March 28, 2017
AS WITH OTHER DEVELOPED COUNTRIES, AUSTRALIA MUST ADAPT AND RESPOND TO THE CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES BROUGHT ABOUT BY THE END OF THE MINING BOOM, TECHNOLOIGICAL CHANGE, GLOBAL COMPETITION AND DEMOGRAPHIC CHANGE
Even the most casual observer of the Australian economy is aware that we are entering a period of change. What is equally clear is that this change demands a measured and planned response from government. One of the core assumptions of this inquiry is that the ‘new economy’ is a discrete, known entity which can be examined and solutions to the issues it creates developed. But fifteen years ago the job title ‘Social Media Manager’ would have been considered nonsense. The internet, mobile phones, smart phones and portable computers and all their associated employment opportunities were largely unpredicted by futurists and economic planners. While we can make educated assumptions (future jobs are likely to require greater levels of digital literacy for example) and attempt to extrapolate from current trends, as the CSIRO have done in their recent report “Tomorrow’s Digitally Enabled Workforce”1, it remains largely impossible to be sure about the precise nature of the new economy. Perhaps the only certainty is that change is coming. If this is true then then only responsible course for the government to take is to ensure that the Australian economy is as well-placed as possible to adapt to that change. Change will be fast paced and technological change will have impacts across the entire economy. The only way to make sure this transition is smooth is to start now, to ensure that Australia is able to address future challenges and opportunities from a position of strength.
March 15, 2017
KEY POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS
The ACTU believes that the proposed amendments should not be supported.
Australia’s local industries require more rather than less support in order to sustain and create job growth. Manufacturing in particular plays a large role in innovation and needs to be supported by relevant government policies.
In addition, further reforms are necessary to ensure that Efic’s procedures are consistent with international standards and that taxpayers can be assured that their money is not contributing to human rights abuses.
March 15, 2017
“The Conference reaffirms the fundamental principles on which the Organization is based and, in particular, that:
a) labour is not a commodity;
b) freedom of expression and of association are essential to sustained progress;
c) poverty anywhere constitutes a danger to prosperity everywhere;
d) the war against want requires to be carried on with unrelenting vigour within each nation, and by continuous and concerted international effort in which the representatives of workers and employers, enjoying equal status with those of governments, join with them in free discussion and democratic decision with a view to the promotion of the common welfare”
ILO Founding Principles, 1919
March 8, 2017
Independent Review into the Future Security of the National Electricity Market
February 10, 2017
February 10, 2017
Background
• Since June 2016 the Productivity Commission has been running an inquiry that seeks to determine “the services within the human services sector that are best suited to the increased application of competition, contestability and informed user choice”.
• Note the lack of any analysis of ‘if’ they would benefit.
• The inquiry has now gone through two rounds of submissions in the first stage, which aimed at ‘identifying sectors for reform’. The sectors identified are:
o Social housing
o Public hospitals
o Specialist palliative care
o Public dental
o Services for remote indigenous communities
o ‘Grant-based’ family and community services
• Today’s submission is to stage 2 of the inquiry, where specific reforms are beginning to be proposed for each sector.
February 10, 2017
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.
