BUSINESS AND POLITICS – AUSTRALIA

Supermarket hit could rock us all

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Original article by Jess Malcolm, Geoff Chambers, Lydia Lynch
The Australian – Page: 4 : 9-Apr-24

The Australian Chamber of Commerce & Industry has expressed reservations about any push to make the food and grocery code of conduct mandatory rather than voluntary. ACCI CEO Andrew McKellar has responded to the release of Craig Emerson’s interim report on his review of the code of conduct by warning that excessive regulation could have "unintended consequences". Amongst other things, Emerson has recommended fining supermarkets up to 10 per cent of their turnover for breaches of the code. Meanwhile, Opposition leader Peter Dutton has described Emerson’s inquiry as a "Mickey Mouse review conducted by a Labor mate"; Emerson is a former federal Labor minister.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

CBA chief in call for radical tax overhaul

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Original article by Paulina Duran
The Australian – Page: 19 : 27-Mar-24

Commonwealth Bank of Australia CEO Matt Comyn has called for a major revamp of the nation’s tax system as part of the federal government’s economic growth strategy. Amongst other things, Comyn has proposed the abolition of inefficient taxes such as stamp duties and payroll tax. He has also advocated streamlining the personal income tax regime and the existing tax brackets, including lifting the tax-free threshold to $20,000. Comyn adds that the GST could be increased from 10 per cent to 15 per cent to offset the loss of personal income tax revenue, while he has proposed banning cash payments of more than $500 in order to combat the black economy.

CORPORATES
COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA

BHP urges Labor to fix IR before issuing subsidies

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Original article by Peter Ker, Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 21-Feb-24

BHP CEO Mike Henry says the resources group would be supportive of any assistance for Australia’s embattled nickel industry, such as a short-term production tax credit. However, he warns that a tax credit may not be sufficient to save the industry, given the significant challenges facing the nickel market. Henry adds that getting industrial relations policy right is more important than offering subsidies and rescue packages. BHP in particular will be impacted by the same job, same pay’ regime for labour hire workers. BHP’s wholly-owned labour hire firm, Operations Services, pays workers less than their colleagues employed on site-specific enterprise bargaining agreements. BHP’s Western Australian nickel mines are among the sites that use Operations Services workers.

CORPORATES
BHP GROUP LIMITED – ASX BHP, OPERATIONS SERVICES

Shambolic right to disconnect fix

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 14-Feb-24

The federal government was criticised over its failure to consult with employers’ groups regarding the ‘right to disconnect’ provisions of its latest industrial relations reforms. Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke has attracted further criticism for belatedly consulting with employers with regard to the Fair Work Amendment Bill 2024, which is intended to remove criminal penalties for employers who breach the right to disconnect. The haste with which the Closing Loopholes Bill No. 2 was pushed through parliament resulted in the criminal penalties inadvertently being left in the legislation.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF EMPLOYMENT AND WORKPLACE RELATIONS

Refinery closure to wipe out 1000 jobs

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Original article by Paul Garvey
The Australian – Page: 2 : 10-Jan-24

US-based Alcoa has confirmed that its Kwinana alumina refinery in Western Australia will be closed. Its workforce will be reduced to about 50 by the September 2025 quarter, compared with about 800 employees and 300 contractors at present. WA’s state development minister David Honey says the plant’s closure is unnecessary; he contends that the state government’s failure to issue Alcoa with new bauxite mining approvals and the federal government’s emissions reduction target are to blame. However, federal Resources Minister Madeleine King attributes the closure to factors beyond the government’s control, such as the plant’s age and declining bauxite grades at Alcoa’s mine.

CORPORATES
ALCOA INCORPORATED, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF INDUSTRY, SCIENCE AND RESOURCES

ALP holding us back: miners

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Original article by Joe Kelly
The Australian – Page: 1 & 2 : 9-Jan-24

Minerals Council of Australia CEO Tania Constable says the federal government is "taking the resources sector for granted" and its policy settings are aimed at making the industry anti-competitive. She has called for major government support for the resources sector to ensure that Australia continues to be attractive to investors. Constable adds that the government needs to support the sector as a whole, rather than focusing on critical minerals. Analysis shows that 72 coal, iron ore and oil and gas projects have been shelved, delayed or failed to progress in the last 12 months.

CORPORATES
MINERALS COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA

Small business lashes senators over insulting haste on IR bill

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Original article by Sarah Ison
The Australian – Page: 2 : 19-Dec-23

The Council of Small Business Organisations Australia has criticised the Senate for passing the Closing Loopholes Bill on federal parliament’s last sitting day for the year. COSBOA’s CEO Luke Achterstraat and chairman Matthew Addison have written to senators expressing their concern that the bill was passed too quickly and without consulting employers; this includes amendments that were only announced on the day the legislation was passed. COSBOA also contends that provisions of the bill that were hived off and will be voted on separately in 2024 should be abandoned.

CORPORATES
COUNCIL OF SMALL BUSINESS ORGANISATIONS OF AUSTRALIA LIMITED

Business pans unfair IR deal with Greens

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 5 : 30-Nov-23

The federal government’s Closing Loopholes Bill was passed by the lower house on Wednesday, with more than 80 amendments that Labor had agreed to implement. However, employers’ groups have criticised a Greens amendment that will have major implications for the government’s intractable bargaining laws, which allow unions or employers to unilaterally go to arbitration after nine months of failed bargaining. The amendment means that employees’ existing conditions cannot be reduced via such arbitration. Australian Chamber of Commerce & Industry CEO Andrew McKellar says the Fair Work Commission will make a lot more unilateral decisions as a result of this amendment, which will in turn further reduce productivity.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIAN GREENS, AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY

More IR changes make bad bill worse

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 29-Nov-23

The federal government tabled 81 amendments to its Closing Loopholes Bill in the lower house on Tuesday. Australian Industry Group CEO Innes Willox and Minerals Council of Australia CEO Tania Constable have expressed concern about some of the amendments, with the latter contending that they will broaden the union movement’s powers with regard to the ‘same job, same pay’ provisions. However, Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke has described the amendments as "practical reforms".

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF EMPLOYMENT AND WORKPLACE RELATIONS, THE AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRY GROUP, MINERALS COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA

Communication fail: Optus opts out

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Original article by Simon Benson, Joseph Lam, Jess Malcolm
The Australian – Page: 1 & 5 : 9-Nov-23

Communications Minister Michelle Rowland says Optus should have been upfront with its customers regarding the network outage that caused nationwide chaos on Wednesday. The Optus network went offline at about 4am, but the telco did not issue its first statement online until 6.45am and CEO Kelly Bayer Rosmarin did not make any public statements until 10.30am. Optus’s mobile network, internet and landline services were not fully restored until about 6pm. Bayer Rosmarin says the outage was caused by a "vey technical network engineering issue" and Optus technicians have yet to determine its cause; however, she has emphasised that it was not due to a botched network upgrade.

CORPORATES
SINGTEL OPTUS PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF INFRASTRUCTURE, TRANSPORT, REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT, COMMUNICATIONS AND THE ARTS