THE passage of legislation clearing the way for the re-establishment of the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC), along with the Security of Payments Working Group, marks a new era of fairness and productivity in the building sector, Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman (ASBFEO) Kate Carnell said.

“For too long, many small businesses involved in the construction industry have had their livelihoods undermined by unproductive, inappropriate and heavy handed conduct at the hands of unions, who have used their power to either twist the arm of small business owners into signing unfair industrial arrangements, or worse still force the little guys off the project altogether,” Ms Carnell said.

“The re-establishment of the ABCC will ensure there’s a tough cop on the beat; it will prevent union coercion and put a stop to bullying, ensuring mum-and-dad small businesses have greater access to major construction projects, which will ultimately bring down rapidly rising building costs here in Australia.”

Ms Carnell congratulated Senator Nick Xenophon for his work in relation to security of payments for subcontractors.

“For a small business, gaining access to a building site doesn’t mean anything unless you get paid at the end of the day.  The reality is, many small businesses in the building sector have been stung by rogue head contractors who either don’t pay their subbies on time, or worse still, the lead contractor goes bust and simply doesn’t pay their subbies at all,” Ms Carnell said.

“The work by Senator Xenophon regarding security of payments will hopefully help stamp out this practice in the future, so small businesses get paid the money that’s rightfully theirs.

“The role of the new Security of Payments Working Group is something my office will look at as part of our current Payment Times and Practices Inquiry, which is investigating the payment terms of big businesses and governments in relation to their commercial arrangements with small businesses, and the measures that can be implemented in the future to ensure the little guys are paid on time.”

www.asbfeo.gov.au

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THE additional reach of the restored Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) to address militant and unlawful industrial tactics in the offshore resources sector and related supply chains, will provide a massive boost to Australia’s prospects of securing $255bn worth of resources investment still under consideration for our shores.
 
For as long as the federal Coalition, both in opposition and government, has been seeking to restore the ABCC to address escalating union militancy, Australia’s resource industry employer group AMMA has lobbied for its extension to offshore resource construction.
 
“We asked for it, the government saw merit in our proposal, and has now delivered it with the support of the Senate crossbench,” says AMMA chief executive Steve Knott.
 
“While much of the community’s concern in recent years has related to high profile CFMEU thuggery on CBD building sites, there have been escalating strategies by militant unions to hold multi-billion dollar offshore resources projects to ransom for their own agendas.
 
“The Maritime Union of Australia was recently found by the Federal Court to have used safety as a pretext to take illegal strike action against Chevron’s Gorgon LNG project, reportedly costing the project up to $20 million.  Upon being ordered to return to work, there are credible claims the union then used ‘go slow tactics’ to further disrupt the project.
 
“During the construction of Woodside’s Pluto LNG Project, more than 100 workers defied an order from the industrial tribunal and walked off the job, before later being ordered to pay over $1 million in total fines.  Pluto LNG was also subject to further illegal strikes by members of the CFMEU, CEPU and AMWU, resulting in further fines.
 
“This type of industrial extortion may be out-of-sight to the average Australian, but it still hurts our economy and erodes job opportunities.  In the past two years alone, more than $160bn of potential major resources and energy projects have failed to proceed.
 
“By extending the new ABCC’s jurisdiction to offshore resource construction, Australia has sent a signal to the international investment community that we are open for business and want their job-creating capital to come to this country, not our competitors.”
 
Michaelia Cash’s workplace reforms in the national interest:
 
AMMA is unsurprised that the Labor / Greens / Jacqui Lambie alliance fought against the return of the ABCC to the last moment, given Opposition Leader Bill Shorten’s history of condoning the militant and combative tactics of Australia’s most extreme unionists, with no regard to the harm created to industry and Australia’s reputation.
 
Infamously, Mr Shorten told the MUA’s National Conference in 2013 that he wished he could “bottle the spirit” of the militant unionists at the event, just one day after West Australian secretary Chris Cain told members “laws need to be broken, you’re going to get locked up”.
 
“Bill Shorten may have declared he is proud to walk ‘side by side’ with industrial law breakers, but thankfully the majority of Australian Senators have acted in the national interest and said ‘no more, not under out watch’,” Mr Knott continues.
 
“We congratulate the Turnbull Government and those who voted in support of the ABCC legislation, for taking a stand against union militancy and the damage it causes our economy.
 
“AMMA particularly applauds Minister for Employment Michaelia Cash for her recent workplace relations legislative victories. It hasn’t gone unnoticed that the minister has been subjected to juvenile, borderline sexist comments from ALP Senators during the past week.
 
“It is a credit to Senator Cash, also Minister for Women, that she ignored such bile and got on with turning Coalition pre-election workplace relations policies into law.  Based on these results Senator Cash is clearly one of Malcolm Turnbull's most effective Cabinet Ministers.
 
“With the ABCC and Registered Organisations changes now passed, another issue critical to our industry is ensuring the proposed merger of Australia’s two most militant unions, the CFMEU and MUA, is subject to a test against the public interest, as a comparable corporate merger would be.
 
“Given the deplorable conduct of these unions and their unparalleled record of breaching Australia’s workplace laws, their merger would be very unlikely to pass such a test until they could demonstrate compliance with Australia’s workplace laws over a sustained period.
 
“Once these matters of union compliance, transparency and lawfulness are dealt with, as a nation we can move on to the type of fundamental workplace relations reform that will create jobs and build the strength of our economy, starting with the recommendations the Productivity Commission handed down some 12 months ago.”

www.amma.org.au

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The Treaties Committee today called on the Government to continue its commitment to free trade so the benefits of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) are not lost.

The Committee tabled its report recommending Australia ratify the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP), even though the TPP may not come into effect.

Committee Chair, Stuart Robert MP, says that Australia’s prosperity relies on our ability to sell products in overseas markets on fair terms.

The TPP would have removed barriers and red tape to give Australia a better chance at obtaining those fair terms.

The Report acknowledges that many participants in the inquiry had concerns about certain aspects of the TPP, but, taken as a whole, the TPP would have advanced free trade and provided opportunities for Australians.

Mr Robert says that the Australian Government needs to do its best to ensure that the benefits Australia obtained through the negotiation of the TPP are retained in future free trade negotiations.

In a world where protectionism and nationalism are on the rise, the Australian Government needs to keep reiterating the importance of free trade as a bulwark against international economic decline.

Interested members of the public may wish to track the committee via the website.

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EXECUTIVES from the four major banks will this week attend hearings conducted by the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman (ASBFEO) Kate Carnell to gather information for the ASBFEO’s Small Business Loans Inquiry.

Senior bank executives from ANZ, NAB, Westpac and the Commonwealth Bank have been summonsed to appear at the hearings – which will take place tomorrow, Tuesday 29^th and Wednesday 30^th November – and will be questioned on their practices in relation to small business lending.  The hearings will not canvas the specific and confidential details of individual cases.

“A range of themes have emerged during the ASBFEO Inquiry process, and a number of potential reform measures have been identified as significant and necessary to a robust relationship between financial institutions and their small business customers going forward,” Ms Carnell said.

The ASBFEO Inquiry is considering its recommendations and the hearings will question bank executives on these prospective reform measures. 

“We’re interested in hearing from the banks about their procedures in relation to loan contracts, dispute resolution services and the treatment of valuations, and we will press them on their willingness to change their approach to things like monetary and non-monetary defaults, and the role of administrators in relation to small business bank customers,” Ms Carnell said.

The ASBFEO has provided initial findings in relation to access to justice, to the Ramsay review of the financial system’s external dispute resolution and complaints framework.

“Among other measures, our interim report recommended the need for greater emphasis on small business lending in the Code of Banking Practice, and highlighted the limitations of the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) in dealing with disputes between small businesses and their financial lender,” Ms Carnell said.

This week’s hearings follow private hearings, which were held to gather information regarding the individual cases examined as part of the Inquiry process.

The ASBFEO Inquiry was established to investigate the adequacy of the law and practices governing financial lending to small businesses with a specific focus on a select number of cases investigated by the Parliamentary Joint Committee (PJC) on Corporations and Financial Services in its report ‘Impairment of Customer Loans’.

In accordance with the Terms of Reference, the ASBFEO’s final Inquiry report will provide advice to government on any deficiencies around the regulation and practices of banks, and will not make any determinations in regard to the circumstances of particular cases.

The hearings can be viewed live from 9am via web-stream at www.asbfeo.gov.au

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