Daniel Andrews seeks out corporate backing

VICTORIA’S incoming Labor Premier Daniel Andrews is seeking as a priority to secure the support of business.

VICTORIA’s Labor premier-in-waiting Daniel Andrews is seeking as a priority to secure the support of business, which his government needs if it is to reform the state’s creaking infrastructure.

Congestion is an issue as a result of Melbourne’s rapid population rise — by 25 per cent since 2001 — more than 50 per cent above Sydney’s growth rate.

Business confidence is also crucial for the creation of new jobs — with Victoria’s jobless rate rising in August to 6.8 per cent, the worst in mainland Australia.

Mark Stone, the chief executive of the Victorian Employers Chamber of Commerce and Industry, told The Australian: “They indicated they would want to meet with me very early in the piece, to work out what sort of things we can do together.”

Tim Piper, the Victorian director of the Australian Industry Group, said that although, “Mr Andrews comes from the Left, from our discussions he appears positive about business as well”.

“The biggest issue is going to be job creation. That doesn’t mean taking on an IR agenda, it means putting people into jobs.

“And governments don’t ­create jobs — that can only be done by supporting business, and making sure government procurement goes back into the community.”

He said that Labor’s proposals for cutting payroll tax for firms taking on the long-term jobless, “is a start — but it will have to consider further payroll tax cuts because employers consider it a tax on employment”.

Mr Stone said that VECCI would urge the new government to lift the payroll tax threshold from $550,000 to $850,000, “in order to keep Victorian business competitive and support new job creation”.

Mr Piper said the gas price is a major issue, with a moratorium on exploration across the board.

Mr Piper also urged Labor to reconsider its plan to scrap the $7 billion East-West Link, “because it’s a worthwhile project, and because it may cost Victoria billions of dollars” to reject it following an agreement with a construction consortium led by Lend Lease, and after it secured $3bn backing from Canberra.

Kate Roffey, the chief executive of the Committee for Melbourne, said: “I don’t think there’s any doubt that it would raise concerns” for companies considering other major tenders, if the East- West Link contract were to be nullified — which could happen through legislation, if legal channels appear blocked or costly.

She urged the new government to consider “genuinely city-shaping infrastructure”.

She said it took too “way too long” for the previous Coalition government to “get things up and running,” and expressed hope that Labor would hit the deck running.

Rod Eddington, the chairman of JPMorgan Australia, said it was possible the government might still consider work on the East West Link — but starting in the west, at the river crossing and the port, rather than in the east where the outgoing government planned to start operations.