The Australian Financial Review reported a preliminary investigation of the coal union by the newly independent Registered Organisations Commission is nearing conclusion with in-house lawyers and forensic accountants currently reviewing a set of responses by the CFMEU Mining & Energy division to the regulator’s three-tiered, but so far, informal inquiries. A quagmire of preliminary ROC inquiries was triggered by reports in The Australian Financial Review in February, and June, that first identified an auditor’s concerns over credit card use in the Queensland branch. It ventilated Federal Government concerns over the governance of two comparatively wealthy union funds. “The ROC has been and is reviewing matters related to the CFMEU Mining and Energy Division, including those referred to in The Australian Financial Review from 5 and 6 June 2017,” the regulator confirmed on Friday. “The ROC has made preliminary inquiries and sought and received information from the CFMEU regarding the matters raised in those reports.”
Chevron’s $45 billion Wheatstone project in the Pilbara has started producing its first liquefied natural gas, with the inaugural cargo on track to be shipped in coming weeks. In an article published in The West, Chevron Australia managing director Nigel Hearne said it was a significant milestone that represented the culmination of years of dedication by thousands of people and companies in WA and across Australia. “As one of Australia’s largest resource developments, Wheatstone will be an important pillar of the Australian economy for decades to come,” Mr Hearne said. “Chevron is making a significant economic contribution to the long-term future of Australia with the Chevron-operated Wheatstone project having already spent a combined $20-plus billion on local goods and services and creating more than 7000 jobs.”
Indian energy giant Adani has moved a step closer to building its $16.5 billion Carmichael mega-mine by announcing the regional cities of Rockhampton and Townsville will become the base for the thousands of fly-in, fly-out workers to the mine in Central Queensland, The Australian Financial Review reported. The Palaszczuk government has welcomed the news as it attempts to boost jobs in regional Queensland ahead of the next state election due in the next few months. It comes as Adani pursues mining companies Jelinbah Group and QCoal in the Supreme Court over the output exported through its Abbot Point coal terminal, near Bowen in North Queensland. The decision for Adani to give the green light to the project in July was central to Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s re-election campaign which has been desperate for the project to proceed despite growing anger from environmentalists.
A report by The Australian Financial Review tells how business have backed a Senate inquiry push to “fine tune” the test for enterprise agreements in response to the uncertainty paralysing collective bargaining in the retail and fast-food sectors. The Senate committee into penalty rates released its report on Wednesday, calling for the Fair Work Act’s better off overall test (BOOT) to be strengthened after noting the uncertainty for unions and employers in negotiating trade offs of weekend penalty rates that were better than the award minimum. “The BOOT must be strengthened in order to ensure that the test provides clarity and certainty, is rigorous, robust and capable of delivering on its intended purpose,” the committee’s Labor majority said. “Evidence suggests that there is considerable ambiguity around the application of the BOOT in practice, and that the test might benefit from fine-tuning.”
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