Carbon tax receives fewer complaints than GST
The consumer regulator has received fewer complaints about the carbon tax since it began than it received about the goods and services tax, according to the Australian Financial Review.
In a quieter than expected start to the scheme, carbon-tax-related complaints to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission about small business and the electricity sector have been most common.
Despite well publicised cases of companies blaming the tax for increased prices, there have been fewer complaints than expected. The ACCC revealed it had received more than 630 complaints and inquiries – less than 10% of the 8350 general complaints received since July 1.
“We put a fair bit of effort into ensuring that people weren’t using the carbon price as an opportunity to dupe consumers and the [number] of complaints we are having indicates that business has by and large picked up that message,” ACCC chairman Rod Sims said.
Productivity: bosses blame the system
Business has rejected Treasury’s claim that the performance of management is partly to blame for Australia’s poor productivity performance, citing too much regulation, taxes, skills shortages and pro-union industrial relations laws, according to the Australian Financial Review.
“The adversarial workplace culture unleashed by the Fair Work Act in some industries is not conducive to managers taking risks with innovation to lift their productivity,” the president of the Business Council of Australia Tony Shepherd said.
“Industrial relations laws are limiting the capacity of companies to lift their productivity at the project and firm level by making it harder for them to allocate their labour in the most productive ways.”
Treasury’s macro-economic forecasting head David Gruen said on Tuesday there were several causes of poorer management practices in Australian companies compared with the US and elsewhere, including their size and the education of managers.
Some business leaders believe Treasury wants to deflect attention from complaints about the Fair Work Act.
New Hope geared up for takeover activity
New Hope Corporation is being cited by analysts as a potential acquirer amid a sea of depressed share prices in the resources sector, given its strong balance sheet position with zero debt, according to the Australian Financial Review.
The company recently acquired the remaining 19.2% of Northern Energy, while booking a solid 25% jump to $101.1 million for its first-half profit result.
Sector heavyweights BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto are seen as unlikely to make any significant acquisitions, with activity among mid-tier players mooted as more likely.
Miners have suffered a selloff due to fears the Chinese economy slowing down – which logged import figures well below expectations this week and is due to report second-quarter gross domestic product on Friday.
Swan lifts efforts to get in on yuan trade
Wayne Swan will today accelerate his push to convince China that the Australian dollar should become only the third currency to be directly convertible into Chinese yuan, The Australian reports.
The Treasurer will meet senior Chinese officials, including Vice-Premier Li Keqiang, chairman Zhang Ping of the National Development and Reform Commission and governor Zhou Xioachuan of the People's Bank of China, today and tomorrow as part of his ongoing efforts to make sure Australia is involved in the rapidly growing international yuan trade.
