Category Archives: Australian economy

Australia news live: more rain across flooded Queensland region brings ‘extended peak’

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Major flood warning issued in north-west Queensland after Burketown residents evacuated overnight. Follow the day’s news live

Control of submarines will remain with Australia: Courtney

Courtney appears confident that control of the submarines will remain with Australia, saying “no one wants to be in a situation where there is any conflict of who is in charge or who is giving orders or who is taking orders”.

We understand that that is precious for every nation, to be able to control and make their own decisions.

We have such a carve-out for Canada today. Again, the defence sectors are much more free-flowing and seamless because of the fact that we made that adjustment, and that is going to be a focus.

No one will be foisting off clunkers on good friends and allies.

We need to train up the Australian sailors and officers in terms of nuclear propulsion which is all we’re talking about here, not nuclear weapons. And when the time comes for the deeds, the title to be handed to the government of Australia of a vessel, that again is going to be totally with the full understanding that it is going to be under Australian control.

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Queensland mother whose son took his life calls for change at robodebt royal commission – As it happened

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Inquiry into the unlawful scheme, which ran from 2015 to 2019, is ongoing. This blog is now closed

Final robodebt hearing shines light on people affected

A Centrelink employee and a customer impacted by the illegal robodebt scheme will be the final two witnesses appearing at the royal commission’s public hearings, AAP reports.

The international standard now in the OECD area is beyond 52 weeks. It’s great we’re moving to 26 but we are not going fast enough, doing what other countries are doing. We have slipped down the international rankings on paid parental leave.

It’s very important that we give the support to parents when a new baby arrives so they can share the leave, they can begin life with a new child, give that child the best shot and alongside that, of course, we need quality, early childhood education and care which we in the Greens think should be free, just like primary school.

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Sydney trains delayed due to ‘communication issue’ – as it happened

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Facing up to financial distress

It is not just academic though – there have been increased reports of people feeling distressed because of financial pressures.

When people are under extreme financial pressure, that has implications for their wellbeing more broadly. I mean, I think that is understood. And I’m sure that the governor in accepting that meeting understands that.

What we want to do as government is make life a little bit easier for people where we can, whether it’s with energy bills, whether it’s with cheaper early childhood education, cheaper medicines, trying to get wages moving again, financial security is a big part of what we’re focused on, particularly when these cost-of-living pressures are so acute.

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Philip Lowe leaves clues his rate-rising work may be done – bar an Easter finale | Peter Hannam

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The RBA governor has ditched his hawkish tone and the odds now seem to favour just one more rise, probably in April – but that could change

There are, as Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe reminded us as he announced a record 10th consecutive interest rate rise, “a range of potential scenarios for the Australian economy”.

One scenario, it seems, involves interest rates not rising much further. In fact, the RBA’s pre-Easter gathering on 4 April may mark the final rate hike in this cycle.

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Women earn $1m less than men over lifetime and retire with $136,000 less super, study finds

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Research adds to growing calls to pay more parental leave and for superannuation on paid parental leave

Women in Australia earn $1m less on average over their lifetimes than men and retire with $136,000 less in superannuation, according to research released on International Women’s Day.

The research by the Australia Institute’s Centre for Future Work, released on Wednesday, suggests that the biggest driver of the gap in retirement savings is still the gender pay gap.

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Australia politics live: RBA interest rates decision due today; Atlassian cuts 500 jobs in latest tech layoffs

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Australian software company to cut about 500 jobs, representing 5% of its workforce. Follow the day’s news

Climate change minister: many industries cannot comply with emissions reduction without offsets

What about what David Pocock wants – limits on the number of carbon credits big polluters can use? Chris Bowen says:

My position publicly is the same as it is privately – that if you put hard caps on carbon credits when you’re requiring 4.9% emissions reduction each and every year, then that is a problem, because you’ve got industries which won’t be able to comply with that without without accessing [credits].

Now, people say you can’t offset your way to net zero and you can’t offset your way to the 1.5 degrees. And I agree with that.

Mr Bandt with respect says ‘well, there’s this pipeline of projects and Labor wants to approve them’, now that is not the case.

What there is, is a register of projects which companies have … filled in and said one day we might want to develop this or we’re interested in developing this … many of them are yet to get environmental approvals, finished final investment, decisions for board approval, insurance, finance, etc.

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Opposition demand funding for yes and no campaigns – as it happened

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The RBA board will meet tomorrow to make its decision about raising interest rates (which, if it does so, will be the 10th increase in a row). The board has said it won’t hesitate to raise interest rates again and again to get inflation down to its target band (between 2 and 3%), but the data shows whatever savings buffer some people had after the pandemic is diminishing.

David Pocock told ABC Breakfast TV it might be time to look at how we deal with inflation:

I mean, this is a big question. There’s so many Australians doing it tough. My understanding is that they are simply implementing the rules. I’d like to maybe see some discussion about the rules.

If – you know, to reduce inflation, is the best way just to give money to the banks? You know, there’s surely a better way of locking up some of the cash in the economy, whether it’s putting it into super, raising the GST, I don’t know – but to have politicians criticise what seems to be just the process that has been set up by politicians is one thing.

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‘Web of lies’: how scammers are taking advantage of Australia’s tight rental market

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The ACCC received more than 658 reports about rental and accommodation scams last year, with a reported loss of $544,846

Like many, Aven was desperately looking for a house.

Last October, the 21-year-old was frantically applying for dozens of rental properties – attending inspections, putting in applications and becoming increasingly stressed by the string of rejections.

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Australia joins Quad countries to launch new counter-terror talks – as it happened

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Australia, the US, India and Japan join to ‘counter new and emerging forms of terrorism, radicalisation to violence and violent extremism’. This blog is now closed

‘A broken promise writ large’

Opposition leader Peter Dutton was also on the Today show (which has clearly been busy this morning).

They want to tax you on the profit before you actually sell the shares, which is unbelievable. And I think it continues to go from disaster to disaster for the government.

You can’t as a prime minister look people in the eye and tell them one thing and do the complete opposite, a broken promise writ large.

It is a modest change ... It only affects people if you have $3m in your superannuation fund. That’s about 0.5% of superannuants.

We inherited a budget from Peter [Dutton] and his crew which was a trillion dollars in debt. There’s nothing to show for it. We need to be responsible. That’s what we’re trying to do.

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Australia news live: mediation fails in Sally Rugg’s legal dispute with Monique Ryan; Sticky Fingers axed from Bluesfest

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Ley and Dutton express support for Bridget Archer after rumours Liberal party could dump her

Yesterday our political editor Katharine Murphy brought you the story that a veteran party insider suggested that the Liberal party could dump outspoken moderate Bridget Archer ahead of the next federal election.

Bridget is a friend, a colleague and a terrific member for the seat of Bass. I visited her not that long ago, and she’s doing great work and she’s an amazing woman, amazing woman. And you know, Patricia how much I respond well to amazing women.

Do you think 80,000 people who’ve got more than $3m are really doing it tough?

Well, that $3 million is not indexed. That will change over time. And the principle is the thing that Australians will note.

But are they doing it tough?

I’m not here to say who’s doing it tough and who’s not doing it tough.

Australians are doing it tough, though, aren’t they? And some are obviously not doing it tough.

Well, people are doing it tough for the government that hasn’t got the fiscal policy settings right. And doesn’t understand how to manage money and doesn’t have spending constraints anywhere within its programs. In all of this conversation, we have not heard anyone say that we’re going to save money. I mean, that seems to be just a passing comment from the government. Yes, of course. People are doing tough. They’re doing it tough because they can’t pay their electricity bills. They’re doing it tough because their mortgages are going up.

But they’re not the people with more than $3 million in their super accounts.

I’m not going to comment on what individual people might be experiencing in their family budgets. The direction this government is going is one that breaks faith with the Australian people and misunderstands the sound fundamental basis, which is: it’s your money, you deserve to keep more of it.

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ACCC to crack down on ‘greenwashing’ after survey reveals spike in misleading claims

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Competition watchdog analysis of 247 businesses showed 57% had promoted concerning claims about environmental credentials

The competition watchdog will step up its probe of companies’ environmental claims after an initial sweep found more than half made misleading statements ranging from overstating climate action to developing their own certification schemes.

The survey of 247 businesses or brands across eight sectors by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission last October found 57% had promoted “concerning claims about their environmental credentials”.

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Australia news live: Labor accuses Dutton of ‘irresponsible’ Aukus comments

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Chalmers reaffirms the government wants to include the defined benefits scheme, which apply to politicians’ and public servants’ pensions, in the changes:

Yes, we’re trying to include the defined benefits schemes in this. There’s a lot of complexity in this. Our intention is to include defined benefit.

What we said is that there’s an opportunity now, between yesterday’s announcement and the budget in May, to engage in some meaningful consultation … One of the things that we do want to engage on and consult on is how we include defined benefit in the changes we have announced.

We made it really clear yesterday that our focus in the system is on these superannuation tax concessions.

$150bn worth of concessions in the top 10 of those tax breaks by value – a third of that is superannuation.

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Greens to push Labor to fast-track 26 weeks of paid parental leave and pay superannuation on it

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Party joins chorus of super funds and crossbenchers who want to use government’s tax concessions bill to call for broader changes

The Greens will seek to push Labor to increase paid parental leave to 26 weeks sooner than planned and to pay superannuation on it through possible amendments to the government bill to reduce tax concessions for high super balances.

The Greens employment spokesperson, Senator Barbara Pocock, said women “shouldn’t have to wait” until 2026 for 26 weeks of paid parental leave (PPL), slamming Labor’s plan in the October budget to increase the entitlement by “a miserly two weeks year after year”.

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Australia’s annual inflation eases to 7.4% in January following record run of interest rate hikes

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Lower than expected inflation rate suggests worst of the price increases may be over

Australia’s annual inflation rate in January eased, implying the worst of the price increases may be over as the economy absorbs a record run of interest rate hikes.

The consumer price index for the month was 7.4%, compared with 8.4% for December alone, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Wednesday. Economists had been predicting the January CPI would be 8.1%.

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Opposition criticises super proposal – as it happened

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‘Really clear’ wages are not driving inflation, Tony Burke says

Circling back to the interview with employment relations minister, Tony Burke. He’s asked about soaring corporate profits, which were up more than 10% in the December quarter compared to wages which rose 2.6%, and whether that demonstrates that it’s corporate profits driving inflation – as the union movement is arguing – not wages.

It is really clear that wages are not driving inflation, are not the principal driver of inflation here. It’s really clear we don’t have some sort of spiral of inflation being caused by high wage growth. It’s also really clear we don’t have high wage growth.

I was pleased that the last wage price increase got up to 3.3%. To the extent that that’s the highest it’s been for some time and had we not taken actions that we took last year, particularly with respect to the minimum wage and awards, you wouldn’t have got to figure as high as but it’s still much, much lower than inflation.

Supermax prisoners are served better food than the workers building Snowy Hydro 2.0.

You have workers living, literally locked up in a camp with limited recreational facilities in the middle of nowhere, being fed maggot-infested food.

The problem is the joint venture who was awarded the contract is pinching every penny they can to try and improve their profit margin.

The whole site’s a tragedy waiting to happen.

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Almost 40% of superannuation tax concessions flow to top 10% of earners, tax statement shows

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Treasurer Jim Chalmers says analysis will ‘help increase public awareness and inform debate about the fairness and efficiency of the tax system’

Superannuation tax concessions are costing the budget $50bn a year, with almost 40% of the benefit of tax breaks on earnings flowing to the top 10% of income earners.

That is one of the central findings of the tax expenditures and income statement, released by the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, on Tuesday.

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Albanese government lifts tax rate on superannuation balances over $3m

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The changes, which will not come into effect until 2025/26, will apply to around 80,000 people

The Albanese government will tax superannuation balances above $3m at a higher rate as it looks for opportunities to claw back revenue.

Currently, earnings from superannuation in the accumulation phase are taxed at a concessional rate of up to 15% and this will continue for those with balances below $3m.

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Liberal MPs break ranks to back Jim Chalmers’ discussion on superannuation reform

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Angus Taylor says Coalition will fight any changes but Tasmanian MP Bridget Archer says we should not ‘shy away from having a conversation’

Liberal moderates Russell Broadbent and Bridget Archer have broken ranks and endorsed the treasurer’s efforts to start a conversation about the fiscal sustainability of generous superannuation tax concessions.

Broadbent told the ABC on Monday it was unclear exactly what changes were being proposed but if the mooted overhaul was “fair and reasonable” then the Coalition should not stand in the way.

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Treasurer asks Australians ‘whether we can afford’ tax breaks on biggest superannuation balances

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Jim Chalmers defends potential change to super rules for balances over $3m as Coalition vows to oppose it

The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, has defended potential superannuation changes, asking Australians to consider “whether we can afford” to keep giving large tax concessions to the small number of wealthy people with multimillion dollar balances.

While insisting the Albanese government had made no firm decisions yet, Chalmers claimed it was “not especially controversial” to re-evaluate how tax concessions flowed to people with the highest super balances.

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Australia’s gender pay falls to narrowest on record but women still earn less in every industry

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Gap reduces to 13.3%, which is slightly smaller than previous low recorded before Covid pandemic

Australia’s gender pay gap has narrowed to a record low but women continue to earn just 87 cents for every dollar of their male counterparts, with the divide barely improving in recent years.

The gap in November was 13.3%, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported on Thursday.

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