CPSU Federal Office

Tax loopholes that benefit multinational companies in Australia are “stealing from the next generation”, prominent unions have warned.  The Community and Public Sector Union told a parliamentary inquiry into multinational tax avoidance that many companies advising governments on various policies had been exploiting loopholes.  The union’s joint national secretary Karen Batt said a dangerous cycle was playing out in government policy-making due to the current tax loopholes.

Australia’s now 122-year-old constitution still doesn’t recognise our first Australians, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. It’s time it did. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have asked that the form of recognition come through a Voice to Parliament, which will give advice on laws and policies that affect Indigenous people.

All over Australia there are people who write applications for public money, and they must be asking questions about a huge swindle that has been growing over the past two decades under our noses.

In one world, if successful, these grants are subject to staged payments dependent on evidence of progress.  When they end, final reports are required, showing how funds were acquitted, and demonstrating outcomes.

But there is another world: the alternative universe of big consultancies doing government work.

Our current laws have loopholes that have been used by big business to devise new ways to get out of paying proper wages and entitlements. It’s simple. People working alongside each other doing the same job, should get the same pay. For example, Qantas has flight attendant on the same plane, doing the same job but being paid less than their colleagues because Qantas has gamed the system. This is just not fair.

Unfair contracts/Employee and Employee like/Sham contracting.

The NSW Government is offering to lift public sector wages by 4.5% in the next financial year, to be delivered via a 4% pay rise and the 0.5% increase in superannuation under the SGL in July. NSW will also create an interest-based bargaining taskforce headed by former FWC deputy president Anna Booth and former State IRC president Roger Boland. 

The NSW Government says the taskforce is to conduct its work with a view to:

The Australian Labor Party recently won the state election in New South Wales, Australia—a clear win for and by public services workers including PSI’s affiliates.   The unions’ fight  against privatisation, and their campaign for fair wages and better working conditions were key to this victory.  Unions are optimistic that the Labor Party’s election is the “first step towards meaningful reform” as the incoming government is “committed to repairing the systemic issues that have been hampering [the country’s] health services.”

Constitutional recognition through a Voice to Parliament is a body enshrined in the Constitution that would enable Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to provide advice to the Parliament on policies and projects that impact their lives.  A Voice to Parliament gives the Australian Government the opportunity to make policies with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, rather than for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Voice to Parliament explained

Innovative working time arrangements, such as those introduced during the COVID-19 crisis, can bring benefits for economies, businesses, and workers, including greater productivity and improved work-life balance, according to a new ILO report.  The report, Working Time and Work-Life Balance Around the World, looks at the two main aspects of working time; working hours and working time arrangements (also called work schedules) and the effects of both on business performance and workers' work-life balance.

Retirement may seem a long way down the track but the money you need to have for a decent retirement cannot be accumulated overnight.  We’re always paying attention to our wages: how much comes into our bank account and when, making sure we’re getting decent pay increases each year and saving up where we can.  But it’s rare we give our superannuation the same attention. It’s time to change that.  It pays – literally – to get on top of your super sooner rather than later.  

In four steps let’s start with the basics

The Parliament has voted to pass the crucial Secure Jobs, Better Pay Bill.  This is a major step towards ensuring workers can win better pay and more secure jobs – two things that are vital to reducing the impact of the cost-of-living crisis.  The Secure Jobs, Better Pay Bill will now become the law of the land and start to benefit millions of workers.

This Bill is a significant step towards fixing our broken bargaining system and will provide millions of working people with greater access to bargaining, a system which should be the engine of wage growth in this country.