Labor, Greens criticise Government's Secret IR Bill

Federal Labor and the Greens say the Government has botched the handling of its centrepiece industrial relations bill, which will be introduced when Parliament returns today but is not guaranteed to pass.

Labor accuses Government of playing politics

The Coalition yesterday executed a swift about-face and agreed to show a representative from both parties a secret volume of the trade union royal commission report.

The Government is using the royal commission to push for the reinstatement of the construction industry watchdog, the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC).

Workplace Relations Minister Michaelia Cash earlier on Monday said showing the parties the confidential volume was pointless because they already opposed the ABCC.

A spokesman for Labor's workplace relations, Brendan O'Connor, accused the Coalition of playing politics.

"The Government has got itself into a mess," he said.

"It's either confidential or it's not. The Liberals are clearly engaged in the most base of transactional politics."

Greens industrial relations spokesman Adam Bandt labelled the situation farcical.

"The bells haven't even rung to start the first day of Parliament and already the Government's just making decisions on the run," Mr Bandt said.

"This handling of this supposedly flagship bill of theirs is just descending into farce."

Strict rules would apply to those viewing the documents, including a ban discussing the findings with anyone else, including fellow parliamentarians, with fines or jail terms as potential penalties.

The documents must also be viewed in the presence of an officer from the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, and notes and photographs cannot be taken.

"Everyone who is being asked to vote on this legislation — which we're being told is necessary because of the material in this secret report — should be entitled to see the report," Mr Bandt said.

"There should be one class of senators and not two."

ACTU: Federal Labor's Plan to Tackle Worker Exploitation.

The Australian Council of Trade Unions today welcomed Federal Labor's plan to tackle worker exploitation.

ACTU Secretary Dave Oliver said the examples of 7-Eleven, Myer and Pizza Hut were symptomatic of a wider problem of systemic underpayment of staff and exploitation of workers.

“The high profile cases we have seen in recent months are only the tip of the iceberg. At any point in time, unions are engaged in dozens of legal fights with unscrupulous employers who have underpaid staff or tried to avoid honouring workers’ entitlements.

“We welcome the alternative Government’s plan to increase penalties for employers, ramp up worker protections from sham contracting, increasing the powers the of the Fair Work Ombudsman and better protect vulnerable overseas workers," Mr Oliver said.

“We strongly support lifting the corporate veil and making company directors personally liable for ensuring workers’ pay in cases where companies are Phoenixed, in the same way they already are for unpaid Superannuation. This is a significant and long-called for policy that will protect workers form this unscrupulous, but increasingly common practice.

“We also note substantial cases of employers engaged in sham contracting, shifting permanent staff into contract based roles in order to avoid paying appropriate entitlements. We hope a Labor Government would pay particular attention to these practices.

“Bill Shorten has committed to further consulting on increased penalties and the ACTU stands ready to engage with Labor on that discussion.”

Mr Oliver said Federal Labor’s announcement filled the vacuum created by the Turnbull Government’s silence on these issues.

"The response of the Turnbull Government to these issues has been slow and insufficient, in stark contrast to the way they have continued attacks on labour organisations.

“Where is the Royal Commission into Corporate Corruption and Underpayment of Staff which is far more prevalent than anything Dyson Heydon dug up in more than a year of investigations?”

He said instead of looking to rip money out of Australian workers’ pay packets through cuts to penalty rates proposed by employer groups through the Productivity Commission, the Turnbull Government should adopt the policy released today by Bill Shorten.

“It is high time that the Turnbull Government divorced itself from the Productivity Commission’s recommendations to cut penalty rates.

“If they are as genuinely concerned for ‘fighting for a better deal for workers’ as Minister Cash herself has stated, then they should resist any moves to cut pay through changes to penalty rates.

“These recommendations are out of step with Australian values, out of touch with the modern lives of working people, and would compromise future economic and productivity growth.”

Shorten: Protection against Employer Rip–Offs

Bill Shorten has unveiled a suite of new policy measures designed to protect Australian workers from being ripped off by dodgy bosses.

In a pitch to voters that will sharpen the contrast between Labor and the Coalition over workplace laws, and which comes as the government prepares to try once more to pass laws to re-instate the Building and Construction Commission on Tuesday, Mr Shorten plans four key measures to protect workers' rights.

Those measures are strong penalties for employers who underpay workers; stronger legal protections for workers entitlements and increased penalties for sham contracting; greater powers for the Fair Work Ombudsman to pursue companies that go into liquidation and do not pay out entitlements and; greater protections for overseas workers to stop them being underpaid.

The plan comes after a landmark investigation by Fairfax Media last year revealed workers at 7-Eleven stores were being massively underpaid and that payrolls were being doctored; separately, Fairfax also revealed that Pizza Hut was using sham contracting to pay drivers as little as $12 an hour, without superannuation.
Advertisement

Mr Shorten said that after meetings with workers around the country, and after the Ombudsman recovered $22.3 million in back pay for underpaid workers in 2014-15, he had decided to act.

"Malcolm Turnbull talks about better conditions for workers – but as with everything else, he says one thing and does something completely different. As the Liberals refuse to act, Labor will. More must be done to protect these workers from exploitation," he said.

"A Labor Government will stand up for middle and working-class families. Labor will put people first, strengthening and protecting workers' rights at work.

"We will consult employers and their representatives, workers and unions on the scale of the increase to penalties to ensure there is an appropriate deterrent in place to protect workers from unscrupulous employers."

Unions NSW: Medicare’s 32nd birthday

It’s Medicare’s 32nd birthday and to celebrate the Turnbull Government has made major cuts to our Medicare system.

If they get their way we will have to pay for lifesaving tests like x-rays, MRIs, ultrasounds and pap smears from 1 July 2016. 

Join the rally to protect Medicare and let’s send the message that these cuts are killing us.

These vital tests diagnose problems big and small. If people put them off or avoid them because of cost it could mean the difference between life and death.

Unions campaigned for a universal healthcare system to ensure that no matter who you are, you can access free quality healthcare.

Now Malcolm Turnbull, like Tony Abbott before him, is trying to take that right away and introduce an Americanised user pays health system in which profit takes precedent over people.

Join the rally to protect Medicare and today on its 32nd birthday let’s commit to maintaining a fair and free health system for everyone.

Saturday 20 February 2016 – Rally to Save Our Medicare  – Sydney Town Hall 1.00 pm

In Union,
Mark Morey
Acting Secretary
Unions NSW

ACOSS: Turnbull–Baird GST Scam Exposed

Monday 1 February 2016

In responding to the NSW Premier Mike Baird’s revised proposal to increase the GST, the Australian Council of Social Service said the plan would leave low and modest income earners worse off, who would pay more of their income in GST, and leave unchecked the tax breaks and loopholes that allow higher income earners to avoid paying their fair share of tax.

ACOSS CEO Dr Cassandra Goldie said:
“We are disappointed that the whole focus of tax reform is on the GST, when there are better and fairer ways to raise revenue.

“If we are serious about using tax reform to improve economic efficiency, why aren’t the Premiers and the Federal Government talking about strengthening land taxes, our most efficient tax base?

"If we are serious about improving equity, why aren’t they talking about closing down tax breaks and loopholes, particularly in superannuation, negative gearing and capital gains tax, and family and company trusts – all of which overwhelming benefit people on the highest incomes and weaken the personal income tax base, our fairest tax base?

"If we are serious about improving investment conditions, why aren’t they talking about removing tax distortions that drive investment into less productive assets like existing real estate? These would be fairer and more logical places to start reform.

“Instead, we have a narrow debate, with the latest proposal being again to raise the GST primarily to fund tax cuts on both personal and corporate incomes. This proposal fails every test, with its major effect being to shift the tax take away from higher incomes earners to people on low and modest incomes.

"Despite the hype, the case for raising the GST to cut income tax is weak because so much of the revenue raised would go to funding income tax cuts and other compensation measures. This would do little to address the long term funding shortage faced by state governments.  Under the NSW government’s latest proposal, a meagre $7 billion of the $32.5 billion raised would go to states to fund schools and hospitals.

“Furthermore, the argument that you can make an unfair tax fair by compensating low income earners is a smokescreen. The Grattan Institute estimates around 60% of the extra money raised would need to go on compensation just to avoid low and middle income earners being worse off, which beggars the question, why would we do it?

"We also know from recent experience that compensation through income support payments is at high risk of erosion over time. Since the GST was first introduced, people on the lowest incomes, people unemployed, single parent families, and people with disabilities have all been in the firing line of major cuts to their income, yet they are all still paying 10% tax on their spending.
 
“ACOSS commissioned NATSEM modelling in November last year showing that an increase in the rate of the GST to 15% would mean low income people would a higher proportion of their incomes on tax relative to those on higher incomes. It would require people in the lowest 20 per cent of the income brackets to pay 7% more, people in the middle 20 per cent 4.2% more, while those in the highest 20 per cent income bracket just 3% more of their income.

“It also found that raising the GST to 15% to pay for a cut of 5% in all personal income tax rates would be even more disastrous for low income households. Two thirds of households, on incomes up to about $100 000 would be worse off and the top 40% would gain at the expense of the bottom 60%. The lowest 20 per cent would lose $33 a week or 6.6% of income on average, while the top 20 percent would gain an average of $69 a week or 2.1% of income.

“These impacts cannot be justified under the questionable guise of stimulating economic growth and competition. It’s nothing more than a shift in the tax mix that penalises people on low and modest incomes for the benefit of those on the highest incomes and companies, doing little to secure funding for services into the future.

"It would do nothing to address unfair tax concessions and tax breaks which clearly need to be addressed in order to fairly strengthen our tax base, and improve economic efficiency. This latest proposal is a recipe for growing levels of inequality in our country, which ultimately is damaging for our economy as well as for us as a community,” Dr Goldie concluded.