MCA backs third wave reform

The Minerals Council of Australia has welcomed the third wave of reform outcomes and the proposed national reform agenda agreed by the Council of Australian Governments’ meeting in Canberra on February 13. MCA Chief Executive Mitchell H. Hooke said: “It is a significant and positive development that the Australian, State and Territory Governments have agreed to work together on a broad national reform agenda designed to lift the nation’s productivity and workforce participation over the next decade.”

The MCA particularly welcomes:

• The package of measures relating to apprenticeships, training and skills recognition. These are consistent with the MCA’s policies to achieve greater flexibility and portability in the workforce and to alleviate the skills shortage, particularly in remote and regional Australia
• A more flexible and responsive training system based on demonstrated competency standards rather than set time-based approaches
• A simpler and consistent national system of economic regulation for nationally consistent infrastructure of particular benefit to Australia’s export-based industry
• Plans to reduce the regulatory burden imposed by all three levels of Government to maximize the efficiency of new regulation, identify priority areas of regulatory reform, reduce regulation and overlap, and increase national consistency
• The agreement to work co-operatively on climate change policy and actions with a particular emphasis on technology and promoting business certainty.

"We welcome the commitment to make progress towards national consistency and look forward to working with the Australian and State Governments on implementing the details of the COAG intiatives."