In 2007/7 the resources sector contributed $106.47 billion to the Australian economy representing 77% of Australian commodity exports and 49.3% of Australia’s total exports. Over 500,000 persons are engaged in producing this wealth, 138,000 of them directly at mining operations. The average wage for a mining industry employee is $99,994.00 per annum.

ABARE have identified resources sector investors and operators are presently planning or constructing approximately 275 mining and energy construction or expansion projects with a total capital expenditure for these projects in the order of $130 billion. Access Economics have identified future projects totaling $375 Billion.

In brief the significance of the resources sector to Australia’s ongoing economic prosperity is well understood.

The importance of the reforms undertaken since the Hawke/Keating Government began to dismantle centralised wage fixing cannot be understated.

The move away from the one size fits all, lowest common denominator award system to an enterprise-focused, productivity-driven system of collective and individual bargaining has allowed greater flexibility, and higher rewards in the resources sector. This has been accompanied by lower industrial disputation, higher levels of employment, much increased output and continued high investor confidence.

AMMA recognizes that industrial relations has been the subject of much debate in the lead up to the last federal election. The changes concerning access to unfair dismissal remedies and the capacity for agreements to be made that undermined the award standards, reducing protections of the WorkChoices system, were of concern to many Australians.

The mining industry has not used agreement making to drive wages down, our average wage of $1918 per week is evidence of that fact. The majority of resource sector employers employ more than 100 persons and have sophisticated fair treatment processes. Employees in the resources sector have not been exploited as demonstrated by their willingness to deal directly with their employer.

The objective of the Rudd Government to increase the protection of vulnerable employees without stifling the flexibility and productivity of key sectors such as the resources sector is a direction supported by AMMA. How this is achieved will be a key performance measure for the Government.

In the absence of AWAs the new system must retain a workable system of agreement making that provides sufficient flexibility to meet our operational requirements in a globally competitive manner. To do otherwise would destroy Australia’s reputation as a nation that can deliver raw materials to the world and would kill the golden goose.

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