RECOVERY EFFORTS following recent extreme weather have been hampered by a severe shortage of distribution power workers, with the Electrical Trades Union (ETU) claiming lengthy delays to the restoration of electricity to tens of thousands of homes is the direct result of massive job cuts.

More than 60,000 homes remain without power across Sydney, the Central Coast and Blue Mountains — with many to be without electricity until the end of the week — as overstretched crews work around the clock in trying conditions to replace damaged sections of the poles and wires network.

In addition to crews being brought in from around the state, distribution company Ausgrid has reportedly requested assistance from Queensland power companies to cover the chronic shortage of staff.

ETU secretary Justin Page said the large-scale blackouts — which come just months after a previous storm left parts of Sydney’s north shore without power for more than a week — highlighted the impact of 5,000 job losses since 2015 at electrical distributors Ausgrid, Endeavour Energy, and Essential Energy.

“Our members have been working around the clock in recent days, desperately attempting to restore power to homes and businesses, but the fact is that with 5,000 fewer workers there simply aren’t as many highly-skilled people available to do the work,” Mr Page said.

“Despite the network growing in size, and the risks posed by extreme weather and climate change increasing, staffing levels in the NSW electricity network have never been as low as they currently are.

“Power workers have been doing emergency restoration work for months straight, including throughout the recent bushfire crisis, repairing unprecedented amounts of damage to vital electricity infrastructure.

“But the NSW Government’s privatisation agenda, and imposed cuts from the Federal Government’s Australian Energy Regulator, have combined to drive the loss of 40 per cent of the jobs at the state’s three electricity distributors," he said.

“While the bushfires may have been unprecedented, scientists have long warned that climate change would cause more frequent and extreme weather events, yet rather than increase resources to make our power network more resilient we continue to see the loss of specialist distribution workers.

“Our union has repeatedly warned that the unsustainable slashing of jobs would impact recovery efforts following fires, floods, storms and other natural disasters, yet rather than act on those warnings we have seen the cuts continue, with another 1,300 jobs at risk at NSW electricity distributors in the next three years.

“We need the NSW and Federal governments to learn from the current situation and deliver an immediate boost to the resources available to repair the electricity poles and wires in a timely way following natural disasters.

“Extreme weather events such as storms and bushfires are becoming more common with climate change, so the prudent way to make the power network more resilient is to immediately stop planned cuts and begin rebuilding job numbers to take action on these risks.”

ends

AUSTRALASIA'S largest online auction company and Australia’s largest marina and marine services company have partnered to create a new boat sales platform.

For the first time, boat owners will be able to access a mass market digital sales platform to sell via auction or private treaty, while still having the involvement of an experienced brokerage service. 

The marketplace is set to change the secondhand boat sales industry by giving boat sellers more certainty around the timeliness of the sale of their vessel.  At the same time, confidence around the sales result will be made possible by the power of the platform.  Buyers and sellers will also be able to benefit from d’Albora’s wide range of marine services including berthing, boatyard and repair and maintenance services. 

GraysOnline chief operating officer, Jeff McLean said, “Australian boat owners take on average between 6-12 months to sell their boat. This marketplace will enable a 7 day auction process whilst maintaining d’albora’s brokerage expertise; a transformational leap for private boat owners.”

Matt Walford, d’Albora Marine Boat Sales CEO said, “We’re excited to be aligning with such a highly regarded market leader in Grays and pleased to be adding such a powerful platform to our existing offering”.

About d'Albora Marine

Part of Australia’s leading marina services group, D’Albora Marine provides specialist boat sales services from ten locations spread throughout New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria. D’Albora is also the exclusive Australian distributor for Azimut (Azimut Benetti Group).  

https://www.dalboramarine.com.au/

About GraysOnline

GraysOnline is the largest industrial, auto and commercial online auction business in Australasia, offering a huge range of industrial, auto, consumer and commercial goods, direct from manufacturers and distributors. GraysOnline is revolutionizing how assets are being sourced, sold and purchased throughout the world. A best in class e-commerce platform and commitment to customer service, makes buying and selling with GraysOnline easy, efficient, fair and transparent.

https://www.graysonline.com

ends

THE Indigenous Affairs Committee will hear from a number of Indigenous businesses today in Canberra as part of its Inquiry into Pathways and Participation Opportunities for Indigenous Australians in Employment and Business.

Committee chair Julian Leeser MP said the views and experiences of successful Indigenous-owned enterprises will be hugely important for the inquiry.

"The Indigenous Business Trade Fair in Parliament House tomorrow will provide an opportune time to hold discussions with some of the participants," Mr Leeser said.

"Who better than existing Indigenous companies to advise us on what government might do to foster more business start-ups and greater economic independence among our First Nations communities.

"This is our first public hearing and we hope to speak to many more of these businesses in the coming months in a variety of sectors."

The public hearing will be from 12.30-1.30pm and the full program will be available at the inquiry website.

ends

WITH EMPLOYEE underpayment scandals occurring with increasing regularity, new research has revealed that 48 percent of organisations want better information on penalty rates and other shift work entitlements, to enable their payroll departments to do their jobs better.

The research comes from a survey of more than 630 payroll managers by the Australian Payroll Association, one of Australia’s leading networks in payroll training, consulting and advisory for employers.

The results indicated that the building and construction industry most struggled with understanding shift work entitlements: 74 percent of payroll managers admitting they required more knowledge of this entitlement for better job performance. This compared with half the amount (37 percent) of payroll managers from the professional, scientific and technical services industries that felt they required more knowledge regarding shift work entitlements, including penalty rates.

The data also revealed which other entitlements payroll managers require more knowledge of: Forty-five (45) percent need more information about general tax requirements across multiple employee payment categories, 40 percent need more knowledge of long service leave payment rules, and 43 percent need more information on redundancy pay entitlements.

Payroll managers in smaller companies of under 50 people were much more concerned about redundancy pay, with 59 percent declaring it was an entitlement they required more information about to perform their job to a higher standard. This compared with only 31 percent of payroll managers at large companies with more than 5,000 employers who felt they needed more information on this entitlement.

Tracy Angwin, a leading Australian expert on payroll and the CEO and founder of the Australian Payroll Association, said, “With more and more companies facing Fair Work action as a result of employee underpayments, organisations must minimise the incidence of payroll errors. Payroll managers require proper training and qualification to maximise job performance and accuracy.

"The Australian Payroll Association offers online and in-person training sessions, as well as formal payroll qualifications for payroll personnel, to help them keep up-to-date with the technical aspects of payroll. We can also help them to find out how they can automate or simplify their payroll processes, as well as optimise their payroll functions.”

About Australian Payroll Association

Australian Payroll Association is one of Australia’s leading networks in payroll training, consulting and advisory for employers. It offers end-to-end payroll process reviews, compliance auditing, specialist recruitment services, payroll qualifications and training courses, and a membership program. Established in 2010, Australian Payroll Association offers the only nationally accredited payroll qualifications at Certificate IV and Diploma level through its registered training organisation, Australian Payroll Institute. It also holds annual events including its national conference and end of year seminars, in addition to releasing an annual Payroll Benchmarking Report. It also has a regular digital podcast series called ‘Talking Payroll’. 

austpayroll.com.au.

ends