Chamber of Commerce and Industry WA chief Chris Rodwell demands Senate inquiry into IR overhaul visit State

WA’s peak business group is demanding Senators examining the Federal Government’s contentious industrial relations overhaul hold public inquiries in our State or risk ramming through “east coast-centric” laws. Chamber of Commerce and Industry WA chief executive Chris Rodwell wrote to Labor Senator Tony Sheldon, who’s chairing the inquiry, to urge members of the seven-strong Senate committee hear directly from businesses who would be affected. He said it would be “an insult” to the State if the committee did not hold hearings in WA. Three of the committee’s seven members are WA Senators — Liberals Matt O’Sullivan and Slade Brockman and Labor’s Fatima Payman — and while no public hearings have yet been scheduled, Mr Rodwell said views of those in WA, long the “economic engine room of the nation” must be heard. The Federal Government was dealt a blow last week when the laws were deferred in the Senate. It voted to push out the inquiry’s reporting date until February 1 amid concerns from key crossbenchers they’d not been given enough time to scrutinise the bill. The Government’s contentious bill seeks to end the practice of companies using labour-hire workers to undercut pay rates for employees, as well as criminalise wage theft and create pathways for casual workers to become permanent. Business is largely opposed to the rules, citing additional and unnecessary complications to their workloads and making doing business much harder. Mining giant BHP has led much of the opposition but other leaders, including Lynas Rare Earths boss Amanda Lacaze, have also hit out at the Government. Mr Rodwell said the concerns of WA businesses, small and large, were unique to the State and “are at risk of being overlooked by an east-coast centric set of reforms. “It is undeniable that the suite of reforms will have an impact across WA’s economy, but perhaps of most concern is the impact on the resources sector, and the many West Australians it employs directly and indirectly,” he said in his letter. “Mining companies rely on labour hire for legitimate operational reasons like commodity swings. “The impacts of the “same job same pay” provision will ricochet right through the WA economy, strangling jobs, productivity and economic growth and further squeezing those small and medium sized companies along the mining supply chain.” Mr Rodwell told The West Australian the CCIWA was confident the committee would see how important it was to visit WA for hearings. “Our state will be the biggest loser under these reforms and it’s absolutely vital WA businesses have the chance to explain those impacts directly to the committee reviewing this,” he said. Mr Rodwell said the prospect of the laws was also creating uncertainty for business investment. “WA is at a critical moment in its history — now is the time to capitalise on our significant supply of critical minerals which will fuel the green energy revolution,” he wrote. “Australia should be positioning itself at the global centre of this emerging industry, rather than creating a cloud of uncertainty that will hang over any company looking to start a major project in WA.” Senator O’Sullivan, the committee’s deputy chair, told Mr Rodwell in a separate letter that it was “absolutely necessary” Perth had the opportunity for public hearings. “I will do whatever I can to ensure that it is highlighted how Western Australia will be worse off because of this bill,” he said. “The last thing Australia needs is an industrial relations shake-up that will make things worse.”