NATIONAL resource industry employer group, AMMA, is urging the Palaszczuk government not to risk jeopardising future resource investment in Queensland through any punitive or short-sighted over-regulation of Fly-In-Fly-Out (FIFO) work.

AMMA’s call comes at the state government considers recommendations from a review panel examining the impact of FIFO work on local communities, and ahead of a further report on FIFO work expected for release this week.

“The review panel’s recommendations are under-considered and raise more questions than they answer,” says AMMA executive director, policy and public affairs, Scott Barklamb.

“They would impose a range of new reporting requirements and penalties on resource companies and those who do business with them, precisely when Queensland is under growing pressure as a viable destination for future global resource investment.

“In addition to imposing new compliance costs, liabilities and delays, the proposed new regulations bear little relation to how resource operations work in practice, and would be ineffective in supporting the development of local communities. Whilst it is welcome that changes would operate prospectively, the regulation would poses real risks for Queensland.”

With the recommendations likely to drag the industry down with additional layers of bureaucracy, Mr Barklamb says it is difficult to escape the conclusion that the review panel has put the creation of jobs for public servants ahead of the creation of jobs in the resource industry.

“FIFO work in Queensland is already in decline. The last thing an industry struggling with a massive downturn, and struggling to keep people in work, needs is the imposition of speculative and superfluous new regulation and new penalties,” he says.

“The Palaszczuk government was elected with a commitment to a substantial social and economic program.  Any new regulation that would endanger job creating investment, and make operating in Queensland more costly, inflexible, or risky can only threaten what can be achieved for the entire Queensland community.   

“The key to addressing any concerns with FIFO work is cooperation and engagement with industry, not more regulation. We urge the government to properly consult with industry before attempting to give effect of any recommendations that would change access to FIFO work.”   

The FIFO Review Reportis the first of two reports on FIFO, with the Queensland Parliament’s Infrastructure, Planning and Natural Resources Committee to also report on FIFO work on 9 October 2015. 

www.amma.org.au

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RETAIL has proved resilience according to the Australian Retailers Association (ARA), with the Australian Bureau of Statistics revealing year on year Retail Trade figure growth of 4.6 percent for August 2015.

It is the seventh month in a row of more than four percent growth, with July 2015 retail sales showing 4.2 percent.

Year on year figures provide the most accurate measure of the sector’s performance and are the figures used by most retail businesses in their own reporting. Month on month growth for August 2015 over July 2015 was 0.4 percent.

Russell Zimmerman, ARA Executive Director, said the rise was the result of the tail end of winter sales, evidenced by the significant increases in department store and household goods sales.

“The half yearly sales period has triggered a flurry of activity which has provided a nice boost to the retail industry,” Mr Zimmerman said.

“Department stores, which have been experiencing yearly growth of around one to two percent for the past 12 months, have seen a 6.9 percent rise. This will be music to the department store chain’s ears, coming off the back of a long period of static growth.

“The household goods category has also been a beneficiary of the retail spending increases, recording the largest rise at 9.6 percent.

“Clothing, footwear and personal accessories has now seen six consecutive months of above average growth, indicating this category is back on track following an earlier lag in sales,” said Mr Zimmerman.

YEAR ON YEAR RETAIL GROWTH (July 2014 to July 2015 seasonally adjusted)

By category:

Food,  3.1 percent; household goods, 9.6 percent; clothing, footwear and personal accessories,  6.5 percent; department stores, 6.9 percent; other retailing, 2.3 percent; café restaurants, 3.5 percent and takeaway foods, 4.6 percent.

By state:

NSW, 6 percent; Victoria,  4.8 percent; Queensland, 3.7 percent; South Australia, 4.8; Western Australia, 3.1 percent; Tasmania, 2.8 percent; Northern Territory, -0.8 percent; and Australian Capital Territory 4.8 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 $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.

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THE Victoria Tourism Industry Council (VTIC) expects tourism businesses in both Melbourne and regional Victoria to be hit hard by Friday’s grand final eve public holiday.

“The cost to pay Victoria’s almost 2 million full time employees not to come to work this Friday could reach $543 million, at a time when many tourism businesses already face significant cost pressures,” said Acting VTIC Chief Executive Erin Joyce.

Regional tourism businesses are highly sceptical of claims that increased costs will be offset by additional business over the weekend.

“Business will be worse-off as any benefit from additional visitation, above normal school holiday levels, will not exceed the extra costs incurred by employers as a result of the public holiday,” said Ms Joyce.

Due to public holiday penalty rates and expected negligible increases in customers, throughout the state many businesses will be forced to:

• Employ a skeleton staff
• Roster on inexperienced junior staff
• Open for reduced hours
• Close for the day; or
• Pass on some of the increased labour costs to customers by way of a surcharge 

VTIC warned that a compromised visitor experience on grand final eve could have a longer term effect on the competitiveness of Victorian tourism.

“Visitors from interstate or overseas may find many retailers, cafes, bars and restaurants closed or operating with reduced services levels. These experiences could damage Victoria’s global reputation as a leading tourism destination,” said Ms Joyce.

“We will continue to tell the government that the decision to introduce the grand final eve holiday is the wrong one and must be retracted for future years.”

The Victoria Tourism Industry Council (VTIC) is the peak body for Victoria’s tourism and events industry, providing one united industry voice.

Tourism and events are growth industries for Victoria and contribute $19.6 billion to the state economy each year and employ more than 200,000 people.

vtic.com.au 

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URGENT reform to laws governing industrial relations on new resource projects are needed to help encourage greater investment into this country following a significant drop in the forecast value of our resource and energy exports, warns Australia’s resource industry employer group, AMMA.

The federal government’s new Resources and Energy Quarterlyreveals that the forecast value of our exports for 2016-19 has been revised down by $113 billion.  This is 14% lower than the value forecast just 12 months ago.

“This means lower taxes and royalties than previously expected and further pressures on business spending and jobs. Just as employers are already having to trade on higher volumes to make money, it will be in the national interest to increase our share of global resource exports in a lower commodity price environment,” says AMMA executive director, Scott Barklamb.

“Lowered export earnings forecasts underscore the need for our policy makers to take urgent action to improve Australia’s attractiveness as a destination for global resources investment.

“One key way to help increase investor confidence is to improve the laws governing employment agreements for new (greenfields) projects, which currently require employers to accede to union demands before a single person can be hired, or a sod turned on a new project.

“The ‘veto power’ our existing laws give unions contributes to delays and high costs that are dragging down Australia’s reputation to deliver complex, multi-billion dollar resource projects on time and on budget.

“International investors are marking Australia down as a place to do business because they cannot rely on our industrial relations system to deliver reliable, timely and cost effective employment arrangements.” 

The Senate looked close to a breakthrough on some useful reforms to greenfields agreement making in September, but they were not passed, and unions are doing all they can to oppose any changes to their current preferential veto powers.

The need for reform was recently recognised by the Productivity Commission, in its draft recommendations which include:

• A ‘life of construction’ agreement option (on top of a maximum five-year agreement length).
• Providing alternatives to making a deal with unions where negotiations stall.

 This needs to go further, including: 

• Scope to roll over greenfields agreements with employee support.
• Head contractor greenfields agreements that other contractors can then follow.
• Ensuring tests for greenfields agreements do not entrench already inflated wages and conditions.

“Consensus for urgent reform in this area is growing. The Opposition should not continue to filibuster and block reform as evidence mounts that Australia needs to attract more resource investment to help grow our long-term export capacity, drive our national economy and create jobs,” Mr Barklamb says.

KPMG research commissioned by AMMA found that it can often take two years to secure a greenfields agreement that will only run for four years. However, shortening the delay to negotiations by just two months would increase an average resource project’s net present value by $4.6 million.

www.amma.org.au

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