THE Australian Retailers Association (ARA) has announced the formation of AUSCAP (Australians to Stop Counterfeiting and Piracy), a coalition of industry groups, businesses and trademark owners working to stop the illegal trade in consumer goods.

ARA Executive Director, Russell Zimmerman, said AUSCAP was formed because businesses are seeking protection of their goods and intellectual property, while consumers need to be protection from counterfeit and fake goods.

“AUSCAP is bringing business together as a united front to engage with State and Federal government,” Mr Zimmerman said.

“Today, Australia has been recognised by the prestigious Economist Intelligence Unit as the best country in Asia with respect to its illicit trade environment.

“The EIU has identified that Australia has one of the leading intellectual property and customs environments in the world.  The Government, especially the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, deserve credit for their insight in establishing the Australian Border Force (ABF) as an agency with a holistic perspective and powers across the border continuum.  ABF Commissioner Roman Quaedvlieg has led the organisation through a successful merger and is now delivering results.

“Against these high scores, Australia performed lower on transparency and trade score, including availability of track and trade services, and perception of the level of genuine engagement with stakeholders.  The commitment of the Government through the Border Force Industry Summit to be held again later this month and Industry Engagement Strategies released last year are a very positive step in this regard.  Implementation of the measures agreed will be key going forward.

“Australia’s demand for illicit products and law enforcement barriers across our Federal system also drag down our result on this measure, with much emphasis on action by Commonwealth authorities. However, resource-stretched state and territory policy and consumer affairs bodies also have an important role.

“Infringements to IP rights, in particular wide scale counterfeiting and piracy, now impact virtually every product category. The days when only luxury goods were counterfeited, or when unauthorised music CDs and movie DVDs were sold only on street corners are long past. Today, counterfeiters are producing fake foods and beverages, pharmaceuticals, electronics and electrical supplies, auto parts and everyday household products. Copyright pirates have also created multi-million dollar networks to produce, transport and sell their unauthorised copies of music, video and software."

Newsworthy examples in Australia include the seizure by Customs of 40-tonnes of counterfeit Omo laundry powder from China in terms of volume, and with respect to the sophistication of counterfeiters, the counterfeiting alleged in the case of the MAC Cosmetics.  Most concerning, the dangers of such goods received rare national attention when Sheryl Anne Aldeguer died after being electrocuted by faulty non-compliant goods, serving as a tragic warning of the need to address these issues as a priority.”

AUSCAP will lead a delegation of members and concerned businesses to Canberra later this year to discuss how Australia can continue to improve on its region-leading illicit trade environment.

About Australians to Stop Counterfeiting and Piracy (AUSCAP):

AUSCAP is a newly formed business coalition against illegal consumer goods established to facilitate a broad Business-to-Government and Government-to-Business engagement with respect to criminal conduct impacting business, focusing on crimes such as trademark infringement and smuggling which impact the value of IP rights to its owners.  Counterfeit and pirated goods also represent a danger to consumers, who are at risk from fake products which often do not meet safety standards.  AUSCAP is seeking to affiliate with BASCAP (bascap.com, part of the International Chamber of Commerce) to leverage their global research on addressing issues across the supply chain locally, such as the role of Free Trade Zones and intermediaries in facilitating illicit trade.

Further information regarding AUSCAP can be accessed at http://stopillegaltrade.com/.

About the Australian Retailers Association:

Founded in 1903, the Australian Retailers Association (ARA) is the retail industry’s peak representative body representing Australia’s $300 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 5,000 independent and national retail members throughout Australia. For more information, visit www.retail.org.au or call 1300 368 041.

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THE House of Representatives Standing Committee on Economics will scrutinise the three financial regulators, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA), the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), at public hearings in Canberra on October 14.

The Chair of the Committee, Mr David Coleman, MP, stated that ‘the hearings will give the Committee the opportunity to scrutinise the regulators on their performance and operation. In addition, the Committee will question the regulators on evidence arising from the Committee’s hearings with the four major banks.’

The three financial system regulators each have a distinct role in Australia’s financial and banking system. APRA is responsible for prudential regulation, including promoting financial system stability, while ASIC is responsible for conduct regulation, including consumer protection in relation to banking and financial services. The ACCC’s role is to promote competition and fair trade in markets to benefit consumers, businesses, and the community.

Public hearing details: Friday 14 October 2016, Committee Room 2R1, Parliament House, Canberra

8:30am to 10:30am: ASIC

10:45am to 1:15pm: APRA

2:15pm to 4:45pm: ACCC

Webcast: The hearing will be webcast at aph.gov.au/live

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THE PRICE of IT products in Australia will today be examined as the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties holds public hearings in Canberra.

Committee Chair, the Hon Stuart Robert MP, says the committee will examine an amendment to the schedule of concessions under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, as well as a protocol to amend the air services agreement with Bahrain, a new air services agreement with Kuwait, and the Convention on Choice of Courts.

“By further liberalising international trade in information technology products, the recently negotiated amendments to the schedule of concessions will put downward pressure on the price consumers pay for some IT products in Australia, with flow-on effects up and down the supply chain,” Mr Robert says.

“Air services agreements, the schedule of concessions and the Convention on Choice of Courts will also have important effects for Australia.”

Mr Robert says people interested in the Committee’s inquiries can visit the Treaties Committee’s website for further information.

Public Hearing: Monday 10 October 2016, Committee Room 2R1, Parliament House, Canberra

11.30am: Air Services Agreement between the Government of Australia and the Government of the State of Kuwait; Protocol to Amend and Supplement the Agreement between the Government of Australia and the State of Bahrain relating to Air Services

12.00pm: Australia’s Accession to the Choice of Courts Agreement

12.30pm: Amendment of Australia’s Schedule of Concessions under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 (GATT) and the Marrakesh Agreement establishing the World Trade Organisation for Implementation of: Ministerial Declaration on the Expansion of Trade in Information Technology Products; and Ministerial Decision – Export Competition

More detailed programs for the hearings, including witnesses, are available from the Committee website.

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FOLLOWING the Federal Government bank hearings, National Australia Bank CEO Andrew will address the QUT Business Leaders' Forum on Monday. 

He is a career banker with more than 30 years’ experience who has held senior positions in major Australian banks including the Commonwealth Bank and was MD and CEO of the Bank of New Zealand.

Mr Thorburn will talk about his strategic vision for NAB, a company with 42,000 employees, and the challenges for NAB and the banking industry.

WHO: Andrew Thorburn, NAB CEO

WHAT: Guest speaker at QUT Business Leaders’ Forum

WHERE: Ballroom le Grand, Sofitel Brisbane Central

WHEN: 12.30 to 2pm

www.qut.edu.au

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POLLENIZER, Australia’s oldest startup incubator, will launch a free two-day session in Geelong to help workers affected by the Ford shut down explore the idea of creating their own business.

The program, named Next Monday, will show former Ford workers how any idea can be developed into a business.

Next Monday was formed in less than 24 hours by Pollenizer, in response to figures from Australian Catholic University that up to 62 percent of Ford workers intend to look for a new job following the closure of the plant this Friday yet only 1 percent currently aim to start their own business.

Current supporters of the program include: Deakin University's Spark@Deakin and Australia Post’s Small Business Hive and Geelong startup program, Runway.

The company is seeking further support from the startup and business community ahead of the Next Monday’s launch on Monday.

“This is about bringing Australia’s most talented startup veterans together to tackle what will be an ongoing issue as Australia’s economy transitions and more jobs are displaced,” Pollenizer chief startup scientist Phil Morle said.

“The Australian economy is going through unprecedented change. Legacy industries are shifting and new ones are being created. In our work, we have learned that as fast as old businesses end, new ones emerge and that anybody can start them.”

In addition, the program should provide a kick start to Geelong’s budding startup ecosystem — which recently received $1.7m in funding from LaunchVIC.

The regional centre is already home to several incubators and coworking spaces including StartUpCloud and Runway.

Details on the venue will be revealed at a later date. Workers can register their interest on Pollenizer’s website.

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UNIONS must be prohibited from abusing enterprise bargaining to restrict businesses from using commercial contracting and labour hire arrangements, the resource industry’s national employer group AMMA has told the Australian Government.

In its submission on the exposure draft of the Competition and Consumer Amendment (Competition Policy Review) Bill 2016, AMMA strongly supports the government’s move to increase penalties for illegal secondary boycotts, but says union attempts to use enterprise bargaining to restrict the use of contractors and labour hire must also be addressed.
 
“Resource employers welcome the government acting to subject secondary boycotts to the same maximum penalties as cartel behaviour, price fixing, and other anti-competitive activities,” says AMMA’s head of policy, Scott Barklamb.
 
“As we see with the CFMEU’s alleged boycott of Boral, currently playing out before the courts, no one ever wins in secondary boycotts.  Updated penalties will help deter cynical coercive strategies and ensure employers and customers that have nothing to do with a dispute don’t become collateral damage.
 
“Having said that, when the government acts on secondary boycotts, it must also act on anti-contractor and anti-labour hire clauses, or it risks leaving the job half done.
 
“Unions shouldn’t be telling businesses who they can trade with, and they shouldn’t be able to abuse the enterprise bargaining system to lock employees and job seekers out of work.”
 
Both the Harper Review on competition policy and the Productivity Commission review on workplace relations recommended outlawing unions from abusing enterprise bargaining to restrict commercial contracting and labour hire arrangements.
 
AMMA urges the government to adopt Harper review recommendation 37 which would extend the application of prohibitions under s45E and s45EA of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (CCA) to industrial agreements and awards.
 
At the same time, the government should draft legislation in line with the Productivity Commission’s review of Australia’s WR system to prohibit agreement clauses that seek to restrict the use of contractors and labour hire arrangements.

www.amma.org.au

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THE upgraded forecast for Australia’s resource exports demonstrates the continuing significance of the resource industry for Australia’s economy and living standards, and the need to better support future investment through more competitive policy and regulation, according Australian resource industry employer group the Australian Mines and Minerals Association. (AMMA).

The Australian Government has upwardly revised its 2016–17 forecast for resources and energy exports by 12% to $175.7 billion, due largely to more optimistic outlooks for iron ore and metallurgical coal.
 
“Even with continued commodity price fluctuations, this export earnings upgrade is further evidence that Australia’s resource industry continues to do the heavy lifting for our economy” says AMMA head of policy Scott Barklamb.
 
“Hopefully this uplift will help spur business confidence and unlock some of the $254 billion of viable resource projects that have not proceeded in recent years.
 
“Australia is not the only country rich in commodities, and competition to attract major foreign investment remains fierce. Despite today’s positive forecast, Australia requires a series of policy and regulatory changes if we are to capture our share of the next wave of global resources investment.”
 
To position Australia as the ‘first choice’ destination for future global resources investment, AMMA members want to see the Turnbull government deliver genuine reform in a range of areas including:

• Reducing the company tax rate from 30% to 25% for all businesses, better aligning Australian tax structures with other resource investment destinations.
• Creating a ‘one-stop-shop’ for streamlined approval processes so new projects in Australia can commence on more competitive timeframes.
• Addressing significant costs and inflexibilities within Australia’s employment laws – starting with implementing the recommendations of the Productivity Commission’s 2015 review of Australia’s workplace relations system.

“Australia’s resource industry is now firmly in the ‘production phase’ with almost half of all Australian exports coming from resources.  To keep the benefits flowing into Australian communities for generations to come, the government must move forward with sensible and effective reforms to stimulate new investment and project growth,” Mr Barklamb says.
 
To learn more about how workplace relations reform in particular can benefit Australia’s resource industry and attract more jobs and more investment to our shores, visit amma.org.au/gettingbackontrack.

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THE full schedule for OzPod 2016, an invigorating and inspiring day for Australia’s podcast and radio industries, is now available.

OzPod host ABC Radio will welcome contributors and guests from the commercial, public, community, indie and wider audio sectors to a wide-ranging celebration of the podcast, exploring everything from audience acquisition and retention, approaches to measurement, new technologies, the rise of the podcast in traditional media, revenue opportunities and the art of storytelling.