Australian Labor Party announces workers package

Australian Labor Party on Sunday announced a new package guaranteeing workers' entitlements and tax breaks for businesses which improve energy efficiency.

"Workers who lose their job when their employer goes bust have enough to worry about," Prime Minister Julia Gillard said in a joint statement with Workplace Relations Minister Simon Crean on Sunday. "They should not have to worry about being paid what they have already earned."

Labor will replace the existing general employee entitlements and redundancy scheme with the fair entitlements scheme, a measure costing an additional 60.8 million dollars (54.47 million U.S. dollars) over four years.

Instead of being entitled to a maximum of 16 weeks' entitlements, workers will have their redundancy pay, up to a maximum of four weeks for each year of service, guaranteed.

Labor also will strengthen superannuation arrangements by insisting employees receive information on their payslips about the amount of super actually paid into their accounts.

Gillard further said corporate and taxation law will be strengthened to protect workers' entitlements.

The ranking of employee creditors working for unincorporated companies will be improved to bring their ranking into line with the priority given to employee creditors of incorporated companies.

Companies that improve the energy efficiency of commercial buildings they own will be eligible for tax breaks from July 1, 2011.

Businesses that undertake capital works to improve the energy efficiency of their existing buildings from two stars or lower to four stars or higher will be able to apply for a one-off bonus tax deduction.

The 180 million dollars (161.25 million U.S. dollars) promise will be funded through the renewable energy future fund, Gillard said.

Source: Xinhua