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EDITORIAL
Edgar Adams discusses local issues
For business, is there any alternative to a Morrison Federal Government? AS WE MOVE toward the climax of another Federal Election business owners need to think seriously about their future under a union controlled Labor Government. As always the unions will finance most of the ALP’s campaign and of course that means there will be payback. First cab off the rank will be the treatment of casual workers and gig workers. The unions have been campaigning against casual and gig workers for years. Only a few months ago they had a win in the High Court with a Decision that effectively ignored the casual loadings and adding them to the regular rate of pay. It also redefined who is a genuine casual employee. The unions hate casual employees because they can’t coerce them into union membership. In the building and construction industry there is also the prospect of the CFMEU getting its way with a Labor Government in abolishing the Australian Building and Construction Commission (the industry watchdog). Only a month or so ago the Full Court of the Federal Court of Australia labelled the CFMEU as having a history of bullying, intimidation and other illegal behaviour. On another front the Australian Taxation Office is ramping up its aggressive campaign against small and family businesses. The ATO is notorious for going after small businesses with dubious claims of tax
avoidance and hanging them out to dry. Right now they are going after family trusts that are perfectly legal but they see as a tax avoidance measure. (See article Page 20) They are salivating at the thought of a Labor Government to give them carte blanche to attack small business owners. On the other hand the Morrison Government is committed to retaining the ABCC and keeping the ATO under some sort of control. And we need to take into account that the Federal Government has cut red tape and saved small businesses billions. Read about that on Page 19) When it comes to Federal politics businesses need to ask who is on their side. While we don’t want the Federal Government to change, I am beginning to think that a change of government next March might be a good idea. This State Government has not taken the Central Coast seriously from the time they were elected. While Parliamentary for the Central Coast, Adam Crouch prattles on about the millions the government has spent on the Coast since they came to government ten years ago it pales into insignificance when compared to the billions they are pouring into Western Sydney. While acknowledging the investment in the new Gosford and Wyong Hospitals
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the government is building new hospitals across Western Sydney and elsewhere. These two projects were needed to service the growing Central Coast population and were needed. What this government has not done is taken education seriously. Except for contributing to the construction of the University of Newcastle’s new Central Coast Clinical School and Research Institute adjacent to Gosford Hospital tertiary education is not top of mind for Mr Crouch or the government. Let’s not forget former Premier Gladys Berejiklian’s promise in the weeks leading up to the last State Election – 3 years ago! – for an Employment and Education Precinct in Gosford that would see a new university campus set up. It has taken two years for the announcement that the University of Newcastle had been accepted to build a new campus on the former Mitre10 site in Gosford. Making the announcement on 11th April Minister for Infrastructure and Cities the Hon Rob Stokes MP said the campus would become the jewel in the crown of the new Employment Precinct. However, Mr Stokes and the Minister for Skills and Training the Hon. Alister Henskens MP, who accompanied him to Gosford made no mention of funding that is part of UON’s proposal to build the campus. As we have said before, when announcCONTINUED ON PAGE 19
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CENTRAL COAST BUSINESS REVIEW MAY 2022
