THE Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s recent submission to Infrastructure Victoria’s consultation process urges liveability to be prioritised.

“Infrastructure Victoria’s engagement with business and the community represents a positive first step in setting Victoria’s infrastructure priorities for the next 30 years,” said Victorian Chamber Chief Executive Mark Stone.

“Infrastructure plays a vital role in underpinning and supporting long term economic growth and liveability.  Victoria’s liveability credentials, including modern health services, a world class education and training system, sporting and cultural events and water and environmental resources, all depend on efficient and well developed infrastructure.

“The Victorian Chamber’s submission argues for the prioritisation of a number of metropolitan and regional projects, including completing the Metropolitan Ring Road from Greensborough to Ringwood, and continued investment in regional road, rail and airport infrastructure.”

The submission also stresses the need for Commonwealth-State cooperation to ensure that Victoria’s infrastructure needs are progressed. This cooperation needs to extend to financial support from the Commonwealth and the sharing of information, expertise and analysis on proposed infrastructure projects.

“The development of a long term infrastructure plan, and the resulting pipeline of projects, will provide greater certainty to the community, business and firms involved in infrastructure provision,” said Mr Stone.

The Victorian Chamber looks forward to the next stage of Infrastructure Victoria’s work which will examine specific infrastructure options.

The Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, established in 1851, is the most influential business organisation in Victoria, informing and servicing more than 15,000 members, customers and clients around the state.

victorianchamber.com.au

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AUSTRALIAN retailers opening their stores on public holidays across the Easter weekend will be forced to bear the brunt of much higher costs, with penalty rates applicable for up to four days in some states, according to the Australian Retailers Association (ARA).

ARA Executive Director, Russell Zimmerman, said many retailers will not open this Easter long weekend due to prohibitive labour costs associated with public holiday penalty rates.

Penalty rates of up to two and a half times regular pay will place financial pressure on all retail businesses, with small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to be the hardest hit by the additional costs.

The ARA believes retail penalty rates must be addressed to allow business to respond to customer needs, rather than having to fit their allocation of labour to an antiquated system. The ARA is currently engaged in a review of General Retail Industry Award 2010 (GRIA), with the view to reducing costs for retailers, particularly on Sundays, with the independent arbitrator, Fair Work Commission (FWC).

“Consumers are expecting retailers to be open and trading this Easter long weekend where laws allow, and retail businesses will be forced to wear the higher costs as a result,” said Mr Zimmerman.

“With the dawn of online retail and the effects of globalisation, we now live in a 24/7 economy. Australian lifestyles are changing, and it is important to allow physical retailers the scope to be able to keep up with this change and compete effectively against these new challenges to provide consumers with the access and convenience to shopping they expect.

“For most Australians, weekends and public holidays are seen as normal shopping day, making above the norm penalty rates unnecessary.

“Excessive penalty rates not only hurt business owners, but impact on the shopping experience, which is crucial to a retailer’s capacity to compete. Retailers will be forced to operate with a lower number of employees than required, and workers will have to be offered less hours of employment in order for retailers to afford penalty rates over the Easter long weekend.

Penalty rates were introduced in the early 1900s as compensation for employees’ work performed outside ‘normal’ hours, however, in 2016, standard working hours no longer fit the traditional pattern of 9 to 5, Monday to Friday.

“A reduction in penalty rates will have a number of benefits for the community and economy, in addition to cost reductions for retail businesses. Retailers would be able to afford to employ more staff for more hours, which will lead to more money in the pockets of these workers, increasing their spending power and a stronger economy overall.

“With youth unemployment rates increasing at a rapid rate, and retail one of Australia’s largest employers, this change will enable businesses to employ more staff, thereby helping to reduce unemployment levels, particularly in the sector of under 25s.

“Penalty rates should be determined by the FWC within an appropriate regulatory framework, and we look forward to collaborating with the Government to ensure the needs of both retail businesses and their employees are met by any changes that may occur to the payment of penalty rates.”

About the Australian Retailers Association:

Founded in 1903, the Australian Retailers Association (ARA) is the retail industry’s peak representative body representing Australia’s more than $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 Prime Minister recalling parliament to debate the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) and a new Registered Organisations Commission has sent a clear message to obstructionist crossbench senators that if they can’t govern in the interests of the entire nation, they should find themselves subject to the will of the people at the next election.
 
AMMA chief executive Steve Knott says ‘it should be of little surprise’ that the government has threatened a double dissolution election over its mandate on the ABCC and Registered Organisation bills, which have been repeatedly rejected by an intransigent senate since 2013.
 
“It should be noted that Malcolm Turnbull, as Opposition Leader in 2008, did not oppose the ALP’s workplace relations laws on the principle that the people of Australia delivered their judgment of that policy at the 2007 Election,” Mr Knott says.
 
“It is not unreasonable for the Prime Minister to now seek an end to more than two years of political pantomime and self-interested rejection of these two bills, which were key elements of the Coalition’s workplace relations policies released before the 2013 Federal Election.
 
“The fate of this legislation, along with that of many of the senators, is now in their own hands. It should not be a big call for the crossbench senators to support important legislation that was part of the Coalition’s election mandate and has since had a multitude of economic, industrial and criminal evidence to support its reintroduction.”
 
AMMA has long advocated for the importance of the ABCC and the need for more rigorous governance standards and penalties for all registered organisations. The peak resources body repeatedly warned the Rudd-Gillard government of the devastating impact to construction sector competition and lawfulness that would come from abolishing the ABCC.
 
“A strengthened building industry watchdog was specifically recommended by the Cole Royal Commission in 2003 and union conduct in the intervening years, much of it uncovered through the recent Heydon Royal Commission, has only made its case stronger,” Mr Knott continues.
 
“It is not too much to ask participants in the building and construction industry to be subject to the rule of law, just as it is not too much for all registered organisations to play by the same rules as corporations.
 
“AMMA would be delighted if in the future, the building and construction sector showed such an improvement in its cultures and industrial environment that a case could be made to examine and potentially remove its special compliance and regulatory arrangements.
 
“However it is clear that at present, with participants in the industry so routinely before the court for bad behaviour, intimidation and coercion, that an effective watchdog like the ABCC is not only warranted but essential to protect and strengthen one of our nation’s most critical industries.”

www.amma.org.au

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STATEMENT by AMMA executive director, policy and public affairs, Scott Barklamb:

AUSTRALIA’s resource industry employer group, AMMA, welcomes proposed legislation to ensure unions cannot use enterprise agreements to stop Australian employees choosing which fund they want to direct their superannuation into. 

Unions regularly insist that enterprise bargaining agreements (EBAs) covering wages, leave and hours also compel employers to direct all employee superannuation contributions into an industry superannuation fund nominated by the union. 
 
Employees covered by these enterprise agreements are denied superannuation choice.  This means they cannot choose where to direct their retirement incomes, and are denied the full range of competing superannuation products.  It also stops employees consolidating their superannuation into a single account to reduce fees.
 
This includes employees who did not vote for the agreement and are not members of the union.
 
This is unacceptable. Union bosses, enjoying the support of just 11% of private sector employees, should not be able to decide where the superannuation of working Australians is directed and remove their right of choice – particularly not to force contributions into funds with union officials sitting on the board.
 
The vast majority of Australian employees, ranging from highly paid professionals to those on minimum wages, have the right to choose where to direct their superannuation, to choose between retail funds, industry funds and competing products, or to not exercise superannuation choice and stay in default arrangements.  
 
Most employees also have the right to consolidate their superannuation into a single fund of their choice.
 
It is not acceptable that unions be able to extinguish these choices for individual employees through collective agreements, and AMMA welcomes legislation to put this right.  
 
The Superannuation Legislation Amendment (Choice of Fund) Bill 2016 was introduced into the House of Representatives by Assistant Treasurer Kelly O’Dwyer on 17 March 2016.

www.amma.org.au

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