BUSINESS AND POLITICS – AUSTRALIA

Push for Cup public holiday alarms business

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 9-Aug-23

Australian Industry Group CEO Innes Willox is among the business leaders who have expressed concern about a proposal for a public holiday if the Matildas win the FIFA Women’s World Cup. He says businesses will face additional costs at a time when the economy is already under pressure. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese intends to raise the issue of a public holiday at the national cabinet meeting next week, and is confident that state and territory leaders will support the proposal. The World Cup final will be held in Sydney on 20 August.

CORPORATES
FEDERATION INTERNATIONALE DE FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION, MATILDAS, THE AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRY GROUP, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET

Labor’s IR push driven by myths, slogans: AiGroup

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Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 2-Aug-23

Australian Industry Group CEO Innes Willox contends that the federal government’s second tranche of industrial relations reforms will not help to boost productivity. He will use a National Press Club speech on Wednesday to argue that many of the proposed reforms are in fact "anti-productivity". Willox will also argue that the government’s IR agenda is focused on slogans such as ‘get wages moving’ and ‘same job, same pay’, when its priority should be to reduce the complexity of the IR system. Willox says a simpler and more transparent workplace system should be the goal.

CORPORATES
THE AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRY GROUP, NATIONAL PRESS CLUB (AUSTRALIA)

PM urged not to visit China till sanctions go

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Original article by Patrick Commins
The Australian – Page: 2 : 26-Jul-23

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese remains under pressure to postpone a proposed official visit to China amid ongoing trade tensions. Warwick Smith from the Business Council of Australia says China’s trade sanctions are an "endless point of contention" that must be addressed before Albanese considers visiting China. Smith says the Productivity Commission’s recent finding that the trade restrictions had resulted in little impact on the Australian economy shows that China’s stance had been a "political own-goal"; however, he notes that individual companies had been heavily impacted by the sanctions. The wine industry in particular has found it hard to secure alternative export markets.

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

Business backs Lowe on productivity

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Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 5 : 19-Jul-23

Australian Industry Group CEO Innes Willox is amongst the business leaders who have expressed support for comments made by Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe regarding productivity. Lowe told the G20 meeting on Monday that low productivity worldwide is a bigger challenge than inflation, and that there is no political will to implement measures to address the problem. Willox says there has been a lack of real policy focus on productivity agenda for more than 15 years. Business Council of Australia CEO Jennifer Westacott in turn contends that industrial relations policy right is the key to addressing the nation’s productivity challenge.

CORPORATES
THE AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRY GROUP, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, BUSINESS COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA

Gas code poised for release

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Original article by Colin Packham
The Australian – Page: 13 & 16 : 5-Jul-23

The federal government will shortly release the full text of its new mandatory code of conduct for the gas industry, which will require gas to be sold at a "reasonable price". Senex Energy and Cooper Energy are amongst the companies that have suspended or delayed gas projects due to concerns about the code, which is being introduced as part of the government’s controversial intervention in the gas industry. The Australian Consumer & Competition Commission recently concluded that the nation should have sufficient gas supplies for the next 18 months.

CORPORATES
SENEX ENERGY LIMITED, COOPER ENERGY LIMITED – ASX COE

Industry chiefs lash critical minerals plan

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Original article by Nick Evans
The Australian – Page: 16 : 21-Jun-23

Mineral Resources MD Chris Ellison has described the federal government’s critical minerals strategy as "empty rhetoric" and a "missed opportunity" to attract international investment in the commodities that will be essential to the energy transition. He contends that measures such as tax incentives, fast-tracked approvals and financial assistance are needed if the government is serious about competing with countries such as the US and its ­Inflation Reduction Act. Resources Minister Madeleine King says the critical minerals strategy is aimed at setting out a framework to allow the government to give targeted support to industry in the future.

CORPORATES
MINERAL RESOURCES LIMITED – ASX MIN, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF INDUSTRY, SCIENCE AND RESOURCES

Business to target Burke in IR battle

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Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 4 : 21-Jun-23

Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke has criticised an advertising campaign opposing the federal government’s proposed ‘same job, same pay’ law for labour hire workers. He says the advertisements’ claim that inexperienced labour hire worker would have to be paid the same as an experienced, full-time employee is false. However, the employers’ groups that are funding the campaign will persist with it; they intend to target Burke’s electorate of Watson in particular, via mobile and fixed billboard ads. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese recently stated that the labour hire reforms would be "limited and targeted".

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF EMPLOYMENT AND WORKPLACE RELATIONS, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET

Business cuts a deal on workplace rules

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Original article by Jennifer Hewett
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 2 : 15-Jun-23

The Australian Resources & Energy Employer Association still opposes the proposed ‘same job, same pay’ laws for labour hire workers. However, CEO Steve Knott says AREEA believes that the federal government will legislate the changes in some form, regardless of the widespread opposition. AREEA will therefore shift its focus to influencing how the policy is implemented. In contrast, AREEA had funded its own advertising campaign against the multi-employer bargaining provisions in the government’s first tranche of industrial relations reforms.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN RESOURCES AND ENERGY EMPLOYER ASSOCIATION

BHP seeks to lift nuclear barriers

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Original article by Geoff Carmody
The Australian – Page: 1 & 2 : 7-Jun-23

It has been revealed that BHP used its pre-budget submission to urge the federal government to include nuclear power in the nation’s energy mix in order to help achieve its climate targets. BHP’s chief technical officer Laura Tyler had previously told a forum in 2022 that nuclear energy needs to be "part of the conversation" and that uranium should be considered as a source of baseload power. The International Energy Agency has also stated that nuclear power can play an important role in the energy transition, while Opposition leader Peter Dutton used his budget reply speech in May to argue the case for small modular nuclear reactors.

CORPORATES
BHP GROUP LIMITED – ASX BHP, INTERNATIONAL ENERGY AGENCY, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA

Australia’s critical minerals crunch

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Original article by Nick Evans
The Australian – Page: 13 & 16 : 25-May-23

The issue of processing rare earths and critical minerals in Australia was a key issue of discussion at a mining summit in Perth on Wednesday. Iluka Resources MD Tom O’Leary flagged the potential for a domestic critical minerals reservation, which would allow projects to be approved on the condition that a certain proportion of the output would have to be processed in Australia. He noted that a similar gas reservation scheme has been successful in Western Australia. Former WA premier Richard Court in turn suggested that state governments could encourage increased downstream processing of critical minerals by introducing differential royalty rates.

CORPORATES
ILUKA RESOURCES LIMITED – ASX ILU