THE Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters is holding further public hearings into the Commonwealth Electoral Amendment (Lowering Voting Age and Increasing Voter Participation) Bill 2018.

This Bill as proposed by the Greens would extend the franchise to 16 and 17 year-olds on a voluntary basis, allow enrolment for 14 and 15 year-olds, and permit a provisional vote on election day for unenrolled citizens.

Chair of the Committee, Senator James McGrath said that given the evidence from the initial hearing, held in September in Melbourne, the Committee was interested to hear further evidence from both young people and academic and legal experts.

The hearing will be held at Glenala State High School, enabling young people to engage with the committee process.

The full program can be found on the Committee’s website.

Public hearing details:

Date: Tuesday, 30 October 2018
Time: 10:00am –  1:45pm
Location: Glenala State High School, Durack, Brisbane

The hearing will be broadcast live at aph.gov.au/live

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THE LATEST National Survey of Building and Construction shows residential building activity has entered more challenging waters, according to Master Builders Australia’s chief economist Shane Garrett. 

“The Activity Index for Residential Building fell to 55.0 points in the September 2018 quarter compared with 59.8 points in the previous three-month period,” Mr Garrett said. 

“Looking forward, optimism has dimmed in the residential building sector with the survey’s Expectations Index falling by 1.9 percent during the September 2018 quarter. This suggests that those in the industry anticipate further weakening over the coming six months,” he said. 

“Residential building is being hit by tighter finance availability as well as the softening of house prices in Sydney and Melbourne over the past year. These factors are likely to drag new home building lower over the next few years.

“It has always been a struggle to consistently deliver enough new homes to meet demand. This has resulted in house prices steadily outgrowing wages and incomes over many decades,” Mr Garrett said. 

“Policy settings need to ensure that we can build enough new homes to accommodate a growing economy and a larger workforce.

“Newly-released modelling from Cadence Economics confirms that proposed restrictions on negative gearing and CGT would result in up to 42,000 fewer new homes being built over a five-year period – enough to house over 100,000 ordinary Australians,” Mr Garrett said. 

“These latest survey results show that residential building is already cooling. We don’t need to weigh it down even more."

www.masterbuilders.com.au

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ENHANCING financial literacy skills amongst the small business sector will go a long way to ensure small business viability and growth, according to the Institute of Public Accountants (IPA).

“The IPA believes that the government should make funding, for vocational education courses to enhance SME owners’ financial literacy, a priority,” IPA chief executive officer, Andrew Conway said.

“We also support the notion that practical education in areas encompassing business strategy and management to form part of the educational offerings.

“Incentives for further financial literacy and SME business management education, such as tax deductibility for educations costs, should be offered to SME owners via the tax system.

“Registered Training Organisations could partake in government incentives and play a more active role in encouraging SME operators to improve their knowledge in business management and finance,” Mr Conway said.

These recommendations stem from the Australian Small Business White Paper produced by the IPA in partnership with the IPA Deakin SME Research Centre. 

For more information: https://www.publicaccountants.org.au/news-advocacy/small-business-white-paper

About the Institute of Public Accountants

The IPA, formed in 1923, is one of Australia’s three legally recognised professional accounting bodies.  In late 2014, the IPA acquired the Institute of Financial Accountants in the UK and formed the IPA Group, with more than 35,000 members and students in over 80 countries.  The IPA Group is the largest SME focused accountancy organisation in the world. The IPA is a member of the International Federation of Accountants, the Accounting Professional and Ethical Standards Board and the Confederation of Asian and Pacific Accountants. 

publicaccountants.org.au

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THE TREATIES Committee has agreed to inquire into aspects of the recently examined Peru-Australia Free Trade Agreement.

In adopting a reference from the Minister for Trade, Simon Birmingham, the committee agreed to invite stakeholders to express their views on certain issues arising from recent legislative developments.

Committee chair, Russell Broadbent MP, advised that although the committee agreed in August 2018 that the treaty be ratified, there are some aspects of the broader trade environment on which the Australian Labor Party is urgently seeking advice.

This follows the passage through the Australian Parliament of enabling legislation for the recently concluded TPP-11 (the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership).

"Minister Birmingham, in the spirit of bipartisanship in which recent trade agreements have been negotiated, has asked the committee to support a short investigation which will still enable the legislative deadline to be met for the Peru-Australia FTA. The committee has a reporting deadline of 21 November," Mr Broadbent said.

According to Minister Birmingham, "The Australian Labor Party seeks further investigation into PAFTA in order to satisfy themselves on the merits of the Agreement prior to consideration of its enabling legislation. The ALP particularly requested examination in relation to the Investor-State Dispute Settlement Provisions," Mr Birmingham said.

The committee has agreed to hear views arising from the ongoing concerns over the increasing complexity created by the number of trade agreements, particularly multiple agreements with the same partner. This observation was made by the committee in its August report. Further, the Committee has invited views on the specific inclusion and operation of the ISDS provisions in recently concluded trade agreements.

Submissions are invited by Friday November 2, 2018, and at this stage preliminary arrangements are being made for a public hearing in Melbourne on November 8. Details will be available from the committee website in due course.

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

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THE City of Melbourne welcomed the largest delegation of smart city commissioners and executives that India has sent offshore, with 25 influential leaders arriving in Melbourne last week.

Prosperous City portfolio chair, Councillor Kevin Louey said this was testament to Melbourne’s industry capabilities in liveability and smart city initiatives.

The delegation comprised senior officials from the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, South Delhi Municipal Corporation, New Delhi Municipal Council as well as representatives from key Indian companies.

Cr Louey said the program was envisaged to provide a world stage to local business to showcase Melbourne's industry leadership across urban design and development, water and waste practices and smart city initiatives.

“We look forward to creating lasting relationships with these organisations in India and having the opportunity to showcase our city’s global standing in these areas," Cr Louey said.

“The four-day mission will consist of City of Melbourne and State Government briefings and site visits, private sector networking and business matching sessions,” he said.

"The purpose of these missions is to create and close export opportunities for local businesses, build new relationships and leverage the City of Melbourne’s strong network of business and government connections to enable trade and investment.

“We continue to work closely with local business to create connections in India, and create better access for our local business into the significant opportunity that India offers Australia,” added Cr Louey.

The inbound visit from India is part of its ‘100 Smart Cities’ initiative, which provides 100 cities in India with funding to transform the country by fostering more sustainable and inclusive development, a clean environment and the applying of smart solutions.

The City of Melbourne worked in close partnership with Austrade and the Victorian Government to establish this mission.

The City of Melbourne has hosted two previous inbound missions in 2015 and 2016 and led an outbound mission to India in 2017, which significantly strengthened Melbourne’s partnership with India.

For more information on the city’s key international partnerships, visit the City of Melbourne website.

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NEW DATA from the Australian Bureau of Statistics has shown the true scale of resources investment and the huge dollar value it has added to the Australian economy in the last 25 years. 

Queensland Resources Council chief executive Ian Macfarlane said the official figures back up what Queensland communities already know – that the mining industry is the lifeblood of the economy.

“Mining is what makes our state great. And it’s what makes Australia a major global economy,” Mr Macfarlane said.

“Queensland would be an unimaginably different place without the huge scale of mining investment over the last 25 years.

“In the space of a generation, the resources industry has almost doubled its value to Australia.

“The ABS says the investment boom from the mining sector is of a scale never seen before. We know that’s the case too through the record values delivered to the Queensland budget bottom line and the widespread investment in towns and communities across our state.”

The mining industry added 8.8 percent of the value of the Australian economy in the last year. It was just 4.7 percent 1994-95.

“During a time of significant industry change, including major changes in Australian manufacturing, the resources industry has consistently grown and added jobs,” Mr Macfarlane said.

“That growth has come mostly from the commodities that make Queensland a resources powerhouse - coal and gas.”

In 1994-95, Australian coal production was worth $8.8 billion, compared with an incredible $65.6 billion in June this year, he sasid. For gas the figures were $2.6 billion in 1994-95 compared with $46.5 billion in 2018.

“The good news is, the resources industry is still creating jobs for people now, and for decades to come,” Mr Macfarlane said.

“In the past 12 months the Queensland resources industry has added 10, 000 new jobs – or a new job every 40 minutes. And resources account for 80 per cent of Queensland’s exports.

“The latest ABS study points to the fact that the increase in mining investment in recent years will lead to higher levels of mining production.

“That is good news for every town and community that relies on mining – from Mount Isa to Maroochydore.

“Every town and city in Queensland depends on the resources industry, whether it’s the people who work directly in our mines, local small businesses or commuters in Brisbane who need the resources industry for every part of their daily lives.

“The resources industry is at the heart of our economy, and we must ensure the right conditions and regulations are in place to continue to attract the investment that has powered Queensland and Australia for the last 25 years.”

www.qrc.org.au

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THE Queensland resources industry is planning new investments in technology and innovation that will make it one of the state’s most cutting-edge job creators, according to the Queensland Resources Council (QRC).

The QRC's latest quarterly State of the Sector survey has found resources CEOs are on the cusp of new investments in the full range of advanced equipment ranging from automated vehicles to virtual reality tools.

“The resources industry is one of Queensland's most resilient and innovative sectors. And that’s good news for people who want jobs both now and in the coming decades,” QRC chief executive Ian Macfarlane said.

“The resources industry is both high viz and high tech.”

QRC’s State of the Sector survey has found 91 percent of CEOs were planning further automation activities, a third were implementing artificial intelligence and almost 10 percent were planning the next step to use augmented reality technologies. For example, a virtual reality computer version of a mine that can guide equipment along the most efficient and safest path.

“The investments are being targeted to make mining smarter, safer and to deliver even better value to Queenslanders,” Mr Macfarlane said.

“New technologies can increase safety for workers through use in hazardous situations such as fires, or preventing collisions in remote operations. New technologies can also be used to maximise the returns from mining projects in a sustainable way. The more of our commodities that are accessible the greater the royalties return for Queensland.

“But there’s no replacing the skills and expertise of resources employees. Importantly, company CEOs see automation and innovation as a way to enhance their mining projects, not focussed as a way to reduce jobs.

“Resources jobs will continue well into the future, as our resources sector strengthens its role as an early adopter of technology and as a global leader in mining expertise," he said.

“In fact, more than 80 percent of resources companies expect the demand for STEM graduates to increase in the next five years.

“This underlines the importance of the work undertaken by the Queensland Minerals and Energy Academy (QMEA), which is currently operating in 58 schools across the state. It introduces students to the diverse range of skills, including STEM skills, that could help them pursue a career in the resources sector.

“Our resources sector is a heavy hitter for the Queensland economy, and we want to ensure it continues to benefit regional communities and our big cities. Over the last twelve months, the Queensland resources sector has created the equivalent of a new job every 40 minutes.”

The quarterly State of the Sector report also found that resources CEOs were vigilant about cybersecurity. The majority of CEO responses (84 percent) considered cybersecurity a ‘moderate’ to ‘very high risk’ over the next 12 months.

“The Queensland resources sector is on stable ground for the future, with CEOs ready to invest to make best use of technology, while at the same time ensuring its application maintains the integrity of their businesses,” Mr Macfarlane said.

www.qrc.org.au

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CLAIMS by the National Irrigators’ Council that profits made by energy network companies are $2.6 billion "higher than they should be" are a misrepresentation of facts, Energy Networks Australia CEO Andrew Dillon said today.

Mr Dillon said when network businesses earned profits above the allowed return set by the Australian Energy Regulator, it reflected efficiencies made in their operations, not more money out of customer pockets.

In fact, he said, under the incentive-based regulatory model, efficiency gains (reflected in higher than forecast profits) are returned to customers by way of reductions in prices.

“The regulator sets the allowed return and expenditures for most networks every five years,” Mr Dillon said.

“If a business is able to make savings by reducing operating costs, of course they will make more profit than forecast. But the regulator then in the next five-year period will return those profits to customers by setting lower benchmarks – which means lower network prices.

“This is a good thing for consumers as it serves as an incentive for businesses to become more and more efficient, which in turn keeps prices down.”

Mr Dillon said the poorly-understood nature of incentive based regulation and the frameworks that governed energy networks made it easy for facts and figures to be misrepresented.

“The worst thing that could happen from this type of fact-twisting is the introduction of rate of return regulation that has been tried and comprehensively failed overseas,” he said.

www.energynetworks.com.au

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