QUEENSLAND’s resources sector has come out fighting in response to State Government plans to impose higher coal royalty taxes on the industry.

Queensland Resources Council CEO, Ian Macfarlane said it was disingenuous for Treasurer Cameron Dick to frame the tax increase as necessary to support the health budget.

“The resources sector is already paying more than double coal the royalty taxes it paid last year due to higher commodity prices, so every Queenslander benefits when our sector is doing well,” Mr Macfarlane said.

“Queensland’s royalty taxes are already the highest in Australia. They’re almost double what NSW producers pay and are one of the highest amongst coal exporting countries.”

Mr Macfarlane said the coal royalty taxes paid by the industry this financial year were expected to reach more than $6 billion – at least $2 billion more than predicted by Treasury – which is a record and the highest amount of royalties ever paid to a Queensland Government.

“As commodity prices have risen in value, so too have the dollars collected by the Queensland Government from the resources sector through royalty tax, which benefits all Queenslanders,” he said.

“Our industry supports the jobs of more than 420,000 people and thousands of businesses involved with our supply chain, and is investing millions of dollars into new technologies to lower emissions and reduce our impact on the environment, but apparently this still isn’t enough for the State Government.

“Imposing higher taxes on our sector is a short-term, political decision to plug a hole in the state budget that will inflict an immediate, negative impact on foreign investment and confidence in our industry, and will have long-term consequences for regional jobs and businesses.

“I can’t imagine people and business operators in the regions are going to be too happy about that, particularly as regional communities are already the poor cousins when it comes to receiving government funding for roads, health and education spending.”

Mr Macfarlane said the resources sector had done the right thing all the way through the pandemic by going to extraordinary lengths to maintain full production and employment and support the state economy, while absorbing a huge amount of Covid-related costs along the way.

“The imposition of higher royalty taxes on the resources sector right now is poor economic policy and a bitter pill to swallow at a time producers are finally looking at a sustained period of growth and investment, which was set to benefit generations of Queenslanders,” he said.

“Resources companies are more than prepared to contribute substantially to the Queensland community. Last financial year, our sector contributed a total of $84.3 billion to the state economy, which set a new record.

“We pay our employees very well, which is why they earn the highest, average annual income out of any sector in Australia, and we contribute to the communities in which we operate all over Queensland in so many different ways.

“There’s been a lot of talk from state government ministers about Queensland being well positioned to be the new energy superpower of the world, but decisions like this will scare away investors and show just how shallow that talk is.”

www.qrc.org.au

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THE Australian Workers Union is advising the Federal Government to urgently put a UK-style windfall tax on the table to force multinational gas exporters to give Australian manufactures access to affordable Australia gas.

The AWU has long called for a domestic gas reservation scheme, warning for a decade that allowing multinational gas companies to export Australia’s gas without restriction would lead to a domestic price explosion that would force manufacturing operations to close and lead to thousands of job losses.

However, with the emergency now hitting and factory closures imminent, AWU national secretary Daniel Walton said the government needed to follow the UK’s example and prepare to implement a windfall tax on mega-profits unless affordable gas is made available to Australians.

"Right now multinational gas exporters are using the global situation to cream astronomical mega-profits from Australian gas while forcing Australian factories, smelters and plants to the wall," Mr Walton said.

"I’ve had manufacturers telling me they are seeing their gas costs rise by as much $100,000 a day. It’s insane and it’s unsustainable. Without drastic action we’re going to see thousands of Australian manufacturing jobs lost this year.

"The government should tell the gas exporters it’s fine for them to generate record profits, but they also have to ensure some of those mega-profits are used to help the nation that owns the gas. At every stage in discussions the government should be holding a big stick with ‘windfall tax’ written on it.

"I know the Federal Government is engaging with the gas exporters but history tells us that you just can’t trust them. They will always have some excuse for why they can’t make some of the gas they extract available to Australians at a fair price. And they will always find a way to wiggle out of handshake agreements.

"The government’s offer to exporters needs to be fair and simple: make affordable gas available to Australian manufacturers now or face a UK-style windfall tax and we will distribute the revenue ourselves.

"If the government refuse to pick up that stick now and get tough then gas exporters will bluster and delay and factories will close en masse."

Last month, Britain’s Conservative government announced a 25 percent windfall tax on the profits of gas firms to support low-income households struggling with a sharp spike in prices.

UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak observed the tax was fair and reasonable because the mega profits did not arise because of “changes to risk-taking, innovation or efficiency… for that reason, I am sympathetic to the argument to tax those profits fairly.”

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THERE WAS a further drop in the number of new homes approved for building across Australia during April 2022.

Latest ABS data indicate that there was a 2.4 percent drop in the total number of new homes receiving building approval during the month. Compared with a year earlier, the volume of approvals is down by 32.4 percent. 

Denita Wawn, CEO of Master Builders Australia said, “The sharp decline in approvals over the past year is the result of a number of factors. These include the phasing out of the HomeBuilder scheme as well as emergence of challenges in the business environment. The cost of building materials is growing at its fastest rate in over 40 years while delays and shortages with respect to both labour and products continue to obstruct building activity.

“Even so, today’s figures do indicate that demand for new detached house building is holding up reasonably well. There was a 0.5 percent increase in approvals for detached houses during April and the level of activity is still a bit higher than it was immediately before the start of the pandemic.

“In contrast, approvals for medium and high-density homes are much lower than their pre-pandemic levels. April saw a 6.1 percent drop in approvals in this category. We do expect demand for higher density homes to recover once inward migration to Australia moves closer to where it was before the pandemic,” Ms Wawn said.

“For our industry, the most immediate challenge relates to the supply of building products and the people we need to carry out the work. We look to working with the new Federal Government to assist with finding and delivering solutions,” Ms Wawn said.

www.masterbuilders.org.au

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THE LATEST Australian Charities Report shows a major rise in total sector revenue and expenses. 

Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commissioner, Gary Johns said the report, released today, illustrates Australian charities’ major contribution to the economy and to thousands of communities.

“Pleasingly, the eighth edition of the Australian Charities Report shows that we have a resilient charity sector. It is hugely important economically and employed more than 10 percent of Australia’s workforce in the 2020 reporting period. Enormous public support for charities is clear, with donations increasing to $12.7 billion. However, expenses also increased by $10.2 billion,” Dr Johns said.

“It was a landmark year for the sector, starting with devastating bushfires in many parts of Australia. Charities responded to help impacted communities with the generous support of the Australian public. There was unprecedented disruption with the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, causing many charities to change, reduce or cease operations for varying periods. Nearly 2000 charities did not operate, with 650 citing COVID-19 as a reason.

“The disruption may have led to charities incurring additional costs as they tried to shift and change to meet changing needs and requirements. It meant the need for sustained support was never felt as keenly as it was in 2020. There may be some bruises and scars to show for it, but there is no doubt that charities are built on a strong foundation of resilience, innovation and, importantly, public support, trust and confidence.”

The report is mainly based on data 49,000 charities submitted in their 2020 Annual Information Statements — most reporting on the 2020 calendar year or the 2019–20 financial year. It also includes JobKeeper data supplied by the Australian Taxation Office.

JobKeeper payments to ACNC-registered charities supported an estimated 331,000 individuals between April and September 2020. This reduced to approximately 128,000 individuals between October and December 2020, and 86,000 between January and March 2021.

“JobKeeper helped relieve the financial stress brought about by the response to the pandemic for some charities. Total revenue in the sector rose to $176 billion, an increase of $10 billion on the previous year, which suggests many charities were able to navigate the challenges of 2020 with the support of government,” Dr Johns said.

This edition captures charity program data for the first time, giving an insight into the work of the sector across 75,000 programs. About 7 percent of charities reported that they operate overseas, in 217 countries or regions. The five most common countries were Cambodia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Kenya and Papua New Guinea.

Key statistics

In the 2020 reporting period:

• Charities’ revenue rose to $176 billion — up by more than $10 billion on the previous period
• Donations rose by 8% to $12.7 billion
• Revenue from government rose to $88.8 billion — up $10.7 billion on the previous period, accounting for 50.4% of total revenue 
• Other major revenue sources were goods and services (32.5%) and donations or bequests (7.2%) 
• The 50 largest charities by revenue accounted for 33% of total sector revenue
• Expenses increased by $10.2 billion
• Charities employed 10.5% of all employees in Australia — 1.38 million people
• There was a rise in the proportion of full-time and part-time staff
• Education charities employed the most staff — more than 330,000
• Volunteer contribution was high at 3.4 million volunteers, but decreased by 220,000 on the previous period
• 51% of charities reported no paid staff
• Environment charities reported the most volunteers — 810,000
• Approximately half of the sector’s expenses were employee expenses

Explore the interactive data (including state by state figures) and download Annual Information Statement data by visiting the ACNC section on data.gov.au

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