This Month
- Exclusive
- Gig economy
Uber fury at Labor bid to expand gig economy laws
The NSW government’s push to bring in its own laws to set minimum pay and conditions for gig workers, going even further than federal Labor, has sparked a scathing response from gig platforms.
- David Marin-Guzman
January
Employer pessimism a wake-up call for political leaders, says Ai Group
More than 200 of the nation’s leading employers remain pessimistic about business and economic conditions for the year ahead.
- Phillip Coorey
July 2024
Don’t restart energy wars, business and green groups warn
A coalition of business and environment groups has urged governments to provide credible and consistent energy policy.
- Tom McIlroy
June 2024
‘No going back to the climate wars’, business warns Coalition
Business groups have urged the Coalition not to dump the legislated carbon emissions reduction target for 2030 and unleash a new wave of investor uncertainty.
- Phillip Coorey
Vic gas backflip may be too little, too late: business, Libs
After Energy Minister Lily D’Ambrosio approved the state’s first new gas project in a decade, business was appreciative but underwhelmed.
- Phillip Coorey and Andrew Tillett
April 2024
PM’s Made in Australia plan risks forever subsidies
The government’s hand-picked Productivity Commission chair says the Future Made in Australia Act risks creating a class of businesses reliant on subsidies.
- Michael Read and Phillip Coorey
January 2024
‘I misread the environment’: Woolworths boss on Australia Day
Woolworths, Cricket Australia and Tennis Australia have faced a public backlash for boycotting Australia Day, as Gerry Harvey bemoans a “mad, woke world” which is silencing business.
- Updated
- Patrick Durkin
‘Akin to a recession’: business braces for slowing economy
An estimated 40 per cent of leaders expect conditions to be weaker this year, thanks to uncertainty, ongoing supply side constraints and weakening demand.
- Patrick Durkin
November 2023
Greens IR deal would ‘radically reshape’ bargaining: business
Employers are urging Senate crossbenchers to oppose a Labor deal with the Greens on workplace laws.
- David Marin-Guzman
WFH employees may find themselves at the front of a redundancy queue
Employees who spend the vast majority of their time working from home may suffer from being “out of sight and out of mind”.
- Sally Patten and Euan Black
Cautious business backs PM’s China mission
Business groups accept the relationship with China will never be as it once was.
- Phillip Coorey
September 2023
Fury as states let off COVID inquiry scrutiny
Lockdowns, school closures, vaccine mandates, state border closures and contact tracing failures and successes will be exempt.
- Phillip Coorey
States evade scrutiny under COVID inquiry
Lockdowns, school closures, vaccine mandates and border closures appear to be exempt from the Albanese government’s long-awaited pandemic inquiry.
- Phillip Coorey
August 2023
New BCA boss pledges to fly the flag for productivity
Bran Black will start work at the Business Council of Australia as the government releases its second tranche of IR reforms.
- Phillip Coorey
- Opinion
- Letters to the Editor
PM must pluck up the courage to hold a COVID-19 inquiry
Pandemic royal commission; Woolies’ underpayment consequences; ID copies are risky; AiG/AFR tax calls; Vic gas ban; Ukraine war; the problem with strong leaders; don’t mess with Picasso.
Labor makes IR changes a political contest on wages
Tony Burke has fobbed off business concerns about his second tranche of industrial relations reforms.
- Phillip Coorey
Tax reforms critical to fix productivity: Willox
Lower taxes on firms and individuals, fewer state taxes and increasing GST should be considered to restore the nation’s flagging productivity, Innes Willox said.
- Phillip Coorey
- Opinion
- The AFR View
Bleeding obvious tax reform call
Genuinely productivity-enhancing reform should now be on Labor’s agenda to help it fulfil its election promise of growing real wages in a sustainable way.
- The AFR View
IR agenda driven by myths and slogans, not productivity: AiGroup
The government’s IR agenda not only fails to address the productivity problem, it will worsen it, says Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox.
- Phillip Coorey
July 2023
Union delegates paid $3 an hour more than others under new deal
Delegates to the electrical trades union get special protections against termination and better pay under a new deal being rolled out in the construction industry.
- David Marin-Guzman