Frydenberg flags IR reform
Josh Frydenberg, a key member of Malcolm Turnbull’s cabinet, says the government has to tackle the politically contentious issue of Sunday penalty rates.
Frydenberg, the former assistant treasurer who was promoted into Cabinet in last week’s reshuffle as the Minister for Northern Australia and Resources, told the Ten Network that Sunday penalty rates, which can hit 175 per cent to 200 per cent, were an area that had to be tackled.
"Malcolm Turnbull's absolutely right to point to industrial relations as one area where it does cost business and ultimately it does cost jobs,’’ Mr Frydenberg said,
“This is an area we need to look at because if it means more jobs and changing there, that could be good for the economy."
He said penalty rates really hurt energy companies.
"In the resources sector it costs 50 per cent more in Australia to have an energy project than if you were to have [it] on the US Gulf coast," he said. "Now one of the key components of that is industrial relations, which decreases productivity and increases cost."
Mr Frydenberg said the defunct Australian Building and Construction Commission should be reinstated.
Mr Frydenberg’s comments signal that the Turnbull government could take a very different approach to Tony Abbott’s regime which had been seen as lacking the will and political capital to tackle industrial relations changes.
Source: Business First Magazine, 28th September 2015
Originally published as: Frydenberg flags IR reform
