Editorial: WA must fight against ‘Victorian’ IR laws | Don’t let a group of Victorians decide what’s right for you

Editorial: WA must fight against ‘Victorian’ IR laws

We can be a parochial crowd in WA. We get that. And the rest of the country should be thankful for that. Because part of the parochialism has always been a healthy suspicion of the Canberra-Sydney-Melbourne clique and its belief that only it knows what’s good for this country.

There can be no doubt that for some t’othersiders it is a case of WA being out of sight and out of mind. And that spells danger because WA is the engine room of the nation’s economy. And in particular it is the resources sector which is at the wheel. So it is clear that what is bad for the resources sector is bad for WA and the east as well. And so the Federal Labor Government’s industrial relations agenda has been ringing alarm bells.

Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke’s prescription has provoked outrage among employer groups and business leaders, in particular over “same job, same pay”.

Minerals Council of Australia boss Tania Constable this week labelled the laws “some of the most extreme interventionist workplace changes that have ever been proposed in Australia”. BHP Australian president Geraldine Slattery warned the Bill would drive up costs, torpedo productivity and negatively impact the resources sector’s ability to “compete in the global arena”.

And on Wednesday a new voice joined in the chorus of concern. Gerhard Veldsman, chief executive of Gina Rinehart’s Roy Hill, told 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,” he told the audience, 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.”

Mr Veldsman’s public intervention came as WA Industrial Relations Minister Bill Johnston claimed none of the State’s resource companies or industry bodies had asked him to lobby the Albanese Government to drop its sweeping changes.

However, Mr Johnston repeatedly ducked questions about whether he personally supported the proposed IR overhaul — bizarrely pivoting to instead describe the skills shortages crippling WA as a “great” problem.

“Isn’t it great that Western Australia’s economy is going so strongly that we are still thousands of workers short of what we need to make the most out of our mining industry here in Western Australia,” he said.

If Mr Johnston wants to avoid the impression he’s a puppet of the Albanese Government he should be on the phone or going to Canberra to bang the table, demanding the planned laws do not stand.

If he’s not being proactive, looking after WA’s interests first and foremost, what’s the point of having him in the job?

Responsibility for the editorial comment is taken by WAN Editor-in-Chief Anthony De Ceglie

Don’t let a group of Victorians decide what’s right for you

The head of Gina Rinehart’s Roy Hill has warned against allowing Victorians with no concept of Australia’s vital resources sector to dictate the nation’s industrial relations settings.

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.”

Mr Veldsman’s public intervention came as WA Industrial Relations Minister Bill Johnston claimed none of the State’s resource companies or industry bodies had asked him to lobby the Albanese Government to drop its sweeping changes.

“I’ve never been asked to intervene in any way on that issue,” he said.

However, Mr Johnston repeatedly ducked questions about whether he personally supported the Albanese Government’s proposed IR overhaul — bizarrely pivoting to instead describe the skills shortages crippling WA as a “great” problem. “We’re a State Parliament and we don’t regulate corporations or their industrial relations,” he said.