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WA Liberal senator Matt O’Sullivan told The West Australian the inquiry would now be able to travel around the country to hear from affected businesses, particularly in the State. “We know that the Bill does have a disproportionate impact on the resource companies in particular,” he said. “It’s particularly those . . . using services companies to support their operations and we know that many West Australians are working in that space — both small and medium-sized businesses.”

The Albanese Government may have pumped the brakes on a major overhaul of the nation’s industrial relations system but the battle with industry is far from over. WA’s biggest miners will continue protesting against the laws aimed at stopping companies from using labour-hire workers to undercut the rate of pay agreed for employees even with the reassurance they won’t pass Parliament until next year. The MCA is worried the scope of the proposed changes is excessive in its reach, capturing all contracting services businesses while threatening jobs and investment in the resources sector. Johnston might be hoping labour shortages will overshadow the IR debacle but that seems unlikely if mining giants like BHP and Roy Hill have more to say about it.

WA Liberal MPs led the charge to ensure Labor’s controversial industrial relations legislation will not pass Federal Parliament this year in a major blow to the Albanese Government. The WA Liberals teamed up with the crossbench in the Senate to push out the reporting date of an inquiry into the laws that would close labour hire loopholes from February 1.

Australia’s monthly trade surplus narrowed in July as exports of natural resources such as gold, coal and iron ore fell while imports climbed. The windfall was $8 billion compared with estimates for a $10b gainAustralia has posted monthly trade surpluses since January 2018 underpinned by sales of iron ore and natural gas to the rising economies of the Asia-Pacific region. The export windfall will help the Budget return to an annual surplus for the first time in 15 years. Demand for Australian goods has been driven by top trading partner China with its strong appetite for iron ore and coal.

Gerhard Veldsman, chief executive of Roy Hill, is the latest business leader to sound off on the “same job, same pay” IR laws, telling the Minerals Week conference in Canberra the overhaul would force miners to shift staff to “minimum award standards”. “Don’t let a small group of people out of Victoria that has never set foot on a mine site decide what’s good for you,” Mr Veldsman, pictured, told the crowd, adding the mining sector already paid nation-leading salaries. “We work together to make the industry better and then we make sure that when mining does well our employees share in it. Same job, same pay threatens to take this away and force us back to minimum award standards.”

TRANSCRIPT | CANBERRA | 6 September 2023

Australia’s biggest employer groups will fire a new salvo against the Albanese government’s industrial relations shake-up on Wednesday, launching a multimedia advertising blitz warning the IR overhaul will make the cost-of-living crisis worse. The Find a Better Way campaign, backed by mining, farming, building, recruiters, big and small business groups, says Labor’s same job, same pay laws are “not about equal pay for men and women and it’s not about closing loopholes”. The ads, filmed on a construction site and farm, carry the slogan “the bill all Australians will have to pay” and raise concerns about higher costs for homebuyers, renters and shoppers. “It means that subcontracting work essential for tradies and builders will be less flexible and less efficient, making building more expensive.

Don’t talk to Adam Watson about gas going the way of coalfired power. The boss of Australia’s gas pipeline and storage heavyweight APA isn’t afraid to advance the cause of the fuel that is fast becoming the new battleground in the green energy wars. But Watson argues gas is now a more important partner than ever in building Australia’s renewable energy grid.

I can sense panic is starting to set in behind the scenes in the Federal and the east coast State governments on the energy front. On one hand they have so successfully demonised fossil fuels and created unrealistic expectations on the time lines for the transition to large-scale renewable sources. But on the other hand they are loving the massive growth of revenues flowing into their treasuries from the very same fossil fuels both during and after the COVID lockdown years. The world is demanding more, not less, electricity but people want it generated and distributed in a more environmentally friendly way.

Santos boss Kevin Gallagher warns new supply is urgently needed in WA if the State wants to avoid an east coast style gas shortage . Speaking to The West Australian after the gas giant’s interim results, Mr Gallagher, said State and Federal Governments needed to ensure investments can stack up and bring more supply online. His comments come amid rising gas prices in the WA market and concerns there is not adequate supply from existing projects , despite the State’s reservation policy.

My father throughout his whole life was a huge lover of the bush and of our country, and made himself unpopular at times, standing up for what he could see was in the nation’s best interests. On our long drives together in the bush to check windmills and cattle – I was the gate opener and tool carrier – Dad would sometimes tell me jokes. One he especially liked was told by Dr Edward Teller – scientists who knew both Teller and Einstein said that Teller had the greater mind.