THE Queensland Resources Council (QRC) has welcomed the proposed merger of local Metallica Minerals and Canadian company Melior Resources as further proof of growing confidence in the State’s resources industry. 

Under the proposal, Melior will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Metallica, which will remain listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX). 

QRC chief executive Ian Macfarlane said he welcomed the recognition, in the merger announcement, on a pipeline of longer term development and exploration assets, all located in Queensland. 

These assets include: Goondicum Ilmenite and Phosphate rock mine; Cape York Heavy Mineral Sands and Bauxite Project JV; Cape Flattery Silica Sands Project; and the Esmeralda Graphite Project.

“At a time when the resources sector is creating a new job every hour and a $1 billion in exports every week, the proposed Metallica-Melior is further good news for a sector doing great things in Queensland,” Mr Macfarlane said. 

Simon Slesarewich, who will retain the managing director’s role, is a QRC board member. 

www.qrc.org.au

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QUEENSLAND’s leading women in resources will be in Canberra this week (Thursday) vying for top honours in the Women in Resources National Awards. 

They were the winners of the Queensland Resources Council (QRC) Women in Mining and Resources Queensland (WIMARQ) state awards presented in Brisbane in March and will join finalists from all other states and territories at the presentation event at Parliament House in the nation’s capital.

The awards will be presented by Kelly O’Dwyer, Minister for Jobs, Industrial Relations and Women and the Chair of the Minerals Council of Australia (MCA) Board of Directors Dr Vanessa Guthrie.

More than 20 federal parliamentarians will attend the awards breakfast in the Mural Hall, including Karen Andrews MP, Minister for Industry, Science and Technology.

“It’s testament to the importance of gender diversity in resources that so many federal parliamentarians are attending this event,” said QRC chief executive Ian Macfarlane.

“I am proud of all our Queensland finalists who are great examples of people and companies who have championed the cause of improving diversity in our resources sector.

“Here in Queensland our sector is creating a job every hour and it needs all hands to the pump to ensure we have the skilled workforce to match demand.

“That means we can’t afford to be missing out on the talents of half our population.

“Currently, women make up 15 percent of our workforce and I’m confident that through the efforts of our finalists, and our sector in general, we will reach our goal of at least 20 percent women in ‘non-traditional’ roles by 2020.

“Once we’ve reached that number, with the innovation and technology around today there’s no reason why we can’t aim for gender parity in our sector.

“I wish all our Queensland finalists well, but whatever the result, all remain winners and will continue to be our best ambassadors for our sector in Queensland.”

WIMARQ chair Maria Joyce said the awards not only recognised achievement, but also the finalists' dedication to creating workplaces that better reflected society.

“It’s been well documented that better gender balance leads to more innovation, improved safety and profitability for companies so it’s a no-brainer that we should be attracting and retaining more women in our sector,” she said.

“It’s notable that when these awards began in Queensland in 2006 the proportion of women was just six percent, and now it’s 15.

“Our finalists, and those who came before them have shown exceptional leadership in our sector’s efforts to increase gender diversity, and I wish them well.”

Queensland’s finalists:

• Jo -Anne Dudley senior manager Strategic Mine and Resources Planning Rio Tinto (Exceptional Woman in Queensland Resources)
• Holstein Wong Supply Analysis BHP (Exceptional Young Woman in Queensland Resources)
• Dannielle Weston Diesel Fitter Hastings Deering (Exceptional Queensland Trade/Technician/Operator)
• Rachel Durdin General Manager, Project Shaping Rio Tinto Brisbane (Gender Diversity Champion in Queensland Resources)
• Rio Tinto Weipa (Excellence in Diversity Programs and Performance)

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PRO-WHALING nations including Japan, Iceland and Norway have blocked plans to create a whale sanctuary spanning the South Atlantic Ocean.

The Sanctuary failed in a vote at today’s International Whaling Commission (IWC) meeting in Brazil when whaling nations Japan, Iceland and Norway and other pro-whaling countries voted against the proposal.

The South Atlantic Whale Sanctuary failed to achieve the three-quarters majority needed to be established. 39 countries voted for the sanctuary, 25 against, with three abstentions. The Australia Government voted to support the establishment of the South Atlantic Whale Sanctuary.

“The world’s whales need sanctuary. Whales have never faced such a range of threats. Climate change, entanglement in fishing nets, plastic pollution, underwater noise and ship strikes threaten our ocean giants” said Tooni Mahto, campaigns manager with the Australian Marine Conservation Society (AMCS).

“There is an urgent need for us to better protect our whales and dolphins now, before it's too late.

“This sanctuary would have given our magnificent whales vital protection, and supported the growth of sustainable whale watching tourism to benefit local communities.

“Once again whaling nations have stood in the way of progress at the IWC.

“Pro-whaling nations have repeatedly blocked much-needed conservation measures like whale sanctuaries at recent IWC meetings, while pushing for a return to commercial whaling.

“Rather than supporting sanctuary for the whales, Japan wants to drag us back to the bad old days of global whaling.

“It is outrageous that Japan is urging the IWC to lift the ban on commercial whaling, and arguing for new commercial whaling quotas to be opened by 2020.

The IWC is due to debate the Government of Japan’s controversial “Way Forward” proposal that would lead to the resumption of commercial whaling tomorrow (Wednesday September 12, Brazil time).

Whale populations in the South Atlantic Ocean have been heavily impacted by commercial whaling and are yet to fully recover, AMCS said.

The ‘South Atlantic Whale Sanctuary’ proposal was put forward by the governments of Brazil, Argentina, Gabon, South Africa and Uruguay. Brazil committed to bring the proposal for a South Atlantic Whale Sanctuary back to next IWC meeting for approval.

AMCS is attending the meeting. The 89 nation IWC meets every two years.

The full Commission meeting is taking place in Florianopolis, Brazil September 10-14.

www.amcs.org.au

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THE House Committee on Tax and Revenue has today presented its report on taxpayer engagement with the tax system.

Presenting the report in the House of Representatives today, committee chair Jason Falinski MP said the committee’s 13 recommendations were aimed at making tax obligations in Australia easier to administer and easier for taxpayers to comply with.

“This inquiry involved a comprehensive assessment of the state of play of tax administration in Australia and in comparable nations overseas,” Mr Falinski said.

“The committee found that while the ATO’s ‘Reinvention’ as a modern tax administration service is well underway, our complex tax system is throwing up some hurdles to full automation — as advanced in Sweden, the United Kingdom and closer to home New Zealand, where most taxpayers need only approve a prefilled form.”

Reflecting back to the 2010 Review of Australia’s Future Taxation System, the first recommendation calls for a complete review of the tax system by 2022, to achieve a system that responds to the rapidly evolving digital environment, and is both easier to enforce and understand.

To address more immediate needs, recommendations are also made to close up loopholes associated with high risk industries and the growth of the gig or sharing economy. These include, to:

• consider the introduction of an ABN withholding tax system at source, with potential for grading according to industry sector, akin to the system in New Zealand; and
• standardise our workplace expenses deductions scheme, as done in other comparable nations, to reduce the potential for error and misrepresentation.

The committee has also called for greater responsiveness from the ATO to the needs of taxpayers and other stakeholders. This includes continued access to paper forms and information for those not technically enabled, implementing a service level agreement with all stakeholders affected by the agency’s changing practices, and the clear articulation of the rights and obligations of both the ATO and taxpayers in a single cohesive and easily understood tax engagement framework.

Another recommendation is for more rigorous monitoring of outcomes of behavioural economics methods and tools to ensure taxpayer funds are well invested.

“Accountability is the key to confidence,” Mr Falinski said.

“The recommendations made by the committee in this report, if implemented, will provide greater certainty for business planning, increase taxpayer confidence in the ATOs’ probity and efficiency, and reduce the potential for cash activity and tax avoidance.”

The inquiry was referred to the committee in December 2017. Copies of the report and information about the inquiry are available on the Committee’s website.  

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