Orica chief praises Abbott's IR plans

THE head of explosives and chemicals giant Orica has praised Opposition Leader Tony Abbott's industrial relations plans.

He has also called on the Reserve Bank to weaken the Australian dollar.

The local currency fell below parity with the US greenback on Saturday for the first time in 11 months.

But Orica chief executive Ian Smith says the central bank needs to do "everything in their power" to dilute the Australian dollar, which he estimates wiped $3 million from company earnings in the six months to March 31.

"Oh look, we'd love the exchange rate to keep going down," he told ABC Television.

"If the exchange rate was lower then we would have picked up a benefit."

But Bronson and Jacobs, an Orica subsidiary which supplies wholesale chemicals to the cosmetics and food industries is benefiting from a strong Australian dollar, as it pushes out local competitors, Mr Smith said.

"We are picking up a bigger market share because ... we are one of the last big ones left. But the overall state of the economy is being hollowed out," he said.

"A lot of those smaller manufacturers, distributors are being pushed out of business, they can't compete against imports."

While business groups have criticised Mr Abbott's industrial relations plans as being too timid, Mr Smith welcomed the coalition's push for more individual flexibility agreements.

"It's starting to go in the right direction," he said.

"At the moment we have suffered from a few years of a government that wants to institutionalise third party involvement, so that should really be backed off as well."

Orica's first half net profit rose by six per cent to $267 million.

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