Australia’s oil and gas industry believes strongly that labour relations reform must be placed at the centre of the national productivity agenda, according to Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association (APPEA) Chief Executive David Byers.
To that end, APPEA recently released a blueprint for workplace relations reform which aims to drive much-needed productivity growth and improve the industry’s global competitiveness.
“The LNG industry is one of Australia’s economic success stories. Companies are currently investing $200 billion on new projects that have created more than 100,000 jobs across the Australian economy, and will pay close to $13 billion in annual taxes by the end of this decade,” said Mr Byers.
“But this success is being seriously challenged by rising costs at home and growing competition abroad.
“Reform is urgently needed, or our country risks losing the next wave of LNG investment that could create a further 150,000 jobs over the next 20 years.
“Within a few years, Australia will overtake Qatar as the world’s leading LNG exporter. If we fail to address our productivity challenges, the celebrations may be short-lived.”
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