THE Minister for Small Business and Assistant Treasurer, Kelly O'Dwyer, has released draft legislation and regulations for public consultation on resilience and collateral protection, and a policy paper on client monies.

AUSTRALIAN shoppers were out in force at Boxing Day retail sales yesterday, with around $2.3 billion expected to have gone through registers across the country as part of the annual Boxing Day sales event, according to the Australian Retailers Association (ARA).

Russell Zimmerman, ARA Executive Director, said retailers across the country were inundated with shoppers, with some keen shoppers forming queues in anticipation of the discounts from very early morning.

“This year’s Boxing Day crowds certainly did not disappoint, and if anything, were larger than previous years,” Mr Zimmerman said of consumer participation.

“Judging from the number of people in stores and our prediction of $2.3 billion in purchases nationally, I think we’ll be looking at a record Boxing Day in 2015 in terms of sales.

“We anticipate this sales momentum will continue for the next two weeks or more, with the ARA and Roy Morgan Research expecting that Australian consumers will make retail purchases to the tune of $16.8 billion from December 26 to January 15,” he said.

“Boxing Day is traditionally known as the biggest sale day of the year, and while physical stores are the focus for many, online stores will also have seen an uptick in consumer activity for both Boxing Day and right throughout the post-Christmas sales period.”

Categories tipped to enjoy the biggest increases in year on year sales in the next three weeks according the ARA and Roy Morgan will be ‘other’ at 6.1 percent growth, and ‘department stores’ at 4.3 percent.

On a state basis, Victoria will be the big winner, with year on year growth of 5.6 percent growth for the period encompassing December 26 to January 15.

“South Australia will have experienced relatively lower sales at $115 million on Boxing Day because of the retail trading ban in metropolitan areas which only allows CBD stores to open,” Mr Zimmerman said.

ARA ROY MORGAN POST-CHRISTMAS 2015/16 SALES PREDICTIONS

December 26, 2015 – January 15, 2016

Boxing Day 2015 sales

(Australian Retailers Association)

2015/16 Post-Christmas Sales Growth by State

(ARA/ROY MORGAN)

2015/16 Post-Christmas Sales Growth by Category

(ARA/ROY MORGAN)

About the Australian Retailers Association:

Founded in 1903, the Australian Retailers Association (ARA) is the retail industry’s peak representative body representing Australia’s $284 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.

ENDS

THE Victorian Chamber’s submission to the Productivity Commission (PC) has argued that the key outcomes of its review of Australia’s workplace relations framework must be the creation of a simpler, fairer and more efficient framework that spurs economic growth, increased productivity and improved business competitiveness.
                                                                         
Victorian Chamber chief executive Mark Stone said he welcomed a number of the final report’s recommendations including:

• Aligning penalty rates on Sundays in hospitality, entertainment, retail, restaurants and cafes with Saturday rates.
• Reform to curtail the cost impost of state based public holidays in addition to the national public holidays, as recently seen with the introduction of two new public holidays in Victoria.
• An emphasis on substance rather than process for unfair dismissal claims.
• The return of upfront assessments of unfair dismissal claims in some circumstances, which would limit the time and effort spent by employers in defending unmeritorious claims.
• Recognition that the enterprise agreement approval process is overly rigid and requires reform.
• Addressing ‘strike first, talk later’ tactics that subject business to costly disruptions. The PC has recommended prohibitions and restrictions that would limit this avenue.
• The PC’s assessment that the costs involved with expanding existing portable long service schemes would not be justified, given this would effectively introduce an additional employment tax on business with no associated benefit. 

"However, the report falls short in removing costly and lengthy general protections claims, though it does propose reforms to limit the ability of frivolous and vexatious claims to proceed, and for greater powers to award costs against applicants," Mr Stone said.

"We are disappointed that our recommendation to remove the ‘complaints’ element of the expansive general protections regime was not adopted, despite our analysis revealing only one successful case in over six years that would not have attracted protection under prior legislation. The thousands of claims against employers and rise in ‘go away money’ are therefore set to continue.

"The report also misses the opportunity to recommend crucial changes to restrict access to unfair dismissal claims, including for high income earners and genuine redundancy situations.

"Despite urging the PC to remove the burden of unfair dismissal for businesses with under 20 employees, this recommendation was not part of the final report, meaning small business will continue to spend time and money defending claims rather than running their businesses," Mr Stone said.

"We now urge the government to consider the recommendations of the PC and take on the heavy lifting required to legislate much needed reforms for business."

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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THE Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry has welcomed today’s release of the Andrews Government’s Major Projects Skills Guarantee.

"It is good that the government is leveraging the delivery of Victoria’s infrastructure projects to develop the skills of the next generation of workers," Victorian Chamber of Commerce chief executive Mark Stone said.

"Like the Victorian Chamber Internship Program, this measure supports the development of a skilled, adaptive and productive workforce aligned to the needs of business.
 
"Business wants to employ graduates with 'real world” work experience and this announcement will help apprentices, trainees and engineering cadets throughout Victoria get this experience.
 
"While the Major Projects Skills Guarantee will expand opportunities for apprentices and trainees, further reforms to industry purchasing policy are needed to foster jobs and enhance local industry capability and competitiveness," he said.

The Victorian Chamber’s recent submission to the Review of Victorian Industry Participation Policy (VIPP) calls for:

• Changes to government purchasing frameworks to provide small business with more timely information about genuine procurement opportunities.
• The establishment of a formal weighting system for local content in the evaluation of tenders.
• A minimum local content target for all major regional procurement projects.
• Improvements to procurement practices in the public healthcare and judicial systems to ensure there is greater transparency in the way in which tenders are advertised, evaluated and awarded.
• The streamlining of procurement frameworks currently in operation across the three tiers of government. 

"The private sector plays a significant role in the government procurement process; designing, constructing, operating and maintaining an array of infrastructure projects across the state," Mr Stone said. "Therefore, reforms must also improve the environment for business by lowering costs, reducing red tape and improving investor confidence."

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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THE PRODUCTIVITY Commission (PC) has failed employers, employees and the Australian community by giving our unnecessarily complicated workplace relations system a free pass and not properly considering how it should be fundamentally reformed for the future.

That is the view of national resource industry employer group, AMMA (Australian Mines and Metals Association) executive director for policy and public affairs, Scott Barklamb.

"While recommending some useful changes to elements of our current employment laws, today’s 1229 page PC report fails to deliver a proper plan for how our workplace relations system can best support jobs, productivity and competitiveness in Australia’s 21^st Century economy," Mr Barklamb said.

"The PC fails to address how uncoordinated, excessive regulation is harming our competitiveness as a place to do business, invest and create jobs. Australia is the only country in the world to overlay awards, agreements, minimum standards and regulation of day-to-day relations between employers and employees.

"Unions are also artificially placed at the centre of our workplace laws when just 11% of private sector employees join them. 

"Australia’s business community recommended a raft of positive ideas to the PC to genuinely reform our workplace relations system and expected the PC to deliver options for meaningful change. Anything less risks failing not only existing employers and employees, but young people whose future livelihoods hinge on this generation’s will to properly address serious national challenges," Mr Barklamb said.

"The PC’s 21 pages of recommendations do contain some positive ideas that will improve our workplace relations laws and that will be supported by employers.

"However, the PC needed to do more than blithely conclude our overall system is not in need of fundamental repair. It is very disappointing the PC appears to have made only piecemeal, uncoordinated recommendations across a limited subset of areas, rather than thinking about how our workplace relations system could be improved.

"AMMA and its members welcome the Minister for Employment, Senator Michaelia Cash, opening a period for further input to government on how the PC’s report and recommendations should be progressed. We will use planned roundtable discussions to further advocate the national benefits of more meaningful reform, as well as engage with the PC’s specific recommendations.

"AMMA will encourage the Turnbull Government to put jobs, investment, productivity, growth and our future living standards at the centre of how it proceeds following the PC report, and we welcome the Minister’s prioritisation of these concerns as she released the report today," he said.

"Genuine workplace reform can deliver real benefits for Australia. For instance, independent research showed that key workplace reforms advocated by AMMA could support resource sector productivity growth of up to 5% and investment growth of 8%, add $30.9 billion to Australia’s GDP and create 36,000 additional jobs."

www.amma.org.au

ends