THE Australian Government’s commitment to continue funding a successful online mentoring program for women working in mining, oil and gas, is today welcomed by national resource industry employer group, AMMA.

An AMMA initiative, the Australian Women in Resources Alliance (AWRA) e-Mentoring Program was launched in early 2013 with a mandate to provide valuable support to women forging a career in the mining, oil and gas sectors.

“More than 150 resource professionals are already benefiting from the AWRA e-Mentoring Program, which facilitates a nine-month online mentoring relationship tailored to the remote locations and non-traditional work schedules of many resource workers,” says Tara Diamond, AMMA executive director, industry services.

“The federal government’s decision to continue joint-funding the AWRA e-Mentoring Program for another two years mirrors the commitment of resource employers to build a pipeline of female talent.

“Women have a critical role to play in ensuring the industry has the skills and talent to build and operate major resource projects well into the future, however the workforce is not as diverse as it could be.

“Investment in initiatives like AWRA is vital if we are to see women’s participation in the sector increase from the current 15% to our goal of 25% by 2020.”

Ms Diamond says following its initial success, the e-Mentoring scope will now target demographics of women which are particularly underrepresented in the industry.

“AWRA will bring on board experienced male and female mentors to engage with Indigenous and recently trade qualified women in the resources and allied sectors, as well as graduates in non-traditional roles,” she says.

“The real value of the e-Mentoring program is that each mentee has access to the most appropriate mentor from a variety of levels in the resource, related construction and allied service sectors, anywhere in the country.

“For a woman working on a remote mine site or oil rig, a connection to an experienced professional working in a different state or on another project can make all the difference to their career development.”

The e-Mentoring program is part of a suite of AWRA initiatives designed to attract, retain and develop women in the resource industry. This includes the AWRA Recognised Program – the industry’s first assessment of a resource organisation’s gender diversity capability.

www.amma.org.au

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PEAK retail industry body the Australian Retailers Association (ARA) congratulates the Federal Government for their commitment to supporting retailers to get on with the job of doing business through the Paid Parental Leave Amendment Bill 2014 which has come under debate today.

ARA Executive Director Russell Zimmerman said it is now more important than ever for the Federal Opposition to also support business and back the abolition of the ‘pay-clerk’ burden from the paid parental leave scheme.

“The Federal Government is trying to remove this major burden from all businesses but the Opposition is yet to show their support - which comes at a severe cost to business.

“The current system is overly complex and burdens business with having to carry the costs of changing their payroll systems and the additional paperwork. We are calling on all parties to put politics to one side and focus on making life a little easier for business owners, in turn helping business and the economy to grow and increasing employment opportunities.

“Under the Federal Government’s plan to remove the ‘pay-clerk’ burden, businesses of ALL sizes would be relieved of the red-tape burden of acting as the ‘pay-clerk’ for the paid parental leave scheme unless the employer and employee both ‘opt in’ to having the employer administer payments.

“We encourage the Opposition to stop playing politics on this issue and provide the support required for retailers to get on with the job of doing business. A common sense approach must prevail,” Mr Zimmerman said.

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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 Council of Small Business of Australia (COSBOA) is today challenging Coles and Woolworths on their notion that extended trading hours will be of benefit to the economy and consumers.

While COSBOA agrees with Coles and Woolworths, in identifying Australia’s need for uniform trading hours (as reported in The Australian newspaper on 26 May 2014 ('Woolworths and Coles unite on trading'), it argues that longer hours will instead be detrimental to innovation and productivity to our communities.

Peter Strong, CEO of COSBOA explains while retailers need uniform opening and closing times, it is the major supermarkets, Coles and Woolworths, that should be cutting back their hours of operation in order to allow smaller retailers to thrive and foster healthy competition.

“Each community should have the capacity to adjust shopping hours according to the needs of local people and the duopoly should be limited to these set opening hours, thus providing smaller outlets with the opportunity to thrive while meeting community needs for access to retail at convenient times.

“If the duopoly is allowed to extend their hours further, competition will be limited even more and innovation and productivity will continue to decline. The effect on local retail culture and diversity is just as important.  If the duopoly is allowed to drive other shops out of business then it is the consumer that will suffer,” said Mr Strong.

COSBOA acknowledges that competition is at the heart of any good economy, but the domination of Coles and Woolworths is already stifling innovation and productivity within the supply chain and manufacturing; extending trading hours will only increase their dominance of the marketplace.

“The problem does not end with Coles and Woolworths but also encompasses large landlords, such as Westfield and Stocklands, who dictate unsustainable opening hours even when there is no likelihood of good business for small business operations.

"With the dominance of these big landlords and the duopoly combined, we will inevitably see the closure of main-street shopping, resulting in a common, predictable model that erodes our culture and diversity as well as Australia’s capacity to compete internationally.

“The power and influence of the duopoly and the biggest landlords must be curbed if the economy is to grow and our local and unique retail and café marketplaces are to be allowed to survive,” added Mr Strong.

www.cosboa.org.au

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PEAK retail industry body the Australian Retailers Association (ARA) said while the call for uniform trading hours can relieve consumer living pressures, smaller independent supermarkets will be left under the financial pressure.

The call for uniform trading hours made today benefit large chain supermarkets leaving smaller supermarkets in the dark.

Statements that greater shopping hours will address the impact from online retailers is misleading.  The main user of longer shopping hours are major chain supermarkets. Online shopping impacts non supermarket retailers in the main.

ARA Executive Director Russell Zimmerman said although the ARA supports the retail industry wide trading hours, caution must be taken to keep smaller independent businesses alive.

“With the big two retailers seeking the positive side of economic growth, we must be tread carefully to not destroy smaller independent retailers.

“Small independent retailers  will endure increased hours raising the cost of doing business, increased pressure on family businesses as owners will have to cover long hours, staff retrenchment and rises in utility costs.

“The call for uniform trading hours may assist economic growth in the short term, however, smaller businesses will be unsustainable with the pressures it will involve, and long term may not prove to give positive economic growth” Mr Zimmerman said.

If consumers want longer trading hours, then employment costs and penalty rates must also be part of the discussion, without penalty rates being reviewed, wages and on costs will be unsustainable for the independent retailers of Australia.

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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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