BANKING services are essential to small businesses in rural and regional areas and more should be done to support those impacted by branch closures, the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman Bruce Billson said..

In a submission to the Regional Banking Taskforce, the Ombudsman said bank branch closures are disruptive to small and family businesses and that can have a ripple effect on the wider community.

“Small businesses rely on banking services to operate in the modern economy and it is essential those in rural and regional areas have access to the full range of banking facilities,” Mr Billson said.

“Branch closures increase small business administrative costs, the level of risk for business owners, and have a community wide economic impact caused by business patronage moving away, along with reduced community amenity, particularly if it is the last remaining bank in town.   

“For some small businesses, the loss of a local bank branch, may even cause them to look for services outside the regulated financial system. That is a bad outcome and there is more that can be done to support small businesses when a bank branch closes.

“My office would welcome the opportunity to work with the Australian Banking Association (ABA) to amend the code of practice to ensure customers affected by a branch closure can move to any other bank with no cost penalties.

“We have also asked the taskforce to consider expanding programs such as the Regional Tech Hub to help rural and regional small businesses to secure safe banking services," Mr Billson said.

“Particularly in areas where there is no local bank branch, NBN connectivity is critical. My office has long argued that access to banking and vital communications services are essential and a greater focus is needed to set and adhere to deliverable service standards. Where these standards are not met, impacting a small or family business, some consequences and remediation steps should apply.

“Australian small and family businesses have faced many difficult challenges over the past two years – the pandemic has exacerbated the impact of bushfires, floods and drought. These businesses need support as they work to get back on their feet, including access to essential banking services.”

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THE Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security (PJCIS) has commenced a review of the listing of Hizballah and The Base as terrorist organisations under the Criminal Code Act 1995 (the Criminal Code).

Hizballah is a Lebanese organisation with political, social and military components. The Australian Government had listed Hizballah’s External Security Organisation (ESO), an entity within Hizballah responsible for various terrorist activities, as a terrorist organisation since 2003 but has recently decided to list the whole organisation of Hizballah as a terrorist organisation, following a unanimous bipartisan recommendation of the PJCIS in June.

Founded in the United States, The Base is a nationalist and racist violent extremist movement founded in 2018. Its members believe in an accelerationist ideology of preparing for a ‘race war’ and inevitable social collapse which can be expedited through terrorist attacks. This group has been proscribed as a terrorist organisation by the governments of the United Kingdom and Canada.

Under section 102.1A of the Criminal Code, the committee may review listings of terrorist organisations and report its findings to each house of the Parliament within the 15 sitting day disallowance period. 

Members of the public are welcome to make submissions to this review. Submissions should be provided no later than 5pm Tuesday, February 1, 2022.

Further information on the inquiry can be obtained from the Committee’s website.

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A NEW agreement will see $300 million in private funds invested in energy assets under a sector-leading Green Finance Framework.

Funding from the deal – the first to be made under the Framework – is intended to be used for electricity infrastructure assets, helping to ready them for increasing levels of renewable generation feeding into the grid.

General manager for corporate finance, Luis Castillo-Melendez said his team had worked with global investment bank Mizuho Securities to make the private placement of the eight-year medium-term note (MTN).

“We established our Green Finance Framework with the purpose of giving confidence to investors that they could back projects aimed at making a difference in lowering carbon emissions, so we’re very pleased to see the first investment made,” Mr Castillo said.

“It will also help us to respond to our customers’ preferences for renewable energy, and with upgrades to the network, how they use energy.”

Mizuho head of debt capital markets for Australia, Simon Ward said, “We are honoured to have executed this exemplary transaction – the first Green Bond by an Australian utility in global markets."

The Green Finance Framework applies to companies within the State Grid Singapore Power Australia Assets (SGSP Australia Assets) Group which include Jemena and engineering, project management, operations and maintenance company, Zinfra.

It aligns with Jemena announcing, earlier this year, its ambition to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 and will see the business use funds raised from green instruments such as bonds, loans, and promissory notes to finance and/or refinance projects that aim to deliver a positive impact on the environment.

The Framework, believed to be the first of its kind to be delivered by a traditional energy company operating in Australia, was developed in collaboration with global investment banks HSBC and ING. Net proceeds of green instruments issued can be used to fund or refinance projects in four major categories: renewable energy, energy efficiency, clean transportation, and climate change adaptation.

About Jemena

Jemena is an $11.5 billion company that owns and manages some of Australia's most significant gas and electricity assets. These include:

• the Jemena Gas Network servicing 1.4 million customers around NSW;
• the Eastern Gas Pipeline which delivers gas from Victoria's Gippsland basin to the ACT, Sydney and regional NSW;
• the Queensland Gas Pipeline which supplies Gladstone and Rockhampton;
• the Darling Downs Pipeline System which transports gas to the Wallumbilla gas trading hub, the 630MW Darling Downs Power Station, and to the feeder pipeline to the APLNG LNG liquefaction plant at Gladstone;
• Jemena's Victorian electricity network which delivers electricity to over 360,000 homes and businesses in northern and western Melbourne
• the Northern Gas Pipeline from Tennant Creek in Northern Territory to Mount Isa in Queensland.

Jemena also part-owns the ActewAGL electricity and gas distribution networks in the ACT and United Energy, which supplies electricity to more than 600,000 customers across south-eastern Melbourne and the Mornington Peninsula. www.jemena.com.au

More information about Jemena’s Sustainability Program is available in its 2020 Sustainability Report: Adapting to Change, available on the Jemena website: https://jemena.com.au/about/investors/annual-reports.

The Framework is available at: https://jemena.com.au/about/investors/investor-information. 

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SAFETY CONCERNS, poor access to food and limited accommodation for fly-in-fly-out (FIFO) miners are the sad reality behind the Carmichael mine’s rush to produce the first coal for export according to the Mining and Energy Union.

Workers on the ground have reported the first exported coal had come at the expense of food for famished shift workers, proper sleeping facilities for those flying off rotation and serious safety issues involving equipment damage and injured workers.

Members at Carmichael are concerned the operator is trying to avoid bargaining even though 70 percent of the workforce have voted to demand discussions and tabled it with the Fair Work Commission (FWC).

“It’s been a long time since someone told me access to food on a project was a problem, but that’s what I’m hearing from the Carmichael mine,” Mining and Energy Union Queensland District vice-president Shane Brunker said.

“When the mine operator and its principal contractor, MacKeller, is underreporting injuries and equipment damage alarm bells start ringing for me.

“The first thing for a mine operator to get right is the health and safety of their workforce, not headline grabbing production targets,” he said.

“The workers are 100 percent behind the Carmichael project but we are not seeing the same commitment to our members which frankly we would have expected.

“Issues include no consultation with workers on changes to rosters or health and safety matters, refused information on how their salaries are developed and no consultation on the working of Christmas or Boxing days as required in the Black Coal Industry Award.

“If you match the individual contracts against the Black Coal Award you will see serious deficiencies and members want that fixed up as a priority.

“What we’re seeing is all Bollywood-style show business and no fair dinkum commitment to the workers," Mr Brunker said.

“Our union has always said we support the Carmichael project but our priority would be to organise the workforce and make sure they are getting fair deal that meets the standards in the Queensland coal industry.

“Now the mine is up and running, Bravus and its principal contractor need to meet with their workforce and nut out an ongoing arrangement which will ensure they export form Queensland for many years to come,” Mr Brunker said.

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