THE upgraded forecast for Australia’s resource exports demonstrates the continuing significance of the resource industry for Australia’s economy and living standards, and the need to better support future investment through more competitive policy and regulation, according Australian resource industry employer group the Australian Mines and Minerals Association. (AMMA).

The Australian Government has upwardly revised its 2016–17 forecast for resources and energy exports by 12% to $175.7 billion, due largely to more optimistic outlooks for iron ore and metallurgical coal.
 
“Even with continued commodity price fluctuations, this export earnings upgrade is further evidence that Australia’s resource industry continues to do the heavy lifting for our economy” says AMMA head of policy Scott Barklamb.
 
“Hopefully this uplift will help spur business confidence and unlock some of the $254 billion of viable resource projects that have not proceeded in recent years.
 
“Australia is not the only country rich in commodities, and competition to attract major foreign investment remains fierce. Despite today’s positive forecast, Australia requires a series of policy and regulatory changes if we are to capture our share of the next wave of global resources investment.”
 
To position Australia as the ‘first choice’ destination for future global resources investment, AMMA members want to see the Turnbull government deliver genuine reform in a range of areas including:

• Reducing the company tax rate from 30% to 25% for all businesses, better aligning Australian tax structures with other resource investment destinations.
• Creating a ‘one-stop-shop’ for streamlined approval processes so new projects in Australia can commence on more competitive timeframes.
• Addressing significant costs and inflexibilities within Australia’s employment laws – starting with implementing the recommendations of the Productivity Commission’s 2015 review of Australia’s workplace relations system.

“Australia’s resource industry is now firmly in the ‘production phase’ with almost half of all Australian exports coming from resources.  To keep the benefits flowing into Australian communities for generations to come, the government must move forward with sensible and effective reforms to stimulate new investment and project growth,” Mr Barklamb says.
 
To learn more about how workplace relations reform in particular can benefit Australia’s resource industry and attract more jobs and more investment to our shores, visit amma.org.au/gettingbackontrack.

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FOLLOWING the Federal Government bank hearings, National Australia Bank CEO Andrew will address the QUT Business Leaders' Forum on Monday. 

He is a career banker with more than 30 years’ experience who has held senior positions in major Australian banks including the Commonwealth Bank and was MD and CEO of the Bank of New Zealand.

Mr Thorburn will talk about his strategic vision for NAB, a company with 42,000 employees, and the challenges for NAB and the banking industry.

WHO: Andrew Thorburn, NAB CEO

WHAT: Guest speaker at QUT Business Leaders’ Forum

WHERE: Ballroom le Grand, Sofitel Brisbane Central

WHEN: 12.30 to 2pm

www.qut.edu.au

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THE House of Representatives Standing Committee on Economics will scrutinise the three financial regulators, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA), the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), at public hearings in Canberra on October 14.

The Chair of the Committee, Mr David Coleman, MP, stated that ‘the hearings will give the Committee the opportunity to scrutinise the regulators on their performance and operation. In addition, the Committee will question the regulators on evidence arising from the Committee’s hearings with the four major banks.’

The three financial system regulators each have a distinct role in Australia’s financial and banking system. APRA is responsible for prudential regulation, including promoting financial system stability, while ASIC is responsible for conduct regulation, including consumer protection in relation to banking and financial services. The ACCC’s role is to promote competition and fair trade in markets to benefit consumers, businesses, and the community.

Public hearing details: Friday 14 October 2016, Committee Room 2R1, Parliament House, Canberra

8:30am to 10:30am: ASIC

10:45am to 1:15pm: APRA

2:15pm to 4:45pm: ACCC

Webcast: The hearing will be webcast at aph.gov.au/live

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UNIONS must be prohibited from abusing enterprise bargaining to restrict businesses from using commercial contracting and labour hire arrangements, the resource industry’s national employer group AMMA has told the Australian Government.

In its submission on the exposure draft of the Competition and Consumer Amendment (Competition Policy Review) Bill 2016, AMMA strongly supports the government’s move to increase penalties for illegal secondary boycotts, but says union attempts to use enterprise bargaining to restrict the use of contractors and labour hire must also be addressed.
 
“Resource employers welcome the government acting to subject secondary boycotts to the same maximum penalties as cartel behaviour, price fixing, and other anti-competitive activities,” says AMMA’s head of policy, Scott Barklamb.
 
“As we see with the CFMEU’s alleged boycott of Boral, currently playing out before the courts, no one ever wins in secondary boycotts.  Updated penalties will help deter cynical coercive strategies and ensure employers and customers that have nothing to do with a dispute don’t become collateral damage.
 
“Having said that, when the government acts on secondary boycotts, it must also act on anti-contractor and anti-labour hire clauses, or it risks leaving the job half done.
 
“Unions shouldn’t be telling businesses who they can trade with, and they shouldn’t be able to abuse the enterprise bargaining system to lock employees and job seekers out of work.”
 
Both the Harper Review on competition policy and the Productivity Commission review on workplace relations recommended outlawing unions from abusing enterprise bargaining to restrict commercial contracting and labour hire arrangements.
 
AMMA urges the government to adopt Harper review recommendation 37 which would extend the application of prohibitions under s45E and s45EA of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (CCA) to industrial agreements and awards.
 
At the same time, the government should draft legislation in line with the Productivity Commission’s review of Australia’s WR system to prohibit agreement clauses that seek to restrict the use of contractors and labour hire arrangements.

www.amma.org.au

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