Chamber of Minerals and Energy
A key recommendation of the welcome Laing report into the Mine Safety and Inspection Act - to transfer Occupational Safety and Health regulation provisions currently managed by the industry into the general OSH Act - is of concern. The loss of legislation specific to the mining industry could lead to a reduction of industry
’s involvement directly improving safety performance. The industry is represented on a mining industry Advisory Board which has direct access to the Minister for State Development, Small Business and Tourism, but under the recommendations, industry representation is reduced to being an advisory committee to WorkSafe, eliminating direct Ministerial access. The issue is too important for this to occur.The Chamber’s priority is to improve safety and health in the resources sector.Pastoralists & Graziers Association
AWB Limited is taking advantage of its unexpected reductions in pool estimates to entice growers into its more costly, underwritten Harvest Loan. Growers have not been equipped to make informed decisions because the information they need - such as the progress of forward sales, foreign exchange coverage and other intelligence - is the exclusive province of AWB Ltd. Those tossing up between the cash price or the pool – on the basis of high pre-harvest forecasts by AWB Ltd - were regretting they did not take the cash. AWB Ltd is using its privileged position in the market and turning to its internal pricing structures maintain shareholder dividends at the expense returns to its producer stakeholders.
