THE RECORD returns from the resources industry to the Queensland Budget show the importance of continued exploration and investment in new projects to keep the budget in the black, the Queensland Resources Council (QRC) said today.

QRC chief executive Ian Macfarlane today welcomed Treasurer Jackie Trad's budget update, showing record returns from coal royalty taxes.

“Queensland’s black coal is putting the Queensland budget in the black,” Mr Macfarlane said.

“Resources investment keeps Queensland’s economy firing on all cylinders and keeps the budget out of the red.

“Without resources royalty taxes, in particular from black coal, the budget surplus of $524 million would be a budget deficit of $4.6 billion.” (*see graph below)

Returns from coal royalty taxes are now at a new record of $4.26 billion, up more than $700 million on the $3.52 billion forecast in the budget. For the period to 2020-21, coal royalty taxes have been revised up by $1.8 billion. Overall, Queenslanders will receive a record $5.12 billion in royalty taxes from the entire resources sector in this financial year.

“This is no short-term sugar hit.  Our resources sector has a long-term future that will deliver benefits for Queenslanders now and for decades into the future," Mr Macfarlane said.

“The world needs our met coal, which builds modern cities, cars, homes and solar panels.

“The world needs our cleaner thermal coal, which burns more efficiently and with a lower ash content than coal from other nations.

“And the world needs our LNG and minerals such as bauxite and zinc.

“This record return from the resources industry equates to the annual salary of more than 71,000 beginning teachers or more than 70,000 first year constables or more than 72,000 registered nurses.

“It can build roads, school and hospitals and invest in regional infrastructure.

“But we can’t take this success for granted.  We must ensure an ongoing pipeline of resources projects, through stable regulation and stable royalty tax rates, and through ongoing exploration and development of new projects and new resource provinces including the North West Minerals Province and the Galilee Basin.

“While we welcome changes to the GST formula that recently went through the Federal Parliament with bipartisan support, the fact remains that Australia’s resources states are doing the heavy lifting.

“Queensland props up our southern neighbours who refuse to develop their resources and who keep their gas locked in the ground. The free ride can’t last forever.

“Queensland is a resources superpower.  We are proud of the role our resources sector plays in creating a stronger, more prosperous Queensland.

“Our sector employs more than 316,000 people, it creates 1 in every $5 for the state and it benefits 14,200 local businesses.

“Other states lock up their resources sectors to their own extreme disadvantage. Queensland will continue to show the way to develop a sustainable resources industry that delivers returns to landholders, to our towns and cities, and works hand-in-hand with other sectors such as agriculture and tourism.”

www.qrc.org.au

THE Queensland Resources Council (QRC) has welcomed a series of upgrades to an app, developed and operated by the GasFields Commission, but will remain vigilant to ensure there is action on possible future improvements to further strengthen the co-existence between the agriculture and gas industries.

QRC chief executive Ian Macfarlane said the app was a guidance for landholders when negotiating an agreement with a gas company.

“The development of the Queensland gas industry over the last 15 years has benefited from the partnership with agriculture industries and individual primary producers. Indeed, as the GasFields Commission itself has reported, more than $380 million has been paid to primary producers through agreements with gas companies,” he said.

According to the GasFields Commission Queensland Industry Snapshot, at the end of June 2017 there were 5,711 Conduct and Compensation Agreements in place, with $387 million paid to landholders in compensation. These agreements have been negotiated by gas companies with landholders to enable access, infrastructure and the extraction of gas.

Mr Macfarlane said QRC had worked with AgForce and the Queensland Government to secure upgrades to the GasApp due to reported confusion among landholders and project proponents over earlier versions of the app.

www.qrc.org.au

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THE Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security (PJCIS) has commenced a review of the Telecommunication and Other Legislation Amendment (Assistance and Access) Act 2018.

The then Bill was passed by the Parliament on December 6, 2018, and the amendments made by that Bill were referred to the Committee by the Senate.

The Chair, Andrew Hastie MP, and the Deputy Chair, Anthony Byrne MP issued the following joint statement:

"The Committee reached bipartisan agreement in its report on the Assistance and Access Bill. This review will focus on the final Act as passed by the Parliament on December 6, 2018, with specific reference to Government amendments—including those made to effect the Committee’s bipartisan recommendations—made on that date. This further inquiry implements Recommendation 16 of the Committee’s report on the Assistance and Access Bill, for the Committee to complete a review of the new laws by April 3, 2019."

The Committee will accept submissions on any new matters arising with the passage of the Act, and will consider the need for further hearings as the inquiry progresses.

In addition to the current review, the Committee will again be required to review the new laws alongside its review of the data retention regime. That statutory review must be commenced by April 2019 and completed by April 2020.

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

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THE Queensland Resources Council (QRC) has welcomed a donation by ConocoPhillips Australia of $50,000 to communities affected by the bushfires in Central Queensland.

 
QRC chief executive Ian Macfarlane said the donation, to not-for-profit GIVIT, would help alleviate the pain people are going through after the devastating fires.  
 
“I would like to sincerely thank ConocoPhillips Australia for this considerate donation which will help people who have lost homes and farming equipment,” Mr Macfarlane said.
 
“It’s important for the resources sector to help out regional communities with many of our own projects operating nearby. ConocoPhillips Australia operates the Australia Pacific LNG facility on Curtis Island, near Gladstone.”
 
GIVIT will be able to use the funds immediately with 100 percent of donations used to support Queenslanders in fire-affected areas and has a policy of buying locally where possible.
 
Anglo American which has coal mines near Middlemount, Moranbah and Moura donated $100,000 to GIVIT last week. 

www.qrc.org.au

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WITH THE Australian Retailers Association (ARA) and Roy Morgan predicting Australians to spend over $7.3 billion in the ‘Other retailing’ category during the Christmas trading period from November 9 to December 24, 2018, the ARA suspect books will be piled high under the Christmas tree this year.

The ARA believes physical and online books will contribute marginally to the ‘Other retailing’ category, with the ARA and Roy Morgan projecting a 2.7 percent increase in sales for this category in the lead-up to Christmas.

Russell Zimmerman, executive director of the ARA, said retailers who specialised in books would be preoccupied with filling orders for customers who will be purchasing books to gift to their families and friends for the big day.

“With Christmas only a little over a week away, Dymocks are estimating over 2 million books to be sold in the lead-up to Christmas, accounting for 30 percent of total books sales,” Mr Zimmerman said.

“As a subsequence, book retailers will be experiencing a significant increase in the amount of pre-orders being placed through the stores and customers will be flocking to the shops to secure the perfect reads for their loved ones.”

Findings from Nielsen BookScan detect that online book merchants will also receive an influx in sales, with the last four weeks of the year accounting for 17 percent of total annual sales value. Nielsen BookScan have also noticed a growth in physical book sales, with a 1.3 percent increase so far this year.

Sophie Higgins, head of marketing and merchandise at Dymocks, said this year's non-fiction category will notice a buoyant incline from 39-50 percent of total sales, with biographies and cookbooks influencing the surge.

“With the likes of Shane Warne, Leigh Sales and Michelle Obama’s biographies hitting the shelves, customers have been eager to get their hands on some of the biggest titles to come out this year,” Ms Higgins said.

“Cookbooks are always a fan favourite for Christmas, and with bestsellers coming from Jamie Oliver, Donna Hay, Yotam Ottlenghi and Annabel Crabb, Aussies will have endless recipes to trial and master.”

Australian fiction has also experienced a resurgence in the lead-up to Christmas, with top-five Australian authors, including Matthew Reilly, Liane Moriarty, Jane Harper and Kate Morton, releasing new titles this year.

“It is quite pleasing to see bibliophiles supporting homegrown authors. With such a rich breadth of talent to select from, consumers will have their shelves full of intriguing and thought-provoking novels this Christmas,” Mr Zimmerman said.

According to Dymocks, children’s books will also see a 150 percent sales spike during the festive season. With pre-orders for author Jessica Townsend exceeding 1100, children’s imaginations will be filled with exciting stories and adventures to share with their friends and family.

"Whether you’re a lover of non-fiction, cookbooks or novels, or simply wish to spoil your child with captivating tales, there are anabundance of spectacular page turners to unwrap for Christmas this year," Mr Zimmerman said.

ARA Roy Morgan Pre-Christmas Sales Predictions

November 9 – December 24, 2018

2018 Pre-Christmas Sales Growth by Category

[ARA / ROY MORGAN]

2018 Pre-Christmas Sales Growth by State

[ARA / ROY MORGAN]

https://www.retail.org.au/christmas-predictions/

About the Australian Retailers Association:

Founded in 1903, the Australian Retailers Association (ARA) is the retail industry’s peak representative body representing Australia’s $310 billion sector, which employs more than 1.2 million people. The ARA works to ensure retail success by informing, protecting, advocating, educating and saving money for its 7,500 independent and national retail members throughout Australia. For more information, visit www.retail.org.au or call 1300 368 041.

About Dymocks:

Dymocks is Australia’s leading bookseller, with 59 stores in Australia and over 7 million books sold last year. Dymocks aims to inspire more booklovers by delivering the best customer experience through its range and passionately knowledgeable team.

About Nielsen BookScan:

Nielsen BookScan is the world’s first continuous retail sales monitoring service for print books, based on electronic point of sale data collected directly from tills and dispatch systems.

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NATIONAL CONGRESS of Australia’s First Peoples has announced it is pleased with the outcome of the long-awaited Closing the Gap Refresh process, which has led to this formal announcement by the COAG on a genuine partnership approach to be taken by the Commonwealth, State and Territory governments and First Nations peoples through their representatives.

A spokesperson said the COAG meeting outcome reflected the consistent messaging from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, of being integral to the making of the decisions on matters that affect their lives.

"We look forward to the progression of the settlement of a formal partnership arrangement by the end of February 2019," the spokesperson said.

"We will be prepared to work with the Ministerial Council on Closing the Gap, inclusive of Ministers nominated by their respective jurisdictions and representatives from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to co-design the monitoring and evaluation plan on the framework of the Closing the Gap Agenda."

The Close the Gap Campaign was established in 2008 under Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leadership with the aim of achieving health equality for first peoples, as measured by life expectancy equality, by 2030. In 2016 the Redfern Statement Alliance called on the government for a better relationship and response to the crisis in our communities because Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples were concerned there had been minimal evidence of progress, which is detailed in numerous Close the Gap reports, including the 10^th anniversary report in 2018. Substantial improvements are still yet to be reported.

"While this is a positive step, there is still tremendous effort and resources needed if Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander life expectancy equality is to be achieved by 2030.

National Congress co-chair Jackie Huggines said, “It has taken over 12 years for this to happen, but we welcome the announcement by COAG by including us in the decision-making process for our peoples.

"We are hopeful and consistent in our efforts to fight for our peoples by identifying gaps, highlighting requirements, reducing racism and stressing the importance of our culture to improve health outcomes," Dr Huggins said.

Last week Prime Minister Scott Morrison agreed that Closing the Gap needed to be more than a strategy for governments, but a strategy that is owned by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as well.

“We are relieved that finally the Government has listened and taken the logical step forward by enabling our peoples in the decision making and partnership approach to enhance the likelihood of achieving life changing results through the Closing the Gap targets," National Congress co-chair Rod Little said. 

"With this partnering approach, we have a unique opportunity to remove the life expectancy gap and commit to a nationally coordinated action plan to achieve this goal."

www.nationalcongress.com.au

 ABOUT NATIONAL CONGRESS OF AUSTRALIA’S FIRST PEOPLES
 
National Congress is the peak organisation representing the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. National Congress was established following extensive consultations with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and leaders and has represented our peoples at the federal level since 2010. We represent close to 10,000 individual members from across Australia as well as over 180 peak and other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations.

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THE Queensland Resources Council (QRC) has forecast an extra half a billion dollar boost to the royalty taxes paid by the State mining and petroleum industries to give the Palaszczuk Government a record revenue boost from the sector.

QRC chief executive Ian Macfarlane said since the State Budget in May, strong metallurgical and thermal coal prices have boosted royalty tax returns to the Government to record levels – and the pre-Christmas Budget update should reveal an unprecedented $5 billion in royalty taxes for 2018-19.

“When the Budget was handed down in June, the Government projected almost $4.5 billion in royalty taxes for 2018-19,” Mr Macfarlane said.

“QRC is confident this figure will now exceed $5 billion, which is good news for the Palaszczuk Government and more importantly good news for all Queenslanders who will benefit through the Government’s increased capacity to invest in services and infrastructure.

“More than 316,000 Queenslanders are employed by the sector. That is one in eight jobs in Queensland. On behalf of every Queensland man, woman and child, the resources sector now pays more than $1000 in royalty taxes to the Palaszczuk Government.”

Mr Macfarlane said the resources sector’s capacity to employ, invest, export and pay record royalty taxes to the Government depended on stable and predictable policy, including stable rates of royalty taxes.

“Our tiered structure for royalty taxes works well in Queensland and makes sure that the strength in the resources sector translates directly into benefits for all Queenslanders. Abrupt changes to policy or tweaking the rates of royalty taxes will undermine the sector’s ability to employ more, invest more, export more and ultimately pay more royalty taxes,” he said.

“Strong commodity prices have meant the competition for capital from other international mining jurisdictions is much more intense. Queensland cannot afford to lose that competition, because that will cost jobs, investment, exports and royalty taxes for Queensland.

“That is why the Premier’s commitment to QRC last month that her Government would be ‘working together’ with the resources industry on key initiatives including employment, skills development, exports and investment is so important for our state. The Premier also committed to consult with the sector on any regulatory change of material impact to us.”

Mr Macfarlane said royalty tax payments of $5 billion would deliver a direct benefit to all Queenslanders.

“This is enough to fund the annual salary of more than 71,000 beginning teachers or more than 70,000 first year constables or more than 72,000 registered nurses,” Mr Macfarlane said.

www.qrc.org.au

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TODAY the chair of the Tax Practitioners Board (TPB), Ian Taylor, has announced that the TPB has launched a new compliance strategy, calling on registered tax practitioners -- which collectively refers to tax agents, business activity statement (BAS) agents and tax (financial) advisers) -- to settle their outstanding tax obligations.

Mr Taylor is reminding tax practitioners including those who may have failed to lodge income tax returns and activity statements and those who may have outstanding debts with the ATO of their obligations.

"Many tax practitioners continue to serve their clients with professionalism and integrity," Mr Taylor said. "However, we are concerned with those practitioners acting in breach of the law."

About five percent of tax practitioners have late lodgements with the ATO, including activity statements and tax returns. Seven percent of tax practitioners have outstanding ATO debts, totalling nearly $115 million, without arrangement to repay these bills.

"The numbers of tax practitioners failing their tax obligations can undermine trust and confidence in the profession," Mr Taylor said.

"Tax practitioners with outstanding lodgements of income tax returns or activity statements and ATO debt need to address these obligations urgently as they may be in breach of the Tax Agent Services Act 2009."

This new compliance strategy has been prompted by fresh data analysis indicating areas of non-compliance by registered tax practitioners.

The data shows that over 2,500 tax practitioners have not lodged one or more of their personal income tax returns or for those of their associated entities and over 1,000 have more than one outstanding Business Activity Statements (BAS) or for their associated entities. Of these numbers, nearly 500 tax practitioners have a combination of both.

In addition, over 2,700 tax practitioners, who are also trustees of their own self-managed superannuation fund (SMSF), have outstanding SMSF annual returns.

In relation to ATO debt, over 5,000 have a debt of over $300 (with no active payment arrangements), representing a total debt of nearly $115 million.

"The TPB will initially work closely with practitioners to give them an opportunity to remedy any outstanding tax obligations," Mr Taylor said.

"After six weeks, firmer action will be taken to enforce the laws, including investigations, prosecutions and proactive collection action where appropriate."

A new information sheet outlines what is required of tax practitioners under Code item 2 (complying with the taxation laws in the conduct of personal affairs).

About the Tax Practitioners Board

The Tax Practitioners Board regulates tax practitioners in order to protect consumers. The TPB aims to assure the community that tax practitioners meet appropriate standards of professional and ethical conduct.

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