Unions risk killing mining investment: Ferguson, Crean

Two of Labor's most senior ministers have accused the current generation of union leaders of ignoring the national interest, saying exorbitant greenfield wage claims risk killing off a massive pipeline of resources investment, according to The Australian.

Resources Minister Martin Ferguson and Regional Development Minister Simon Crean – both former ACTU leaders – urged unions to consider the nation's long-term productivity capacity, as they had done when negotiating the 1980s Prices and Incomes Accord.

States asked to address skills shortage

Industry groups have urged states to consider the needs of business as well as students in designing vocational training after Victoria’s experiment with a student voucher-style scheme championed by Prime Minister Julia Gillard led to a budget blowout on “soft’’ courses such as personal fitness, according to the Australian Financial Review.

Australian Industry Group chief Innes Willox said there was “great concern” state-based training reforms would do little to fix skills shortages and “may make the situation worse”

“The other states and the Commonwealth should look closely at the Victorian experiment and not head down the same path,” he said.

Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry training director Jenny Lambert said Victorian students were gaining qualifications that did not match industry needs.

Carbon tax 'a threat to power jobs'

Deep uncertainty among the Latrobe Valley power generators and potential sweeping cuts to the local economy and employment have been sheeted home to the new carbon pricing regime in a landmark report that examines the future of thousands of regional jobs, according to The Australian.

The Latrobe Valley Transition Committee has warned the carbon price will have flow-on effects for "businesses, communities and families" across the valley, which contains one of the world's biggest brown-coal reserves and is the engine room that delivers much of south-eastern Australia's power.