Submission to Trade and Investment Growth inquiry

The Australian Workers’ Union has lodged a submission with the Joint Standing Committee on Trade and Investment Growth inquiry into the prudential regulation of investment in Australia’s export industries.

The committee is examining how banks, insurers and superannuation funds can significantly affect the investment pipeline for export-exposed sectors where AWU members work.

Around 32,000 Australians are employed directly in oil and gas extraction, while the manufacturing sector that depends on it employs a further 840,000 workers nationally.

The AWU’s submission notes that while the benefits of a major gas and oil export industry are obvious, recently the gas sector has been targeted by shareholder activists due to concerns over climate change.

It urges the committee to acknowledge the complex and damaging effect this activism can have on gas project finance, with consequences for Australian workers across many industries.

Read the submission here.