❓ Mr. Murray questions the Minister for Energy about Premier Coal's proposed enterprise agreement and its impact on workers, while the Minister defends the government's actions in renegotiating the Synergy-Premier Coal contract and emphasizes the Fair Work Commission's role in arbitrating the agreement.
AnsweredQoN 535Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
PREMIER
COAL — ENTERPRISE BARGAINING AGREEMENT
535. Mr M.P. MURRAY to the Minister
for Energy:
I refer to the Minister for Energy's $50 million
convertible loan to Premier Coal.
(1) Does the
minister support Premier Coal's proposed new enterprise agreement that
will remove workers' conditions and reduce wages by approximately $50 000
per year?
(2) What actions will he take to assist workers impacted by
this massive pay cut?
COAL — ENTERPRISE BARGAINING AGREEMENT
535. Mr M.P. MURRAY to the Minister
for Energy:
I refer to the Minister for Energy's $50 million
convertible loan to Premier Coal.
(1) Does the
minister support Premier Coal's proposed new enterprise agreement that
will remove workers' conditions and reduce wages by approximately $50 000
per year?
(2) What actions will he take to assist workers impacted by
this massive pay cut?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for the question.
(1)–(2) First,
let me start with the renegotiated contract between Synergy and Premier Coal.
That contract was struck during your period in government. They—Synergy—went
out on the direction of government. Before that they were buying coal from two
pits—two firms—and they decided to buy it from one. Premier
Coal won the contract at a very low price. The member knows that. That price
has really put a squeeze on the owners of that asset. They then sold it to Yancoal,
which is owned by a Chinese business overseas. They came to Synergy and said we
cannot make a quid under the current prices and they were going to shut down.
What the member is implying is that we should have said shut it down. We did
not. We entered into —
Several members interjected.
Dr
M.D. NAHAN : We renegotiated the contract and improved it, as I have said in
this place many times. We had an option in there to convert some of the uplift
in price to convertible notes so that in the case of bankruptcy we would have
some say in the redundancy and the insolvency. Otherwise, Synergy would be
stuck. If it did go insolvent, we, the state, through Synergy, would be stuck
with potentially hundreds of millions of dollars of liabilities in operating that
deficient pit into the future. We secured the jobs and we safeguarded the state's
interests and all we get from the Labor Party is whingeing. As to the
enterprise bargaining agreement being negotiated, I do not know the origins of
that, but I know that the Fair Work Commission is the arbitrator. That was set
up under law by the Gillard government and to my knowledge has been unaltered
by any subsequent Liberal government. It is between two parties—the
unions, whichever they are, and a private business—in front of the
neutral arbitrator adjudicating on information at hand. Is the Labor Party
suggesting that we, a non-party to that, interfere in that? Is that what is
being suggested? If it is, we will not do it. Premier Coal and the unions need
to negotiate to get a fair, arbitrated outcome under the Fair Work Commission.
(1)–(2) First,
let me start with the renegotiated contract between Synergy and Premier Coal.
That contract was struck during your period in government. They—Synergy—went
out on the direction of government. Before that they were buying coal from two
pits—two firms—and they decided to buy it from one. Premier
Coal won the contract at a very low price. The member knows that. That price
has really put a squeeze on the owners of that asset. They then sold it to Yancoal,
which is owned by a Chinese business overseas. They came to Synergy and said we
cannot make a quid under the current prices and they were going to shut down.
What the member is implying is that we should have said shut it down. We did
not. We entered into —
Several members interjected.
Dr
M.D. NAHAN : We renegotiated the contract and improved it, as I have said in
this place many times. We had an option in there to convert some of the uplift
in price to convertible notes so that in the case of bankruptcy we would have
some say in the redundancy and the insolvency. Otherwise, Synergy would be
stuck. If it did go insolvent, we, the state, through Synergy, would be stuck
with potentially hundreds of millions of dollars of liabilities in operating that
deficient pit into the future. We secured the jobs and we safeguarded the state's
interests and all we get from the Labor Party is whingeing. As to the
enterprise bargaining agreement being negotiated, I do not know the origins of
that, but I know that the Fair Work Commission is the arbitrator. That was set
up under law by the Gillard government and to my knowledge has been unaltered
by any subsequent Liberal government. It is between two parties—the
unions, whichever they are, and a private business—in front of the
neutral arbitrator adjudicating on information at hand. Is the Labor Party
suggesting that we, a non-party to that, interfere in that? Is that what is
being suggested? If it is, we will not do it. Premier Coal and the unions need
to negotiate to get a fair, arbitrated outcome under the Fair Work Commission.
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