logo
Liberal Senator's warning amid Coalition tensions over supermarket break-up powers

Liberal Senator's warning amid Coalition tensions over supermarket break-up powers

Sky News AU24-05-2025

Liberal Senator Andrew Bragg has discussed the proposal to introduce court-ordered divestiture powers for supermarkets and hardware stores.
Mr Bragg warned against policies that could damage private investment amid internal divisions over the proposal.
'In the extraordinary situation where all other competition policy options have been exhausted, divestiture could be a last resort,' he told Sky News Political Editor Andrew Clennell.
'But you wouldn't want to do anything that was going to damage private investment because it's on strike under this government.'
Mr Bragg's comments come after the Liberals agreed 'in principle' to the Nationals' policy demands, which includes introducing supermarket divestiture laws.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Employment Minister Amanda Rishworth insists enterprise bargaining will boost Australia's dismal productivity growth
Employment Minister Amanda Rishworth insists enterprise bargaining will boost Australia's dismal productivity growth

Sky News AU

time22 minutes ago

  • Sky News AU

Employment Minister Amanda Rishworth insists enterprise bargaining will boost Australia's dismal productivity growth

Employment and Workplace Relations Minister Amanda Rishworth has emphasised the importance of enterprise bargaining and sexual harassment in the workplace as Australia stares down the barrel of having one of the worst levels of productivity growth in the developed world. Productivity in Australia - which directly impacts economic growth, wages, and overall living standards - has not risen since 2016, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Ms Rishworth was pressed by Sky News Chief Political Editor Andrew Clennell on Sunday Agenda on the Albanese government's impact on productivity growth and whether she would admit that it was 'a lot poorer' now. 'Some of the changes we've put through in the last parliament has been about encouraging enterprise bargaining … getting workers and their unions, along with employers, to sit down and talk about what things can be achieved at an enterprise level. Now that is good for productivity,' she said. Ms Rishworth said the government had implemented provisions to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace, which she said was having a 'positive impact'. "Some of the laws that we passed, for example, the right to disconnect, there was a lot of concern about that, but we're now seeing from the HR Institute of Australia that that law that was passed is actually having a positive impact on productivity and employee engagement," she said. "The same HR Institute report said that, for example, the sexual harassment provisions that we've put in place to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace is also having a positive impact. 'Jobs are being created, we're seeing low unemployment, real wages increasing and the gender pay gap reducing—and of course less industrial action … but there is more to be done." Ms Rishworth said banning non-compete clauses was another target for the government to tackle the decline in productivity. 'Often, part-time workers have been... forced on these non-compete clauses, which says they can't work for someone else so they can make up full-time hours (which) are hampering productivity and worker participation,' she said. 'I think we can have productivity and ensure that workers don't go backwards in this country.' The Minister said she would not accept that workplace relations was the only factor in poor productivity but would not provide any other potential causes for the slump in economic output, despite the significant rise in immigration levels and capital shallowing. While immigration has rapidly increased from 190,000 in 2015-2016 to 536,000 in 2022-23, the average annual labour productivity growth has halved from 1.8 per cent to 0.9 per cent over the same period. In March, the RBA's Head of Economic Analysis Michael Plumb told Macro Business Australia's high immigration had impacted productivity through capital shallowing, which occurs when population grows while investment in infrastructure, training and transport fails to keep up. 'Overall investment has not kept pace with the strong employment growth,' Mr Plumb said. Independent economist Gerard Minack has also sounded the alarm and explained how net investment spending in Australia was running at levels previously only seen at the 'nadir of the 1990s recession'. 'The fast population growth of the past 20 years, combined with the decline in investment spending over the past decade, has led to a collapse in the growth of per capita capital stock,' he said. 'Low investment and fast population growth is crushing productivity growth leading to structurally weak income growth'. Ms Rishworth insisted enterprise bargaining would deliver stronger productivity, as well as better wages and conditions for employees as the Fair Work Commission is set to hand down its annual minimum wage decision. 'The Fair Work Commission does have a look at enterprise bargaining and whether that's individual enterprises or whether that is multi-employer bargaining,' she said. 'We want to see more bargaining in this country because that delivers productivity as well as better wages and conditions for employees.' Last month, Treasurer Jim Chalmers told Sky News that productivity is a 'challenge' that cannot be fixed in a single term. "I think that's just a realistic way of being upfront with people... it's not one of those areas where you can just flick a switch and all of a sudden the economy is as productive as we want it to be," he said on Tuesday. "The problem's been there for a couple of decades, the worst decade for productivity growth was the decade to 2020. The worst decade in the last half century or more." The Treasurer said the government had "a lot of work to do", which involved working closely with businesses, unions, and the broader community, to "do what we can this term to make our economy more productive over time."

Employment and Workplace Relations Minister Amanda Rishworth does not rule out portable leave and remote work penalty rates
Employment and Workplace Relations Minister Amanda Rishworth does not rule out portable leave and remote work penalty rates

Sky News AU

time35 minutes ago

  • Sky News AU

Employment and Workplace Relations Minister Amanda Rishworth does not rule out portable leave and remote work penalty rates

The Albanese government has left the door open to allowing workers to receive penalty rates while working from home, as well as the possibility of a federal portable leave scheme. Employment and Workplace Relations Minister Amanda Rishworth did not rule out either possibility but told Sky News Sunday Agenda she was focused on delivering on election promises. The Albanese government has promised to legislate penalty rates, forcing employers to pay overtime for work performed outside of normal conditions The Australian Industry Group has brought forward the case that, under the clerks' award, some workers could get penalty rates while working from home. 'Let's be really clear, our commitment we made in the election was protecting penalty rates in awards, that is the safety net,' Ms Rishworth said. 'We are working through and consulting on the details but the principle is pretty clear, and that is we are going to protect penalty rates in the awards system. 'Because that is a safety net and of course enterprise bargaining is available to others.' She added that the government's plan to legislate penalty rate protections would not interfere with enterprise-level negotiations. Ms Rishworth also left the door open to introducing a federal portable leave scheme—a policy advocated for by unions such as the Australian Workers' Union. Portable leave would allow employees to carry entitlements like annual or long service leave across different jobs and employers. When asked whether she could rule out implementing the scheme during Labor's second term, Ms Rishworth responded that she would 'consider' different ideas put forward. She reiterated that her top priority was fulfilling Labor's existing promises, including legislating to protect penalty rates and supporting a rise in the minimum wage. The Fair Work Commission will announce its minimum wage decision on Tuesday 3 June 2025. Unions have asked for a 4.5 per cent increase, while employers want 2.6 per cent, roughly the rate of inflation. There is an expectation the increase will be around 3 per cent. 'We have put forward a submission that has called for an economically responsible real wage increase,' Ms Rishworth said. 'We don't want to see our minimum and award wage workers go backwards.'

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store