Workplace relations

Overview

Mining is the largest contributor to the Australian economy, accounting for almost 10 per cent of GDP. The industry is the largest source of the nation’s export income, with the resources sector accounting for $454 billion (66 per cent) of the nation’s export revenue in 2022-23.

In 2022-23, the mining industry:

• Employed 289,000 highly skilled, highly paid workers across Australia, more than triple the number employed in 2001-02 (81,400).
• Paid the highest average wages – approximately $151,500 a year compared to $98,400 across all sectors.
• Provided highly secure work, with 88 per cent of mining workers are permanently employed and 96 per cent are full-time.

Policy Priorities

2023 saw a number of highly regressive changes to workplace laws passed by the federal Parliament. These add to the negative changes previously passed in 2022. Whilst the individual impact of these measures will invariably be damaging to individual businesses, the cumulative impact risks undoing a generation of productivity-enhancing workplace arrangements that have underpinned the industry’s success.

The most regressive elements include:

• ‘Same Job, Same Pay’ laws, which apply to an extremely broad range of commercial arrangements, including service contractors.
• Multi-employer bargaining, including the coercive ‘single interest employer’ bargaining stream, under which employers can be roped in to ‘agreements’ against their will.
• More union entry powers and union delegates rights – enshrining workplace conflict and imposing unreasonable costs on employers.
• ‘Intractable bargaining’ laws, that force employers into arbitrations which can never lead to ‘less favourable’ outcomes for employees and unions.

The government’s changes will reduce productivity and compromise Australia’s competitiveness in global export markets. The laws are also becoming a decisive material factor in whether new projects proceed or not, and whether billions of dollars in investment capital is invested in Australia or elsewhere.