The Australian Industry Group, also called Ai Group, is an

employers' organisation An employers' organization or employers' association is a collective organization of manufacturers, retailers, or other employers of wage labor. Employers' organizations seek to coordinate the behavior of their member companies in matters of mutua ...

, whose members employ over 750,000 people throughout

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. The organisation covers a wide range of industries including manufacturing, engineering, construction, automotive, food, transport, information technology, telecommunications, call centres, labour hire, printing, defence, mining equipment and supplies, airlines, and other related service industries. It is one of the largest industry organisations in Australia. Ai Group actively collaborates with institutions such as the

Housing Industry Association The Housing Industry Association (HIA) is an association of more than 40,000 members working in the housing industry. It is the peak national industry association for the residential construction and home building, renovation and development indus ...

, the accountancy firm

PriceWaterhouseCoopers PricewaterhouseCoopers is an international professional services brand of firms, operating as partnerships under the PwC brand. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world and is considered one of the Big Four accounting ...

, and the

Commonwealth Bank The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), or CommBank, is an Australian multinational bank with businesses across New Zealand, Asia, the United States and the United Kingdom. It provides a variety of financial services including retail, busines ...

to produce surveys of the various industries it represents, releasing both status reports on large sections of the

Australian economy Australia is a highly developed country with a mixed-market economy. As of 2022, Australia was the 14th-largest national economy by nominal GDP (Gross Domestic Product), the 20th-largest by PPP-adjusted GDP, and was the 22nd-largest goods ...

, and of specific industries like the Australian construction industry and the

manufacturing sector In macroeconomics, the secondary sector of the economy is an economic sector in the three-sector theory that describes the role of manufacturing. It encompasses industries that produce a finished, usable product or are involved in constructio ...

Deloitte Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (), commonly referred to as Deloitte, is an international professional services network headquartered in London, England. Deloitte is the largest professional services network by revenue and number of profession ...

sponsors Ai Group's premier annual event the National Forum and Annual National Dinner. The group maintains influences in a variety of public policy areas, weighing in on such issues as the response to the Fair Work Act 2009,Schneiders, Ben.
Ridout calls for Overhaul of Fair Work laws
(31 March 2011). ''

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...

''. Retrieved 13 April 2011

minimum wage A minimum wage is the lowest remuneration that employers can legally pay their employees—the price floor below which employees may not sell their labor. Most countries had introduced minimum wage legislation by the end of the 20th century. Bec ...

, skill shortages, environment and energy,

occupational health and safety Occupational safety and health (OSH), also commonly referred to as occupational health and safety (OHS), occupational health, or occupational safety, is a multidisciplinary field concerned with the safety, health, and welfare of people at wor ...

, trade, and defence. Ai Group provides information, advice and assistance to help members. Through policy leadership and research-based advocacy members are represented at all levels of government by representing and promoting their interests on current and emerging issues. Ai Group members operate small, medium and large businesses. They include many major Australian and global companies operating in a range of industries. The Group itself employs more than 300 people and 550 apprentices and trainees through its training arm, Australian Industry Group Training Services.

History

The Australian Industry Group traces its foundations back to 1873, with the creation of the

Metal Trades Industry Association A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typicall ...

(MTIA). In 1998, MTIA merged with the

Australian Chamber of Manufactures Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Au ...

(ACM), forming Ai Group. Ai Group has a strong media presence and is also on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

with the account @The_AiGroup.

Services

The organisation includes workplace relations advisers, lawyers and employment and business specialists who provide services to members in the areas of workplace relations, legal, human resource management, occupational health and safety, workers' compensation, the environment and energy, international trade and export, economics,

tax A tax is a compulsory financial charge or some other type of levy imposed on a taxpayer (an individual or legal entity) by a governmental organization in order to fund government spending and various public expenditures (regional, local, or n ...

, business growth and skills.

Management

Innes Willox was appointed as the Chief Executive of Ai Group in 2012 and is their chief spokesperson.

Heather Ridout Heather Ridout (born 1954, Deniliquin) is an Australian businesswoman who previously served as the Chief Executive of the Australian Industry Group. Born in Deniliquin in south-western NSW, she later attended the University of Sydney. She is a ...

previously held the role. Ai Group also operates the Ai Group Defence Council, which is the peak body representing the defence industry in Australia. Ai Group also manages the Australian Constructors Association.

Affiliations

Ai Group is closely affiliated with more than 50 other employer groups in Australia alone and directly manages a number of those organisations. The organisation has formal and long standing links with more than 80 overseas employer organisations such as the Confederation of Indian Industry; the Chinese Machinery Industry Federation; The Osaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry; the Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers; the US

National Association of Manufacturers The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) is an advocacy group headquartered in Washington, D.C., with additional offices across the United States. It is the nation's largest manufacturing industrial trade association, representing 14,000 s ...

; the

Confederation of British Industry The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) is a UK business organisation, which in total claims to speak for 190,000 businesses, this is made up of around 1,500 direct members and 188,500 non-members. The non members are represented through the 1 ...

and Business New Zealand.

References

External links