THE Australian Retailers Association (ARA), is hoping this week’s interest rate cut will halt the year on year slide of retail sales growth, with Australian Bureau of Stastics data showing growth for the year to June 2016 of 2.7 percent.

Retail sales growth has been on a decline for the last six months, falling from a high of five percent in June 2015.

Month on month growth (May 2016 compared to June 2016) came in at a meagre 0.1 percent. Total retail sales for June 2016 were $25 billion.

Russell Zimmerman, ARA Executive Director, said the June figure is the combination of several factors, most predominately the lead up to the Federal Election on July 2.

“Elections are notorious for causing lower consumer confidence and depressed sales, which appears to have been the case here,” Mr Zimmerman said.

“Unseasonably warm temperatures across the nation, deflation, and world events, such as the UK’s Brexit decision and fallout, and the growing prominence of the upcoming US election, all took a toll on consumer confidence in June, and while some of these issues will cycle out in the next few months, there some retailers who are doing it tough at the moment,” he said.

Retailers in the Northern Territory and Western Australia particularly felt the pinch, with the lowest sales in at least five years, with NT experiencing a decline 0f 1.3 percent in sales, while WA managed an increase of just 0.5 percent.

Tasmania has continued its sales comeback, with the largest growth of all the states and territories, at 4.6 percent, followed by Victoria and the ACT with 3.9 percent and 3.8 percent growth respectively.

Following on from the trends of the last few months, household good suffered almost static growth of 0.8 percent, while food, which is under significant pressure from competition and deflation, posted 1.8 percent growth.

Department stores, however, will be rejoicing at their healthy 4.9 percent growth following a period of stagnation in the last two years, while clothing and footwear was the big winner, increasing sales by 8.9 percent.

“There are some positive changes to have occurred since June, and the ARA anticipates that this will result in a return to the higher growth of 2015, Mr Zimmerman said.

“The lowering of interest rates this week is predicted to boost confidence and provide consumers with more discretionary cash, and with the Election now behind us and producing a clear result, we’re hopeful retail will bounce back to a healthier level of growth in the coming months,” he said.

YEAR ON YEAR RETAIL GROWTH (June 2015 to June 2016 seasonally adjusted)

By category:

Food, 1.8 percent; household goods, 0.8 percent; clothing, footwear and personal accessories, 8.7 percent; department stores,4.9 percent; other retailing, 3.8 percent; cafés, restaurants and takeaway foods, 2.3 percent.

By state:

NSW, 3.2 percent; Victoria, 3.9 percent; Queensland, 1.5 percent; South Australia, 3.1 percent; Western Australia, 0.5 percent; Tasmania, 4.6 percent; Northern Territory, -1.3 percent; and Australian Capital Territory, 3.8 percent.

About the Australian Retailers Association:

Founded in 1903, the Australian Retailers Association (ARA) is the retail industry’s peak representative body representing Australia’s $293 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 ninth annual AMMA Industry Awards took place at Fraser’s Kings Park on Thursday evening (4 August) following the AMMA National Conference which explored workforce and employment matters across Australia’s resource industry.

About 200 resource industry professionals gathered in Perth to celebrate five organisations and two rising stars at a glittering awards ceremony recognising excellence in workforce areas including diversity, training and wellbeing.
 
As the peak body representing resource industry employers, AMMA hosts its Industry Awards every year to celebrate the pioneering people and practices behind Australia’s successful resource operations.
 
The 2016 AMMA Industry Award winners are:

• Indigenous Employment & Retention Award: Fortescue Metals Group’s ‘Trade Up’ Program
• Training & Development: The Mancala Group
• Workforce Innovation Award: Compass Group’s ‘Village Life’ Program
• Health & Wellbeing Award: New Hope Group’s ‘Live Well, Work Well’ Program
• Australian Women in Resources Alliance (AWRA) Award: Australian Rail Track Corporation
• Young Professional Award: Joint winners 
• Annie Martyn, Turnaround Execution Coordinator with Viva Energy Australia
• Jarrad Oakley-Nicholls, Employment Program Manager with Wirrpanda Foundation

AMMA chief executive Steve Knott says an AMMA Industry Award demonstrates a commitment to improving workplace practices for the benefit of the industry and the wider community.
 
“People are the backbone of the resource industry. The leadership and innovation displayed by resource employers across workforce areas such as training, diversity, and health and wellbeing is what underpins our industry as a pillar of the national economy,” Mr Knott says.
 
“This goes hand-in-hand with ensuring our industry is one that the brightest minds in this country gravitate to; where career opportunities are rewarding and where employee wellbeing is top priority.
 
“The record number of award nominations received this year is testament to the resource industry’s ongoing commitment to workforce and operational excellence in the face of challenging market conditions.”
 
Mr Knott also congratulates the joint winners of AMMA’s Young Professional Award: Viva Energy’s Annie Martyn and the Wirrpanda Foundation’s Jarrad Oakley-Nicholls.
 
“Annie and Jarrad exemplify the exceptional talent rising within the resource industry. The leadership, ingenuity and professionalism they have displayed within a relatively short period of time makes them both worthy of an AMMA Young Professional Award,” Mr Knott says

www.amma.org.au

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HUNDREDS of women are set to benefit from an innovative online mentoring program developed to help boost gender diversity in the resource industry following today’s funding commitment from the Australian Government.

Addressing a room of resource industry employers at the AMMA National Conference in Perth, Minister for Employment and Minister for Women, Michaelia Cash, announced an additional $490,000 to ensure the successful Australian Women in Resources Alliance (AWRA) e-Mentoring Program continues until at least mid-2018.
 
The program has already connected more than 200 women with experienced male and female mentors thanks to ongoing funding from the Commonwealth since 2013.
 
AMMA’s executive director of industry services, Tara Diamond, said the government’s extended funding would support the resource industry to be more competitive through workforce diversity.
 
“Australia’s resource industry is heavily male-dominated, with women comprising just 17 per cent of the national workforce compared to 46 per cent across all industries,” Ms Diamond said.
 
“Despite a challenging operating environment, the resource industry still employs almost 100,000 more people compared to 10 years ago, and opportunities abound for women to play a greater role in the industry’s growing production capacity.
 
“As the only national program offering mentoring to women via an online platform, AWRA e-Mentoring is breaking down the barriers that in the past have prevented some women receiving valuable professional guidance, such as remote locations and non-traditional work schedules.
 
“The program will continue to be a critical part of the resource industry’s multi-faceted approach to support the career development of women across multiple occupations, particularly technical and trade roles in which women have been traditionally underemployed.
 
“A key focus for AWRA over the next two years will also be to facilitate greater mentoring opportunities for women from culturally diverse backgrounds, including Indigenous Australians.”
 
Minister Cash said the government is committed to support a range of private sector initiatives that support women to succeed in traditionally male dominated roles and industries.
 
“This program is an example of what can be achieved by government collaborating with the private sector to obtain mutually beneficial outcomes.” Minister Cash said.
 
“To truly empower women’s workforce choices, we must remove barriers for women to enter and succeed in traditionally male dominated industries, such as the resource industry.
 
“I congratulate AMMA on this program, which is supporting women to succeed in a male dominated industry and promoting greater choice and opportunity for Australian women. Such partnerships are essential if we are to obtain greater workforce equality and in turn, reduce the gender pay gap”
 
AWRA is a national initiative facilitated by Australia’s peak resource industry employer group AMMA (the Australian Mines and Metals Association).

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AUSTRALIA’S resource industry has used its annual national employment conference to urge the Turnbull Government to put ‘fundamental workplace relations reform’ back on the political agenda.

Speaking at the 2016 AMMA National Conference today in Perth, the association’s Chief Executive Steve Knott said it was ‘disappointing’ that the government failed to respond to the Productivity Commission’s recommendations on workplace relations reform during the election campaign.
 
He reiterated the need for the Coalition to pursue changes beyond the double dissolution triggers of the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) and a new Registered Organisations Commission.
 
“Fundamental reform of our workplace relations laws cannot be put on the backburner,” Mr Knott said at today’s Conference.
 
“The government’s commitment to combating union lawlessness and corruption is positive, but to assume this should be the last word on workplace reform would do Australian employers, employees and the wider community a profound disservice.
 
“Stopping at the five workplace relations bills foreshadowed by the government should not be acceptable. There are additional, widespread and longstanding problems with our workplace system that need to be addressed.
 
“AMMA is calling on the government to pursue its clearly foreshadowed changes while simultaneously implementing the Productivity Commission’s recommendations to improve Australia’s workplace relations framework.”
 
Referencing Tuesday’s rate cut by the RBA and the threatened downgrading of Australia’s AAA rating by the major international credit rating agencies, Mr Knott warned ‘significant micro and macro-economic reforms’ are needed to stop the momentum for further downgrades.
 
“Australia is stuck in a period of domestic political and reform inertia, and we have become an increasingly costly and complex place to do business,” said the AMMA boss.
 
“Unless we can begin to change this, we can expect upwards pressure on borrowing rates with consequential adverse impacts on both consumer spending and living standards.
 
“The AAA credit rating wake-up call and a historic low cash rate simply reflect what most in business already know. Put simply, Australia desperately needs to lift our competitiveness.
 
“In our industry the decision on where to invest capital largely rests on costs versus returns, political stability and the right policies for doing business.  It is imperative that we present a more attractive platform for investment to secure the $254bn worth of potential major resource developments in Australia that are in limbo, yet to achieve final investment decision.”
 
The 2016 AMMA National Conference features resource industry CEOs and ‘people managers’ exploring employee relations, human resources, leadership, culture and development topics. Click here for a full transcript of AMMA Chief Executive Steve Knott’s opening address.

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