EMPLOYERS still battling through chronic staff shortages, record inflation of 5.1 percent and rising costs will be soon hit with another financial blow with the standard minimum wage set to rise by 5.2 percent and the award minimum wage increasing by 4.6 percent.

From July 1, the standard minimum wage will rise to $21.38 per hour ($812.60 per week) with the award minimum wage subject to a minimum increase of $40 per week, depending on the award. This represents a large impact for all employers with small and medium size enterprises (SME’s) that make up over 95 percent of Australian businesses particularly exposed according to business advisory group Employsure.

Employment relations experts Employsure, representing more than 32,000 businesses within Australia, reacted to the announcement negatively.

“The impact of this change cannot be understated, businesses are already doing it tough and with this announcement from the Fair Work Commission, it feels like business owners just can’t catch a break,” Employsure CEO, David Price said.

“We are anticipating an influx of calls in the thousands from concerned employers seeking help around how they will implement and afford these changes. It is an unfortunate reality that some businesses who are already on the edge will simply no longer be able to operate.”

While the overall effect of this change has yet to be seen, there are concerns this may create a domino effect with increased staff expenses to be passed on to the consumer compounding already high cost of living pressures.

“We recommend any business seeking help around interpreting these changes to seek advice, get informed, and prepare to update their payroll systems to avoid underpayment when the increase comes into effect.” Mr. Price said.

www.employsure.com.au

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THE Australian Workers Union is advising the Federal Government to urgently put a UK-style windfall tax on the table to force multinational gas exporters to give Australian manufactures access to affordable Australia gas.

The AWU has long called for a domestic gas reservation scheme, warning for a decade that allowing multinational gas companies to export Australia’s gas without restriction would lead to a domestic price explosion that would force manufacturing operations to close and lead to thousands of job losses.

However, with the emergency now hitting and factory closures imminent, AWU national secretary Daniel Walton said the government needed to follow the UK’s example and prepare to implement a windfall tax on mega-profits unless affordable gas is made available to Australians.

"Right now multinational gas exporters are using the global situation to cream astronomical mega-profits from Australian gas while forcing Australian factories, smelters and plants to the wall," Mr Walton said.

"I’ve had manufacturers telling me they are seeing their gas costs rise by as much $100,000 a day. It’s insane and it’s unsustainable. Without drastic action we’re going to see thousands of Australian manufacturing jobs lost this year.

"The government should tell the gas exporters it’s fine for them to generate record profits, but they also have to ensure some of those mega-profits are used to help the nation that owns the gas. At every stage in discussions the government should be holding a big stick with ‘windfall tax’ written on it.

"I know the Federal Government is engaging with the gas exporters but history tells us that you just can’t trust them. They will always have some excuse for why they can’t make some of the gas they extract available to Australians at a fair price. And they will always find a way to wiggle out of handshake agreements.

"The government’s offer to exporters needs to be fair and simple: make affordable gas available to Australian manufacturers now or face a UK-style windfall tax and we will distribute the revenue ourselves.

"If the government refuse to pick up that stick now and get tough then gas exporters will bluster and delay and factories will close en masse."

Last month, Britain’s Conservative government announced a 25 percent windfall tax on the profits of gas firms to support low-income households struggling with a sharp spike in prices.

UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak observed the tax was fair and reasonable because the mega profits did not arise because of “changes to risk-taking, innovation or efficiency… for that reason, I am sympathetic to the argument to tax those profits fairly.”

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QUEENSLAND’s resources sector has come out fighting in response to State Government plans to impose higher coal royalty taxes on the industry.

Queensland Resources Council CEO, Ian Macfarlane said it was disingenuous for Treasurer Cameron Dick to frame the tax increase as necessary to support the health budget.

“The resources sector is already paying more than double coal the royalty taxes it paid last year due to higher commodity prices, so every Queenslander benefits when our sector is doing well,” Mr Macfarlane said.

“Queensland’s royalty taxes are already the highest in Australia. They’re almost double what NSW producers pay and are one of the highest amongst coal exporting countries.”

Mr Macfarlane said the coal royalty taxes paid by the industry this financial year were expected to reach more than $6 billion – at least $2 billion more than predicted by Treasury – which is a record and the highest amount of royalties ever paid to a Queensland Government.

“As commodity prices have risen in value, so too have the dollars collected by the Queensland Government from the resources sector through royalty tax, which benefits all Queenslanders,” he said.

“Our industry supports the jobs of more than 420,000 people and thousands of businesses involved with our supply chain, and is investing millions of dollars into new technologies to lower emissions and reduce our impact on the environment, but apparently this still isn’t enough for the State Government.

“Imposing higher taxes on our sector is a short-term, political decision to plug a hole in the state budget that will inflict an immediate, negative impact on foreign investment and confidence in our industry, and will have long-term consequences for regional jobs and businesses.

“I can’t imagine people and business operators in the regions are going to be too happy about that, particularly as regional communities are already the poor cousins when it comes to receiving government funding for roads, health and education spending.”

Mr Macfarlane said the resources sector had done the right thing all the way through the pandemic by going to extraordinary lengths to maintain full production and employment and support the state economy, while absorbing a huge amount of Covid-related costs along the way.

“The imposition of higher royalty taxes on the resources sector right now is poor economic policy and a bitter pill to swallow at a time producers are finally looking at a sustained period of growth and investment, which was set to benefit generations of Queenslanders,” he said.

“Resources companies are more than prepared to contribute substantially to the Queensland community. Last financial year, our sector contributed a total of $84.3 billion to the state economy, which set a new record.

“We pay our employees very well, which is why they earn the highest, average annual income out of any sector in Australia, and we contribute to the communities in which we operate all over Queensland in so many different ways.

“There’s been a lot of talk from state government ministers about Queensland being well positioned to be the new energy superpower of the world, but decisions like this will scare away investors and show just how shallow that talk is.”

www.qrc.org.au

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THERE WAS a further drop in the number of new homes approved for building across Australia during April 2022.

Latest ABS data indicate that there was a 2.4 percent drop in the total number of new homes receiving building approval during the month. Compared with a year earlier, the volume of approvals is down by 32.4 percent. 

Denita Wawn, CEO of Master Builders Australia said, “The sharp decline in approvals over the past year is the result of a number of factors. These include the phasing out of the HomeBuilder scheme as well as emergence of challenges in the business environment. The cost of building materials is growing at its fastest rate in over 40 years while delays and shortages with respect to both labour and products continue to obstruct building activity.

“Even so, today’s figures do indicate that demand for new detached house building is holding up reasonably well. There was a 0.5 percent increase in approvals for detached houses during April and the level of activity is still a bit higher than it was immediately before the start of the pandemic.

“In contrast, approvals for medium and high-density homes are much lower than their pre-pandemic levels. April saw a 6.1 percent drop in approvals in this category. We do expect demand for higher density homes to recover once inward migration to Australia moves closer to where it was before the pandemic,” Ms Wawn said.

“For our industry, the most immediate challenge relates to the supply of building products and the people we need to carry out the work. We look to working with the new Federal Government to assist with finding and delivering solutions,” Ms Wawn said.

www.masterbuilders.org.au

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