THE GOOD AND THE BAD OF BUSINESS BLUEPRINT

16 February 2010

Unions in South Australia are casting a critical eye across Business SA's election agenda and found it contains some very positive proposals that deserve wholehearted support, and others which deserve outright rejection.

SA Unions Secretary, Janet Giles is attending Business SA's launch of its "Charter for a Prosperous South Australia", and says unions look forward to working constructively with the business community in the best interests of the state.

We may not see eye to eye on every detail, but there is a mutual view that action is needed now to deliver our state a solid, sustainable future", Ms Giles says.

"SA Unions will next week release its election checklist outlining the priorities we think are necessary for our state to progress, and to ensure the needs of South Australian workers are central in our economic and social policies."

"Already we can see some areas of Business SA's charter which complement and support our position, and others we vehemently oppose."

Amongst the plusses in the Business SA charter are:

• The focus on innovation and the development of new technologies.  In our Agenda document "A Fair Share of the Future" SA Unions similarly calls for investment in the development of green jobs to place SA at the forefront of the emerging renewable energy industry.
• The push for national control of water policy and regulation.  SA Unions thinks this is the only way to ensure all states are treated without fear or favour in relation to water allocations, and to ensure consumers, business and the environment all get their fair share of this precious resource.
• Protecting the security of our food supply by providing for agricultural land to be preserved under the 30 year plan for the development of greater Adelaide.  SA Unions agrees we cannot afford to build houses on our food bowl.

There are some points in the Business SA charter we are cautious about but believe if pursued correctly could have benefits.  Amongst them:

• High levels of migration to boost the skilled workforce.  SA Unions isn't opposed to migration, but believes it must not be at the expense of developing skills in our local workforce.  Our priority must be to up-skill locals to fill shortages rather than poaching skilled workers from elsewhere, particularly needy countries that require those skills themselves.
• Overhaul of corporate taxes to reduce red tape.  SA Unions is concerned to ensure that the state's income is maintained, and that eroding the tax base creates a burden on the public purse and reduces services to citizens.  However, we also understand the need for a healthy corporate environment without undue burden on business.  We propose a "reward" approach, where businesses that prove themselves to be good corporate citizens win the benefits of reduced costs.  Importantly, we support cutting red tape, provided it doesn't undermine central tenets such as workplace safety.

And there are some proposals which are not in the interests of South Australians and which we reject outright.  They include:

• Deregulation of shopping hours.  SA Unions believes the state's 50,000 retail employees deserve public holidays like other workers, and that the existing trading hours have a fair balance between the needs of the retail industry and leisure time for families.
• Scrapping the airport curfew.  SA Unions believes this is an unnecessary intrusion into the lives of city dwellers and that the growing tourism industry can and does work within the existing hours.
• Development of a nuclear energy industry.  SA Unions opposed this as unsafe, unclean and un-green - as well as unnecessary.  Our focus should be innovative renewable energy technologies, without the emissions and toxic by products of nuclear.

"I suppose we must expect that Business Sa, as the lobbyist representing the business sector, will naturally advocate the corporate interest ahead of all else.  We believe that by casting its gaze a little wider and considering the state's greater good - including that of the workers who keep business going - that common ground can be found and that South Australia will indeed prosper in a way that benefits us all," Ms Giles says.