess pay $A300,000 for one union organiser to be on site. The proposal was put forward by current Opposition Leader Bill Shorten in his capacity as head of the AWU. He had initially proposed that Thiess pay for four AWU members to be on site for the life of the project.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. ROYAL COMMISSION INTO TRADE UNION GOVERNANCE AND CORRUPTION, AUSTRALIAN WORKERS’ UNION-FEDERATION OF INDUSTRIAL, MANUFACTURING AND ENGINEERING EMPLOYEES, THIESS JOHN HOLLAND, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

Labor wins free trade concessions

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 4 : 13-Oct-15

The Australian Labor Party will release its proposed legislative changes to protect Australian jobs on 12 October 2015. The Federal Government is reportedly willing to agree to amend the Migration Act in order to ensure the passage of the China-Australia free trade agreement through Parliament. The matter was discussed by Trade Minister Andrew Robb and his Opposition counterpart, Penny Wong.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND TRADE, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, THE AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRY GROUP, AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY

Termination changes for 7-Elevens worry franchisees

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Adele Ferguson, Sarah Danckert
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 5 : 13-Oct-15

Australian Greens MP Adam Bandt wants an amendment to the Fair Work Act in the wake of the wage exploitation scandal at 7-Eleven. His private members’ bill would make a franchisor liable if a franchisee fails to pay staff the correct wages. Meanwhile, 7-Eleven franchisees in Melbourne are concerned that they will not gain much from a proposed change in the way profits are split with head office. They also fear that new termination clauses could be exploited by head office.

CORPORATES
7-ELEVEN STORES PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN GREENS

Abbott ahead of PM in social media engagement at least

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Dominic White
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 13-Oct-15

Figures from BrandData show that Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is less popular on social media than his predecessor, Tony Abbott. Turnbull also trails behind ex-prime ministers Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard in terms of engagement on Twitter. He boasts 456,000 followers on Twitter, while Rudd has 1.6 million. However, Turnbull is ranked in first place on YouTube.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, BRAND DATA PTY LTD, TWITTER INCORPORATED, YOUTUBE INCORPORATED, FACEBOOK INCORPORATED

PM explores radical road, rail funding

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Jacob Greber
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 4 : 12-Oct-15

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has signalled that the Australian Government is open to "innovative" options for funding infrastructure projects. These are believed to include capitalising on rising property values by channelling a proportion of revenue from land taxes into securities that would be sold to investors. The Australian Labor Party recently revealed plans to establish a $A10bn fund to finance infrastructure projects.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF INFRASTRUCTURE AND REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, INFRASTRUCTURE AUSTRALIA, CURTIN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY, AUSTRALIAN GREENS

Penalty rates a relic of class war

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by David Leyonhjelm
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 38 : 9-Oct-15

If the Australian Government is serious about job creation, it should remove penalty rates. A bill introduced by Senator David Leyonhjelm, of the Liberal Democratic Party, would remove obstacles to job creation in the restaurant, retail and tourism industries. The bill removes penalty rates for working on Saturday and Sunday. However, penalty rates would apply after the first 10 hours of work on any day.

CORPORATES
LIBERAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY