Labor’s proposed industrial relations laws will smash suburban high streets and make it less likely that they will hire casual workers in the future, according to the peak organisation for small businesses. “The new definition of casuals is three pages long and comprises 15 different tests. You shouldn’t need a PhD in law to know how to hire a casual worker,” said Luke Achterstraat, chief executive of the Council of Small Business Organisations Australia.
“If increased regulatory burdens cause new mining projects to be delayed or cancelled, Australia will be unable to satisfy the rising iron ore demand created by net zero targets,” Hancock Prospecting chief executive of group operations Gerhard Veldsman said. Gina Rinehart has warned controversial industrial relations reforms could push mining away from Australia to countries with lower environmental standards.
Australia is struggling under the burden of red tape that is growing at nearly twice the rate of the national economy, leading to urgent calls for parliament to act to cut out-of-date regulations and ban new rules from being imposed without old ones being repealed.
Major employer groups have ramped up their calls for the Federal Government to dump or delay its controversial industrial relations changes, saying recent concessions do not go far enough. But the broader business groups believe the changes are not properly detailed and do not allay other fears about the laws.
More than half said they would stop hiring casuals if the changes came into effect, while 36 per cent said they would shed staff. Stagnating productivity is a serious threat to Australia’s economic prosperity. Australia can not afford to sit back and expect the riches to flow. Our politicians need to get the policy settings right to encourage investment, not dampen it. Because a prosperous Australian economy will make things better — and fairer — for all.
The Pastoralists and Graziers Association of WA (PGA) Awards dinner, at Crown Botanicals last week, was a chance to glam up and reflect on a successful day of speakers and interaction at the annual PGA Convention held earlier in the day. The 2023 PGA Rural Achievement Award, for service to the agricultural industry, rural and regional Western Australia and the PGA was announced by PGA president Tony Seabrook. The winner was Gina Rinehart, executive chairman of both Hancock Prospecting and Hancock Agriculture, with the award accepted on her behalf by Hancock Agriculture CEO, Adam Giles.
But Mr Veldsman said that, under the Bill, there was no guarantee those different categories of driver would continue to be paid about the same. “We’re talking about draft legislation where the ‘full rate of pay’ is so unclear, so undefined, so broad and so open to speculation that we can’t say in future if this Bill is to actually pass that we can still do that,” he said. Mr Veldsman added a number of Hancock’s projects had already stalled due to red tape. Another major concern is a proposal to give casual workers the right to ask to convert to permanent employment after six months of regular hours.
The Great Western Hotel does feel like the bush. A pub with a rodeo and bullring dust just a short walk from the bar. Bush Summits were held all over the country, organised by News Limited papers, broadcast on Sky News and sponsored by Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting. They were great events that did much to highlight the major concerns of the bush to a city audience. The Great Western Hotel in Rockhampton was the perfect location for Queensland’s Bush Summit. The major topic of discussion was the growing impact of renewable energy on agricultural land and our environment in Central Queensland.
My father throughout his whole life was a huge lover of the bush and of our country, and made himself unpopular at times, standing up for what he could see was in the nation’s best interests. On our long drives together in the bush to check windmills and cattle – I was the gate opener and tool carrier – Dad would sometimes tell me jokes. One he especially liked was told by Dr Edward Teller – scientists who knew both Teller and Einstein said that Teller had the greater mind.
“Age-old problem needs future-proofing” is missing an important component in the worker shortage debate, the harsh treatment by the Federal Government of aged Australians and other pensioners who would otherwise like to continue working.Let’s look after our own better and remove the incomes test. Allow those pensioners who would like to, including veterans, contribute to the prosperity of us all. This initiative will assist with the current housing crisis and cost-of-living issues as well. | Dean Nalder
