December 13, 2016
The ACTU welcomes the opportunity to make this submission to the review of the Temporary Skilled Migration Income Threshold (TSMIT).
November 9, 2016
Background and Context
ACTU position on temporary work visas
The ACTU welcomes the opportunity to make a submission to this inquiry into the Working Holiday Maker visa.
The ACTU is the peak body for Australian unions and represent almost two million working Australians and their families.
The interests of workers should be paramount. Temporary work visas, and the debate that surrounds them, should be driven by three key, interrelated, priorities.
1. The first is to maximise jobs and training opportunities for Australians – that is, citizens and permanent residents of Australia, regardless of their background and country of origin – and ensure they have the first right to access Australian jobs.
2. The second is to ensure that the overseas workers who are employed under temporary visas are treated well, that they receive their full and proper entitlements, and they are safe in the workplace – and if this does not happen, they are able to seek a remedy just as Australian workers can do, including by accessing the benefits of union membership and representation.
3. The third is to ensure that employers are not able to take the easy option and employ temporary overseas workers, without first investing in training and looking to the local labour market. This is also about ensuring those employers who do the right thing are not undercut by those employers who exploit and abuse the temporary work visa program and the workers under it.
Our position is also that vigorous safeguards need to be in place to protect the interests of overseas workers on temporary visas. These workers are often vulnerable to exploitation by virtue of being dependent on their employer for their ongoing prospects in Australia, including, in many cases, their desire for sponsorship and permanent residency.
November 9, 2016
The ACTU welcomes the opportunity to make a submission to this Senate Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade References Committee inquiry into the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement.
The TPP is a major undertaking with profound implications for the economies and societies concerned. If it enters into force, the TPP would become the largest trade deal in history, covering 12 countries, 792 million people and 40 per cent of global trade. The agreement itself contains 30 chapters, 6 annexures and 27 more associated documents. It deals with a wide range of matters that are traditionally the preserve of national governments to determine through their own domestic, democratic parliamentary processes.
November 9, 2016
The ACTU supports ratification of the Paris Agreement.
The Agreement raises a number of issues, which we are sure other organisations will raise, such as the absence of a long term emissions pathway framework and policies that will be needed if Australia is to meet the agreed commitment to keep global temperatures to less than 2°C above pre-industrial levels.
November 8, 2016
Standard ACTU introduction words from the last couple of submissions.
Structure and Principles of the Superannuation System
The ACTU has enunciated its view in several recent Inquiries as to the structure and principles of the superannuation system in Australia.
September 26, 2016
ACTU Submission to the Senate Standing Committee on Economics
TREASURY LAWS AMENDMENT (ENTERPRISE TAX PLAN) BILL 2016
and (INCOME TAX RELIEF) BILL 2016
September 15, 2016
Economic decisions don’t happen in a vacuum, they are shaped by the ideologies and values of the people making those decisions.
This Omnibus Bill tells us that the Turnbull government is prepared to sacrifice the community of tomorrow for the sake of the privileged today. It is a government willing to deplete the health, education, infrastructure and public services our community depends on to pay for tax cuts for corporations who don’t currently contribute their fair share.
February 12, 2016
Australia is a prosperous country proudly founded on a ‘fair go for all’.
As with other developed economies, Australia must adapt and respond to the challenges and opportunities brought about by technological change, globalisation, demographic changes, including an ageing population and widening inequality.
