THE Indigenous Affairs Committee will hear from Indigenous Business Australia (IBA) this Thursday as part of its inquiry into pathways and participation opportunities for Indigenous Australians in employment and business.

Witnesses will be attending by conference call.

Committee chair Julian Leeser MP said IBA had played a significant role in providing investment support for Indigenous businesses over many decades and would provide valuable input into the inquiry.

"IBA has now been assisting Indigenous entrepreneurs for 30 years to start and grow their businesses. The committee looks forward to discussing ways to further promote economic self-sufficiency among First Nations people at this hearing," Mr Leeser said.

Public hearing details
Date: Thursday 18 February 2021
Time: 11.45am to 12.25pm AEDT

A live webcast of the hearing will be accessible at https://www.aph.gov.au/Watch_Read_Listen.

A full program will be available at the inquiry website.

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THE Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman, Kate Carnell said the Victorian Government needs to urgently compensate small businesses forced to close their doors on one of the busiest holidays of the year.

“Small businesses such as florists and restaurants currently have their storage rooms packed with supplies, ahead of what they thought would be one of their busiest trading days of the year,” Ms Carnell said.

“Unfortunately, this snap lockdown means thousands of Victorian small businesses need to shut up shop for five days without any notice.

“It is for this reason the Victorian Government needs to immediately announce a compensation package for affected small businesses who have lost stock such as flowers and food," she said.

“The compensation should also cover all other costs associated with running a business including staff wages and rent.

“It is impossible for small businesses to plan for sudden lockdowns and the timing of this one – coinciding with Valentine’s Day and Lunar New Year celebrations – could not be worse.

“Victorian restaurant owners are understandably frustrated, given this lockdown announcement came just hours after their additional supplies were delivered. Many were fully-booked all weekend.

“These small businesses are set to lose thousands of dollars worth of stock through no fault of their own. Given the nightmarish 12 months these cash-strapped small businesses have already been through, there’s a real risk this lockdown could break them.                     

“It’s absolutely critical these small businesses have the support and certainty they need from the Victorian Government to get through this.”

www.asbfeo.gov.au

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THE Mining and Energy Union has struck a powerful legal blow against Australia’s "permanent casual labour hire rort", with a big win in the Federal Court for former employees of the Sub-Zero labour hire firm.

The court heard employees of Sub-Zero worked as permanents, but were engaged under a contract that described their employment as casual and offered a flat hourly rate of pay. This rate was claimed to incorporate a 25 percent casual loading. When Sub-Zero went into insolvency its employees made claims under the Fair Entitlements Guarantee (FEG) scheme. FEG recognised the workers were permanent, and not casual, but withheld the 25 percent casual loading from their claims.

The Mining and Energy Union has fought this through the courts, culminating in today’s Federal Court ruling that it is wrong to consider the 25 percent casual loading as an offset of the rights these workers had as permanent employees.

“This is yet another powerful legal blow to the shameful ’permanent casual’ labour hire rort in this country,” CFMEU mining and energy northern district president Peter Jordan said.

“It’s a fantastic victory for these mine workers who are now going to be tens of thousands of dollars better off on average. And we’ve also established a precedent that will apply to future labour hire companies that go into insolvency.

“This Federal Court victory follows on from our landmark Skene and Rossato victories that found the ‘permanent casual’ labour hire rort to be invalid. The Morrison Government should take the hint," he said.

“The courts have been loud and clear. In Australia, if you work somewhere permanently and predictably, then you’re a permanent. That entitles you to a package of rights and conditions. Employers can’t label you as a casual to strip you of those rights.

“The Morrison Government, instead of trying to legalise the rort through its IR Omnibus bill, should now move to stamp the practice out," Mr Jordan said.

“Mining companies in Australia can continue to make extremely healthy profits without resorting to these mean and tricky games. There’s no justification for their rort aside from base greed.

“Any decent Australian Government would now recognise the legal position, recognise the moral position, and tell employers the gig is up.

“If the government refuses to wake up, however, our union will keep fighting to ensure permanent workers are recognised as permanents and given the rights and conditions they deserve.”

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QUEENSLAND is poised to become a global leader in the supply of key minerals needed to create renewable energy, according to Queensland Exploration Council (QEC) chair Kim Wainwright.

Speaking in the lead-up to the QEC’s annual exploration forum in Brisbane on February 19, Ms Wainwright said local exploration companies were busier than ever across all commodity sectors.

“We are seeing renewed exploration activity in the gas industry in particular, in fact, the September 2020 quarter was the highest exploration expenditure we had seen since 2015 levels,” she said.

“For critical minerals, activity has not really slowed at all. The State Government is eager to facilitate exploration development and investors are keen to get on board with the minerals that are leading technological advancements in renewable energy, battery storage and defence systems to name a few.”

Ms Wainwright said Queensland was rich in new economy minerals such as cobalt, copper, vanadium, magnesite and bauxite.

“These in-demand commodities are abundant in Queensland’s north-west and north-east regions so there is a keen appetite to learn more about how to responsibly and economically explore and develop these deposits,” she said.

“The future of hydrogen and how the State Government plans to encourage investment in this emerging low carbon fuel source is another hot topic which we know will attract a lot of interest at next week's forum.”

World leading mineral geology researcher, professor Rick Valenta from The University of Queensland’s Sustainable Minerals Institute and QEC Research Working Group Chair, echoed Ms Wainwright’s comments, saying it was an exciting time for the state’s minerals industry with never before released Queensland geological data scheduled to be publicly available later this year. 

“This data will help us better understand and define Queensland’s resource deposits and potentially uncover hidden exploration opportunities,” Prof. Valenta said. 

Ms Wainwright said coal remained the leading resource target in Queensland in terms of exploration expenditure. 

“With coal prices now back at pre-COVID levels, this is further stimulating investment in coal exploration projects,” she said. 

This year the QEC’s Exploration Initiatives for the Future forum will showcase ‘war stories’ from four explorers who received highly sought after grants under the State Government’s Collaborative Exploration Initiative (CEI). 

To qualify for up to $200,000 in exploration funding, grant recipients are required to share their learnings with the industry to enhance collaboration, innovation and outcomes.  

Ms Wainwright said it was vital for explorers to learn from each other’s successes and failures so they could adapt and extend their own exploration and development work.

“By its very nature, exploration is speculative and can be exciting, but it can also be extremely stressful and prohibitively expensive with sometimes nothing to show for your efforts,” she said.

“Through the QEC, which is the Queensland Resources Council’s exploration arm, we’re creating a dynamic space for people and companies to communicate and collaborate so our industry can play a lead role in providing new economy minerals to meet the world’s future renewable energy needs.”

Speakers at next Friday’s forum include Australian Hydrogen Council deputy chair and Origin Energy general manager for Future Fuels, Felicity Underhill on the future of hydrogen and the Origin Energy Hydrogen Project; Aeon Metals’ exploration manager Dan Johnson will speak about Aeon’s progress and results achieved as a result of a CEI grant; and senior research fellow Dr Anita Parbhakar-Fox from UQ’s Sustainable Minerals Institute will present on the geometallurgy of mine waste and critical minerals.

To register for the QEC’s one-day forum at the Stamford Plaza, Brisbane click here.

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