MINE WORKER and employer representatives have warned the Queensland Government that uncertainty about the royalty rates it applies to the resources sector is creating job uncertainty.

Queensland Resources Council chief executive Ian Macfarlane and CFMEU Mining and Energy Division Queensland District president Stephen Smyth said the Queensland Government should rule out any increase in royalty rates applying to resource commodities, such as coal, metals and LNG, this week.

“Unemployment in Queensland is rising.  The resources industry, particularly coal, has been creating jobs and paying record royalties to the Government,” Mr Macfarlane and Mr Smyth said in a joint statement.

“Now is not the time to increase taxes on the industry, because increasing taxes creates uncertainty for investors and ultimately that means uncertainty for those men and women working in the resources industry.

“The Palaszczuk Government will receive more than $5 billion in resource royalties this financial year.  That’s a record Budget contribution from our industry.

“Instead of getting credit for generating record royalty revenues and record exports for Queensland, the men and women working in the resources sector are being told by southerners like Bob Brown to abandon their careers and reskill.

“The Queensland Government should give those mine workers, their families and their communities a commitment that it supports the industry and that it rules out increasing taxes and royalties that hurt the industry and force it to review planned investments and employment.”

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THE Federal Opposition’s plan to help victims of wage theft recoup entitlements is a welcome development, but stops short of necessary reforms to ensure super is paid to workers’ accounts at the same time as wages, Industry Super Australia said.

Industry Super Australia chief executive Bernie Dean said the only way to stop the millions of Australians being robbed of their super entitlements every year is for the major parties to commit to changing the law and requiring all employers to pay super at the same time as salary.

“Anything less is a band-aid solution that won’t fix the problem and will see millions of Australians end up worse off at retirement,” Mr Dean said.

New polling conducted by UMR has revealed that Australians overwhelmingly want the major parties to take action on unpaid super at this election, with 89 percent of people polled supporting a law that would require employers to pay super at the same time as salary.

Of those polled, more than half said the issue would influence how they vote at this election. Mr Dean said people’s outrage on unpaid super was justified.

“Super is meant to be guaranteed for everyone, but we’re seeing that it’s not guaranteed at all for about a third of eligible workers,” he said.

“Hardworking Australians rightly expect that the super they are legally entitled to is paid into their account. Instead, rogue employers are ripping of these workers, and because the penalties are lax and enforcement is weak, they are getting away with daylight robbery.”

Mr Dean said the establishment of a new claims jurisdiction to help workers recoup lost entitlements was welcome, but didn’t fix the cause of the problem.

“If the law was changed we wouldn’t need to help workers’ get their super back because employers wouldn’t have been able to steal it in the first place,” he said.

“It’s disappointing the major parties are turning a blind eye to the fact that nearly three million Australians are having close to $6 billion in super entitlements stolen from them every year.

“Politicians are looked after – they have their own special law that guarantees they get paid super at the same time as they get paid their wage. But what about the rest of Australians? It’s a double standard to have one rule for politicians and another for average Australians.”

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THE AUTHORS of a ground breaking study on wage theft have welcomed the Federal Opposition’s policy announcement to give underpaid workers an ‘efficient and effective avenue to reclaim unpaid wages’.

The Labor Party announced today that it would create a new small claims jurisdiction with funding for legal assistance for workers to file wage claims.

Senior law lecturer at the University of NSW (UNSW) Law department, Bassina Farbenblum, and senior law lecturer at University of Technology Sydney (UTS) Law, Laurie Berg, released the Wage Theft in Silence report late last year.

Dr Laurie Berg said their research found that more than half of temporary migrants surveyed were underpaid, but only a small minority were able to reclaim the wages owed to them.

“Our study on wage theft among almost 4,500 temporary migrant workers showed that underpaid migrant workers don’t get their money back and the system is broken,” Dr Berg said.

Ms Farbenblum said there was an entrenched cycle of impunity for wage theft.

“There’s no way to break this cycle unless workers have a quick, cheap and accessible avenue to reclaim the wages they are owed, and can hold employers to account,” she said.

The researchers have encouraged all sides of politics to propose similar measures to the Labor announcement, to assist underpaid workers.

www.uts.edu.au

www.unsw.edu.au

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THE Prime Minister’s plan to help first-home buyers purchase with only a 5 percent deposit could have a major impact on the broader economy, according to RiskWise Property Research.

RiskWise Property Research CEO Doron Peleg said the Coalition’s First Home Loan Deposit Scheme, particularly in the current market and with the increased likelihood of interest rate cuts by the RBA, was by far more effective than Labor’s proposed taxation changes and would support the market instead of further weakening it.

He said, based on previous outcomes when the first-home buyers’ grant was implemented by the Labor Government in 2008, there would be a positive flow-on affect to the broader market.

“When the grant was introduced it saw an increase in demand from first-home buyers for established affordable properties and this resulted in a larger number of sellers of those properties, who in turn became upgraders and therefore significantly increased the demand for more expensive properties," Mr Peleg said.

“This then had a further upward impact on the demand across the entire market.

“And this will help boost GDP growth, through an increase in household consumption, as well as have a positive impact on jobs and property-related costs.”

The Coalition government has announced it will underwrite home loan deposits for first-home buyers who cannot achieve the 20 percent that most banks require.

“Although the number of loans is expected to amount to around 10,000, when you take this amount and add in the saving of the LMI, potential interest rate cuts and the flow-on effect on upgraders, this could support particularly affordable markets that are more appealing to first home buyers,” Mr Peleg said.

“Also, the Prime Minister has said he would like to run the scheme through second tier lenders and this will further improve the position of non-bank lenders in the market.”

The First Home Loan Deposit Scheme, adopted from New Zealand’s Welcome Home Loan program and announced by the Prime Minister Scott Morrison at the Liberals’ formal campaign launch in Melbourne last week, will mean first-home buyers, who have been able to save a deposit of at least 5 percent, will be able to access a government guarantee for the remainder of up to 20 percent of a property’s value. It will also remove the costs of paying lenders’ mortgage insurance.

The scheme will offer up to $500 million in equity through the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation, would start on January 1, 2020, and be capped for individuals earning $125,000 and couples earning $200,000.

The value of homes that can be purchased under the schemed would be determined on a regional basis. Labor has said it will match the Coalition plan, stating it could afford to do so as it was “closing loopholes” for the wealthy.

Mr Peleg said Labor’s proposed taxation changes, to limit negative gearing to new homes only and cut capital gains tax from 50 to 25 per cent, would have “unintended consequences” and further impact an already weak housing market.

“The property market has been experiencing ongoing weakness,” he said.

“Tighter lending standards, the findings of the Banking Royal Commission, political uncertainty, fears of the potential changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax, restrictions on foreign investors, unit oversupply and large falls in dwelling commencements have all had a material impact.

“The Coalition’s plan brings a number of potential benefits with a positive flow-on effect on the housing market and the broader economy. At this point of time when the market needs strong measures to support demand, the Coalition’s scheme, alongside potentially two interest rate cuts, will deliver good benefits across the board.

“First, the number of qualified buyers will increase. Many first home buyers who currently don’t have sufficient deposits will be able to significantly decrease the amount of time it takes to purchase a property, even for 90 percent LVR.

“Secondly, they will be able to save the costs associated with loan mortgage insurance which amounts to thousands of dollars and could be well into the five figures.”

In New Zealand, the Welcome Home Loan scheme, launched in 2003, means first-home buyers only need a 10 percent deposit as opposed to a 20 percent one normally required by most lenders.

www.riskwiseproperty.com.au

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