PEAK retail industry body the Australian Retailers Association (ARA) congratulates the Federal Government on its first step to delivering the Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman with real power, with the discussion paper released today.

ARA Executive Director Russell Zimmerman said retailers were excited by the news and look forward to contributing their ideas as to how the Ombudsman can best meet their needs.

“It has always been a struggle for time-poor small businesses to know exactly where to go for assistance. We commend the Government’s vision of establishing a single entry point for small businesses and hope that this initiative will indeed make life easier for retailers wanting to find out information about services and programmes.

“The Ombudsman will give small businesses the best chance of success by reducing the time spent accessing advice, resolving disputes and having their voices heard. We were also pleased to hear that the Ombudsman will minimise compliance burdens and reduce red tape so that Government can get out of the way and let small businesses get on with their job.

“Small businesses have certainly faced a rough trading environment over the last few years. The ARA is positive, however, that the Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman is certainly a step in the right direction to getting the industry on the road to recovery,” Mr Zimmerman said.

Since 1903, the Australian Retailers Association (ARA) has been the peak industry body representing Australia’s $265 billion retail sector, which employs over 1.2 million people. The ARA ensures retail success by informing, protecting, advocating, educating and saving money for its 5,000 independent and national retail members throughout Australia.

Visit www.retail.org.au or call 1300 368 041.

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The Queensland Resources Council (QRC) has called on the state government to ensure its Strong Choices campaign is not hijacked by populist sentiment that assumes higher taxes on the resources sector is the easy way to repair the state’s budget.

QRC Chief Executive Michael Roche said today the public’s reported preference for an increase in resources sector royalties to improve the budget bottom line was an instinctive but misinformed reaction given the tough economic conditions and outlook confronting the sector.

"The coal sector for example has shed over 8,000 jobs in Queensland in the face of some of the most challenging business conditions in decades," Mr Roche said.

"There can be no dispute that the best means of boosting the resources sector contribution to the state’s fiscal repair task is the pursuit of policies to promote sector growth, not a resort to job-destroying tax increases," he said.

Mr Roche said the explanatory notes accompanying the Strong Choices survey bear repeating:

"The Queensland Government increased coal royalty rates in the 2012-13 Budget and has committed to not changing the rates for 10 years. Increasing mining royalty rates at a time of lower commodity prices may impact on the national and international competitiveness for Queensland mines and will impact on jobs.

"Increasing royalties may make resources companies less competitive on the world market. Ultimately, these companies may choose to close some projects, and abandon the development of others, affecting jobs and other investment in Queensland."

Mr Roche said Queensland already has close to the world’s highest taxation rate for coal following huge royalty hikes by the Bligh Labor Government in 2008 and in Treasurer Nicholls’ first budget in 2012.

In his 2012 budget speech, Treasurer Nicholls gave an unequivocal commitment to the coal sector when he said: To give certainty to industry the government will guarantee no change to the royalty rates for coal for ten years from 1 October 2012."

The Treasurer’s commitment was reinforced by Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney on 11 September 2012:

"Coal mining is critically important to Queensland and this guarantee to keep royalties unchanged for the next decade allows companies to make investment decisions with total confidence."

"The QRC has every confidence that the Newman Government has no intention of walking away from these unequivocal commitments to fiscal stability for the coal sector," Mr Roche said today.

"Equally, there is no quick fix in escalating royalties for other resources sector industries.

"The companies behind the emerging export gas sector have invested more than $60 billion in an uncertain global market.

"A royalty increase now would undermine this huge commitment to Queensland and future investment potential.

"Similarly, the state’s metals miners whose royalties were comprehensively reviewed in 2008-09 are in no shape to absorb a further tax hit."

Mr Roche said the QRC congratulated the Newman Government on its bold and open dialogue with the Queensland community on the tough budget choices facing the state.

"The Queensland Resources Council Board has resolved that they have no objection to a program of sale or leasing of some state assets – including port and electricity assets – in order to reduce state debt to a sustainable level," he said.

"The key caveat to the QRC’s support for such a program is that it must be accompanied by a suite of appropriate commercial and regulatory protections for the users of these assets to ensure that Queensland’s core infrastructure supports the state’s competitiveness in a global market for resources.

"In relation to ports, the sector is eager to be involved in discussions around both future ownership and operation of the ports."

Mr Roche said that in pursuing any asset sale and lease program, the government should take great care to ensure that they don’t fall into the trap of opting for transactions that risk long-term detriment to the development potential of the state’s resources sector.

"To the Newman Government’s credit, this has been their overwhelming focus, typified by the Premier’s backing of the ResourcesQ partnership for a 30-year vision for the resources sector."

www.qrc.org.au

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VECCI welcomes the Prime Minister’s announcement of the $155 million Growth Fund, including the significant State Government contribution, which will support Victorian workers and businesses impacted by the announced closures of automotive manufacturing operations in Victoria.

“It is very important that the response to these closures covers the provision of immediate support and analysis to identify and subsequently back those manufacturers capable of diversifying into the markets of the future,” says VECCI Chief Executive Mark Stone. 

“VECCI is very pleased that the supply-chain businesses will have access to support as they face a challenging period of change. The Growth Fund also recognises the need to support the affected workers with career advice and training so they can start acquiring the skills they’ll need to transition to new employment as soon as possible.”

It also identifies the importance of helping supply chain businesses to identify new markets so that those which can diversify, are able to do so.

Recognising that particular regional areas will have been affected also, the $30 million funding for investment in regional infrastructure to encourage business investment is timely.

“It is positive to see recognition of various sectors that have also been highlighted by VECCI as having growth potential for the Victorian economy such as advanced manufacturing, food and agriculture, health and biomedical, mining services, tourism and education,” says Mr Stone. 

“VECCI is also particularly pleased that a significant $60 million component of the total funding aims to boost investment in advanced manufacturing. It is vital that there is investment to support businesses with the potential to break into new markets and provide new, sustainable career paths.

"Victoria has a proud manufacturing history and the Growth Fund will play a vital role in ensuring that the skills of Victorian manufacturing workers are not lost and Victorian manufacturers with leading edge technology and quality products are given every opportunity to build a sustainable future.”

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The Victorian Employers' Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VECCI) is the peak body for employers in Victoria, informing and servicing more than 15,000 members, customers and clients around the state.

www.vecci.org.au

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FIXING the current flawed process for setting employment conditions on new resource sector projects is critical to securing ongoing investment and growth, says the industry’s national employer group AMMA in its analysis of the government’s proposed Fair Work changes.

In its detailed submission to the Senate Committee reviewing the Fair Work Amendment Bill 2014, AMMA argues that a more realistic process for new projects (or ‘greenfields’) agreement-making is vital if Australia is to secure the $208 billion in uncommitted resources investment.

“We welcome the government’s acknowledgement that handing unions’ the keys to new projects has led to excessive wages and conditions being extorted from the resource industry over the past five years,” says AMMA executive director Scott Barklamb.

“In 2013, a cook working for six months on offshore resources project construction was earning $355,000; 47% or $105k more than the same role in 2007. Barge welders now command $2180 per day, or about $396,000 for working six months (see wages chart here).

“Such inflated wages are a direct result of the former government giving unions a virtual monopoly on new project agreement-making, effectively allowing them to set their own employment conditions which the industry has had little option but to accept.

“Our country simply cannot viably compete for future mega-resources projects when our workplace relations system imposes such uncommercial and unsustainable obligations.”

Analysis from McKinsey  shows Australia’s construction labour costs are 20-30% higher than in the United States, while building a comparable LNG project in Canada costs 20-30% less.  Key Labor figures Martin Ferguson and Paul Howes have recently joined industry in warning that Australia must take this competitive threat seriously.

“The amendment bill is a positive step towards a more realistic process for new project agreements. However, AMMA is concerned about the requirement to not only better the award safety net, but to meet even higher ‘prevailing industry standards’ before new project arrangements are approved,” Mr Barklamb says.

“While perhaps intended to stop the ‘leap-frogging’ of wages from one construction contract to the next, employers fear the government’s proposed test may inadvertently lock-in the currently inflated and unsustainable wage levels as the benchmark for all future projects.

“If our nation is to compete with not only emerging resource suppliers but also comparable economies such as the US and Canada, we must allow market realities to inform the employment conditions from project to project.”

For new projects, AMMA’s submission recommends removing the proposed ‘prevailing industry standards test’ in favour of maintaining the three existing tests (the National Employment Standards safety net, the Better Off Overall Test and the public interest test).

“The three existing tests are more than adequate to protect employees without any unintended consequences. We look forward to working further with the government and all those interested in getting this critically important policy area right,” Mr Barklamb says.

www.amma.org.au

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