News

Article by Dan Jervis-Bardy courtesy of the West Australian.

The Minerals Council has accused Workplace Relations Tony Burke of showing “complete disregard” for WA’s resources sector after he claimed some companies were over-egging the impact of his contentious shake-up of labourhire laws.

Mr Burke said some miners were crying foul about a proposal that wouldn’t even affect them. It comes after Premier Roger Cook appealed to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to “carefully consider” the potential damage the Federal Government’s latest industrial relations reforms could inflict on the State’s mining sector.

BHP, Rio Tinto and Roy Hill are among the major miners vehemently opposed to the Closing Loopholes Bill, particularly the “same job, same pay” provision designed to stop companies exploiting labour-hire to undercut the wages of direct employees. Mr Burke said on Friday the Government was conscious of the potential implications for WA’s mining sector.

He said there had been “constructive” talks about rewording the Bill to ensure contractors weren’t captured which he insists has always been the Government’s intention. “Some businesses came to the Senate inquiry from the mining sector saying this will be a disaster for them, and then when they were asked, ‘Do you have an enterprise agreement?’ they said ‘No’, and then acknowledged it wasn’t going to affect them at all,” he said.

“So, there’s been some businesses where there’s been significant exaggeration.” But Minerals Council of Australian boss Tania Constable disputes that, insisting that “every business in every sector of the economy is ultimately at risk of being captured”. Ms Constable said that rather than listening to the sector’s genuine concerns, Mr Burke resorted to ridicule.