Category Archives: Australian economy

Australia politics live: army to hire UK military helicopters to fill Taipan gap; PNG PM coming to Canberra

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The ‘Juno’ training helicopters will support essential training for aircrew before the arrival of new Black Hawks from the US later this year. Follow the day’s news live

The ADF expects that the training helicopters will be available for operations in Oakey in Queensland by around the middle of this year.

The government will argue these helicopters have been chosen because they can perform a variety of roles “including personnel and equipment transport and Defence assistance to the civil community”.

We need a highly capable Army. When the tough but necessary decision was made last year to expedite the withdrawal of the MRH-90s from service, it meant that we needed to look at all options when it came to filling the capability gap and the training which our servicemen and women need.

We have been working with the United States and United Kingdom on ways in which we can bridge this gap, and their support and willingness with the acceleration of the Black Hawks and leasing of training helicopters will have a significant impact.

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Australia politics live: Coalition votes to back Labor’s changes to stage-three tax cuts

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PM says opposition ‘tying themselves in knots’ as parliament resumes. Follow the day’s news live

School funding data

(continued from previous post)

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News live: Australian government ‘appalled’ by Yang Hengjun’s suspended death sentence, Wong says

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The foreign minister, Penny Wong, says ‘Australia will not relent in their advocacy for justice’ for Dr Yang. Follow the day’s news live

Finance minister Katy Gallagher was asked about the Grattan Institute research (we had this earlier in the blog) showing that a third of households don’t pay tax and therefore miss out on the benefits.

Will the government consider raising jobseeker?

I think the treasurer and I have made it clear that every budget, we look at all aspects of expenditure across government, that would include looking at our payments and looking at our services … I think the PM committed to that before the election, this is something that we keep under consideration. It has to be balanced up with all of the other competing pressures where people want additional spending as well.

I think people are up for a rational and reasonable discussion… We made this decision based on putting people before politics.

I’m sure there’ll be others that will write things about [this] in future, but that hasn’t been something that we’ve been conscious of, it really has been about what we can do to help people – particularly those that have been feeling the crunch from the interest rate increases.

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ACCC to investigate supermarket sector – as it happened

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BoM issues wind weather warning for Tasmania

The Bureau of Meteorology has issued a severe weather warning for damaging winds in parts of Tasmania.

Australia has a very important role to play as a signatory to the ICJ, a signatory to the genocide convention, to ensure the protection of Palestinian civilians and ensure that the investigations that are occurring with UNRWA … don’t inhibit funding and delivery of services that are going to basically save lives in coming days and weeks and months.

UNRWA has done the right thing in standing down the staff, sacking them. They have got an independent investigation occurring. 150 UN UNRWA staff have been killed, their families and children as well, over the past several months of this conflict. The UN is in the middle, sandwiched in the conflict, trying to do its best to save lives. Donor governments like Australia need to bear this in mind that, if funding ceases, there is nowhere else to turn to. People will simply collapse and die.

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New Zealand to be briefed on Aukus – as it happened

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The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, is speaking to ABC RN, and says news that the inflation rate has plunged to a two-year low of 4.1% is “welcoming, encouraging progress”.

… We know that people are still under pressure and we need to not be complacent about it. We need to continue to work as we have with our three point plan, having the surplus, making sure we deal with cost of living pressures without putting pressure on inflation, and dealing with … supply-chain issues as well.

With parliament resuming next week, this is a wake-up call that 2024 is the last chance for meaningful democratic reform ahead of the 2025 election …

Australians should go to the next election with strict political donation disclosure laws, truth in political advertising laws in force and information about who’s meeting ministers made public as a matter of course.

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Australia’s property market upswing continues as house prices and rents rise again

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Home values rose 0.4% in January and rents increased 0.8%, but the housing market remained varied around the country

The Australian housing market upswing continued in the first month of 2024 with property values rising another 0.4%.

As house prices rose, renters continued to feel pain, with the national rental index recording its biggest monthly rise since April. Rents were up 0.8% in January, after a 0.65% rise in December.

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Cost of negative gearing and other rental deductions soaring, Australian treasury data reveals

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The latest ranking of revenue foregone shows the usual suspects topping the list

Concessions for superannuation cost the federal budget almost $50bn a year while rental deductions, much of them for negative gearing, have jumped by more than half in three years, the annual treasury summary of tax expenditures shows.

The ranking of revenue foregone in 2023-24, released on Wednesday, was headed by many of the usual groups, finding for example that shielding taxpayers’ main residence from capital gains taxes, saved them a combined $47.5bn for the year, up about a third from 2018-19.

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Australia news live: murder charge laid after ‘long, sad journey’ for disappeared 23-year-old’s family

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Ms Bernard, a Kowanyama woman, was last seen at Archer River quarry on 10 February in 2013. Follow the day’s news live

Update on Queensland flooding

Senior BoM meteorologist Angus Hines spoke to ABC News Breakfast just earlier to provide an update on the rain and flooding in Queensland.

Last night the rainfall totals were between 50mm and 120mm which is still a very significant dose of rain, but bear in mind this time yesterday we were talking about 300mm leading to widespread flooding.

We could see these rivers with elevated levels for the next several days, as it will take a while for those flood waters to drain out, long past when the rainfall conditions have cleared up.

The goal for the AI taskforce is to be a trusted source of expert advice and assistance for the Law Society, and through it, for the solicitor profession across NSW. Its members will be drawn from the law, justice system, academia, and government.

The work of the taskforce will enhance the Law Society’s work to ensure that NSW leads the way in harnessing the best that AI has to offer for the legal profession while mitigating the risks.

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Australia’s inflation rate retreats to two-year low fanning hopes next RBA move will be a rate cut

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CPI came in at 4.1% in the December quarter, easing from the September quarter pace of 5.4%

Australia’s inflation retreated to a two-year low in the December quarter as food and fuel prices increased at a slower pace, fanning hopes the next move by the Reserve Bank will be an interest rate cut.

The consumer price index came in at 4.1% in the final three months of 2023 compared with a year earlier, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Wednesday. Economists had expected CPI to come in at 4.3%, easing from the September quarter pace of 5.4%.

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Guardian Essential poll: one in two voters back stage-three tax cuts changes

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Labor’s bid to skew package towards low- and middle-income earners given boost, as only 22% say it should go ahead unchanged

Almost half of voters support revising the stage-three tax cuts to help low- and middle-income earners while only about one in five believe the plan should go ahead unchanged in July.

That is the result of the Guardian Essential poll of 1,201 voters, which provides a boost for the Albanese government’s plan to reform the tax package, finding only 22% of respondents agreed the previously legislated cuts should be left untouched.

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Australia news live: NSW police say neo-Nazis rallying in Sydney ‘may well be recruiting’; PM plays down being booed at tennis

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Paterson calls for ‘swift and decisive action’ against neo-Nazi groups

Over the weekend, NSW premier Chris Minns doubled down on his push to tighten anti-vilification laws after a group of neo-Nazis attempted to hold another rally in a public park.

I’d like to see swift and decisive action taken against these neo-Nazi groups who have no place in Australia.

I never thought we would see [something like this] in such a demonstrable way in a pluralistic country like Australia.

It’s the reason why the federal parliament, before Christmas, went to the extraordinary step of passing laws to ban Nazi symbols being publicly displayed, to ban the Nazi salute. And it’s critically important that those laws are rigorously enforced so that people understand there are consequences for this action.

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Pocock wants to boost Centrelink payments using savings from stage-three tax cuts overhaul

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Key senator calls for broader tax reform, while arguing changes to stage-three plan could fund increases to jobseeker and other payments

The independent senator David Pocock has called on the Albanese government to use $28bn of savings from its new tax-cuts package to increase welfare payments and urged Labor to trim other tax concessions.

With the Greens signalling that they will press Labor to recoup even more from high-income earners, Pocock has suggested the revamp of stage three should be a springboard to other tax reforms in the too-hard basket including capital gains tax.

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Peter Dutton refuses to commit to stage-three tax cut changes as Labor begins negotiations with Greens and crossbench

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Anthony Albanese rejects calls for a fresh election by the opposition leader who continues to accuse the PM of breaking a promise

Peter Dutton has refused to commit the opposition to an official position on Labor’s amended stage-three tax cuts, as the government begins negotiations with the Greens and key independents.

Anthony Albanese said on Friday he would soon begin discussions with crossbenchers to get the updated tax cuts through parliament, as the Greens say they will push for further support for low-income earners.

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Australia news live: Townsville residents advised to shelter in place ahead of Cyclone Kirrily reaching Queensland coast

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The latest advice from the Bureau of Meteorology is that Tropical Cyclone Kirrily will begin crossing the coast from 10pm tonight. Follow the day’s news live

As we flagged just earlier, wind gusts associated with Tropical Cyclone Kirrily have already begun around the Whitsundays, with gusts over 100km/h.

In a Facebook group for Whitsundays locals, a new resident has asked an innocent question:

Hey there I’m kind of new to town from Melbourne. Does anyone know how to tie my tree down so that it doesn’t blow away?

“I would use fairy lights.”

“If you hop around clockwise on your left leg 3 times and then do a Kangaroo hop to the right, the drop bears will take care of it by having the tree extend it’s roots deeper.”

“If you’re really from Melbourne you would know how to tie down a tree with the windy crap weather down there. Ride a kangaroo to bunnings [and] get some ratchets.”

“From the state of the supermarket shelves I’m guessing everyone is using toilet paper to tie their trees down.”

“Take the leaves off and store inside. The rest will be fine.”

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Albanese promises to double tax relief for average income Australians in stage-three overhaul

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Prime minister to use National Press Club address to defend new plan as the ‘right thing to do’

Anthony Albanese has pledged to more than double tax relief for Australians on the average income in a suite of low and middle income tax cuts paid for by trimming benefits to high income earners.

At the National Press Club on Thursday the prime minister will defend Labor’s plan by arguing it will still deliver “a tax cut for every taxpayer” and that modification of the stage-three tax cuts was “the right thing to do” in changed economic circumstances.

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Three dead after being pulled from water off Phillip Island – as it happened

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Morrison to take up separate position at Dyne Asset Management

As we brought you just earlier, Scott Morrison will be taking up a role with international advisory and consulting firm American Global Strategies after his resignation from politics late February.

Well, firstly, I think we should be quite thoughtful of which category we’re talking about for farmers. If you’re talking about fruits and vegetables, we are in material deflation and have been for about four months … That is because of demand and supply in Australia. It’s a domestic product, it’s subject to demand and supply. It is causing pain for many of those farmers. But hopefully that situation will change with regard to the new year.

… We buy directly [where we can] from farmers, and we try and smooth out the price that they get so that they can plan and manage their business effectively.

But when you look at the red meat index, it does look like it’s trending up based on what’s happening offshore. So these things do flow through …

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Stage-three tax cut changes will have minimal effect on inflation, economists predict

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Banks say tax tweaks approved by Anthony Albanese’s cabinet may slow pace of RBA interest rate cuts and further reforms are needed to fill budget shortfalls

The Albanese government’s changes to the stage-three tax cuts won’t reignite inflation, although they may slow the pace of Reserve Bank interest rate cuts and more reforms are needed to close future budget gaps, economists say.

Cabinet has approved a revision to the cuts, legislated in 2019, that extends tax relief to those earning less than $45,000 a year to be paid for by reducing the benefit to higher-income earners, with full details still be formally released.

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Australia news live: SA swelters as heatwave warnings issued in other states; fire ants nest south of Byron Bay destroyed

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Homelessness increasing across Australia, report finds

In January every year, the Productivity Commission releases its Report on Government Services, which “monitor[s] the performance of Australian governments in the delivery of important services to the community”.

The first thing is to stay connected with the emergency messaging and understand the alerts that may and will come out as the cyclone approaches the coast.

But more importantly, use the next 48 hours to 72 hours to prepare yourself and your family for a potential cyclone crossing and flooding event after. You can do simple things like keep the fuel in your car topped up now, make sure you have enough food in your house for 72 hours, [and] make sure you have battery charging packs for your phone. Very simple things you can do.

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Albanese fuels cost-of-living relief expectations as MPs debate sticking with stage-three tax cuts

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PM says Labor government will receive advice by Wednesday’s caucus meeting on how best to assist Australians struggling with rising costs

Anthony Albanese has continued to raise expectations of further cost-of-living relief as some backbench MPs debate the possibility Labor could modify stage-three income tax cuts to pay for new measures.

On Monday the prime minister said “if we can find ways to put extra dollars in people’s pockets, particularly those low and middle income earners who are doing it tough, then we’re prepared to do so”.

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Albanese government secures further gas supply before meeting on cost-of-living relief

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Deal aimed at keeping energy bills affordable will see 260 petajoules supplied to gas-fired power stations in Australia’s south-east coast until 2033

Australia’s south-east coast will be further guaranteed gas supply in an effort to keep lights on and energy bills affordable before predicted supply shortages at the decade’s end.

It comes as the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has called Labor MPs and senators to Canberra on Wednesday for a snap caucus to discuss further cost-of-living relief measures put forward by Treasury.

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