The Minerals Council of Australia (MCA) has told the Senate inquiry into the Closing Loopholes Bill that major miners such as Rio Tinto, BHP and Glencore were the top contributors to its campaign against the proposed industrial relations (IR) reforms.
Announced by the Federal Government in September, the Closing Loopholes Bill aims to criminalise wage theft, introduce minimum standards for workers in the gig economy, close the forced permanent casual worker loophole, and close the labour hire loophole. The Bill’s inquiry commenced on October 3.
The MCA is against the Closing Loopholes Bill, along with the Same Job, Same Pay Bill that will require employers to pay labour hire workers the same rate as direct employees doing the same job.
“The inevitable result over time is that businesses will reduce their risk by reverting to enterprise agreements that offer simplistic ‘one size fits all’ pay and remuneration structures,” the MCA’s inquiry submission said.
“This will mean that employees ultimately are worse off and will lose access to bonuses and other terms that are too difficult to replicate under a ‘same job, same pay’ regime.
“Given that labour hire and service contractors are often engaged in urgent or time critical circumstances – for instance, due to maintenance issues, a safety incident or where employees are absent – this will be entirely impractical.”
The body is also running a campaign against the proposed IR reforms, which MCA chief executive officer (CEO) Tania Constable said intends “to raise awareness and understanding of the damaging nature and wide implications of the bill”.
“Our expectation is that the government will wisely go back to the drawing board on the policy,” she told the Australian Financial Review (AFR).
The AFR also reported Rio Tinto told the inquiry the IR reforms may anchor productivity at record lows, and Newmont – which just expanded its Australian presence by acquiring Newcrest – said it will leave some Australian projects unviable.
Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting also expressed concern, by saying the laws may force the company to share its generous “chairman profit share” bonus – up to 30 per cent of an employee’s salary – to “our entire supply chain”.
BHP has raised repeated concerns over the IR reforms since March, even suggesting in May that the Same Job, Same Pay legislation may cost itself $1.3 billion extra per year.
South32 CEO Graham Kerr said in August that the Bills “are going to probably set back productivity and not take it forward”, and New Hope CEO Rob Bishop said in September that the reforms may “potentially [drive] the wrong outcome”.
It is expected that MCA’s campaign spend during 2023–2024 will be $20–$24 million.
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