- require elections of boards of publicly listed companies to be conducted by an independent statutory body.
- reduce inequities in the current personal tax system by:
• reducing tax breaks for high income earners;
• removing Fringe Benefits Tax concessions which promote increased use of motor vehicles;
• removing the concessional arrangements for Capital Gains Tax;
• only allowing losses from an investment to be offset against income from the same investment;
• abolishing the 30% Private Health Insurance Rebate in order to increase funding for public hospitals;
• taxing family trusts in the same way as companies;
• eliminating high rates of effective marginal taxation for those on welfare benefits; and
• introduce a new top marginal tax rate of 50 per cent on incomes of $1 million or over.
- introduce an estate tax with full provisions to protect the family farm, the family home and small business with a threshold of $5 million as indexed from the year 2010.
- conduct a full review of the superannuation system with the aim of reducing its complexity and establishing progressive rates of superannuation taxation.
- return the company tax rate to 33% and broaden the company tax base by reducing tax concessions.
- limit tax deductibility for salaries & salary-related expenses for any individual employee to $1million per year.
- allow workers to terminate substandard individual or collective agreements and be covered by a relevant award or collective agreement.
- ensure effective dispute resolution processes are available to all workers, including through conciliation and arbitration.
- require employers to enter into collective agreements with their workforce unless a majority are demonstrably opposed to collective bargaining, with the Industrial Relations Commission to have the power to arbitrate if no agreement can be reached.
- require employers to inform new and existing employees that they are entitled to join a union, and enable the provision of information about the unions responsible for the sector and industry.
- repeal provisions against legitimate union activity (such as sections 45D and 45E in the Trade Practices Act 1974), and protect unions and workers against common law actions.
- legislatively protect the right to strike, as recognised in International Labour Organization conventions No. 87 and No. 98, as a fundamental right of workers to promote and defend their economic and social interests.
- abolish the requirement for secret ballots before industrial action.
- strengthen unions’ right of entry to recruit members, inspect for and remedy breaches of occupational health and safety provisions, breaches of the Fair Work Act and relevant awards or agreements, and other activities relating to strengthening workers’ organisations.
- protect the right of trade unionists to have their dues deducted from their wages directly.
- repeal any independent contractors legislation that strips employment rights from individuals.
- limit the use of independent contractor arrangements to individuals who are genuinely running their own business.
38. create and enforce industrial and immigration laws that stop the exploitation of foreign workers, by ensuring they receive the same pay and entitlements as a local worker doing the same job.
- establish minimum employment standards for trainees and apprentices.
- ensure that relevant training and skills development is made available to all workers, including apprentices, trainees, part-time and casual employees, without loss of pay.
- abolish the Australian Building and Construction Commission and repeal the Building and Construction Industry Improvement Act.
- abolish the Office of the Employment Advocate and the Office of Workplace Services and reinstate the functions of the Industrial Relations Commission.
- require the Commonwealth Occupational Health and Safety Authority (Comcare) to fund additional industry liaison staff, review provisions under Comcare so that workers receive fair treatment and benefits and are not disadvantaged.
- introduce national industrial manslaughter laws.
- ensure all employees, including casual, fixed term and probationary workers, and employees of small business have the same rights to challenge termination of employment where it is unfair, with reinstatement to be the remedy except in exceptional circumstances.
- repeal the current National Code of Practice for the Construction Industry.
- increase casual loadings to a minimum of 30% and introduce the ability for casual employees to convert to permanent part time work after 3 months of continuous employment, where employment is on a continuous ongoing basis.
- provide a national paid parental leave scheme.
- establish a National Pay Equity Standard to help correct the gender pay gap.
- provide industrial tribunals with full powers to make orders to give effect to gender pay equity, on a workforce, industry or workplace basis.
- establish industry trust funds for protection of workers’ entitlements.
- require the ABS to publish more meaningful monthly measures of underemployment and unemployment, with broader definitions of unemployment.
- amend the Trade Practices Act to introduce a National Unfair Contracts regime.
- use a combination of government job creation and industry policy to achieve full employment and job security for all who seek employment.
- legislate for a mandatory minimum of five weeks paid annual leave for all employees.
- limit the tax deductibility of any executive salaries to 25 times the minimum full-time adult wage.
