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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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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Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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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Husic refuses to comment on crossbench negotiations over coal and gas
Moving on from science and industry, Ed Husic is asked if the approval for Santos to expand its Queensland gas field has killed off the government’s negotiations with the Greens over the national reconstruction fund (which Husic has carriage of) and safeguards (where there is a little crossover with Husic, because of manufacturing).
I’m very grateful for their engagement, all the engagement from the crossbenchers, and I’ve sought to make myself as available as I possibly can to work through issues some stuff we agree on some stuff we don’t I would love to go into the ins and outs of it, but I’d rather private negotiations sort themselves out because they will obviously be made public very soon and people that rightly expect that to happen.
But, you know, I am grateful that some of those points that are raised because from our point of view, and I think you heard in the PM’s speech yesterday – we take a view as a government that we’re not the holders of all knowledge, that we do accept, accept and expect people to provide their input so that we can build a better outcome.
I think what we’ve tried to do as a government is say we’re going to make decisions in the way that they’re supposed to.
We don’t want decisions to be politicised. We want them to be done a national interest and there’ll be pathways to making decisions that will be quite separate. So the big thing coming to your question, the answer I would, I would give you is they’re separate things.
I want them [the public] to answer that question.
I want them to guide us in the way in which we shape research priorities into the future. The last time that we actually updated these national science and research priorities was in 2015, back when Malcolm Turnbull took over as prime minister, a lot has happened since then.
Continue reading...The treasurer suggested that the small percentage of people with pots over $3m should not receive tax benefits, but prime minister more cautious
Treasurer Jim Chalmers has signalled the government could cap superannuation balances as part of efforts to rein in generous tax concessions that benefit Australia’s wealthiest retirees.
After starting the conversation on the “sustainability” of the super tax concessions on Monday, the debate has narrowed on the small percentage of superannuants with more than $3m in their retirement accounts.
Continue reading...December quarter wage index rose from 3.1% to 3.3%, but 7.8% inflation indicates a 4.5% decrease in real wages
Australian salaries increased at a faster pace in the December quarter in a tight labour market, but not enough to prevent the gap with inflation widening to a record level.
The wage price index (WPI) for the final three months of 2022 came in at 3.3%, an increase on the 3.1% pace in the September quarter and the highest since the end of 2012. Economists had forecast a 3.5% increase.
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Energy ministers to meet on Friday as regulator updates forecasts
Summer is almost done (according to the calendar) and we managed to get through it without significant electricity shortages. A heatwave building across southern Australia in coming days will add some extra demand.
I mean, yes, in nine months have we fixed every single reliability gap for the next decade? No, there’s more work to do.
Am I pleased with what we’ve done? Yes. Am I yet satisfied? No.
You know that this report normally comes out once a year or so, this is a report which has been put out in a much more rapid timeframe because Aemo has reached the view that the guidance they provided last August is out of date because we’ve seen a lot more investment coming through with renewable.
So the sorts of decisions we are making across the board are making a difference on that sort of a timeframe, I expect Aemo will provide further updates.
Continue reading...Majority believe government at least partially to blame for rises but don’t assume Coalition would manage them better
A majority of voters believe the Reserve Bank of Australia has overreacted in jacking up interest rates to tame inflation, and people worry economic conditions will get worse over the next 12 months, according to the latest Guardian Essential poll.
The latest survey of 1,044 voters demonstrates cost-of-living pressure is starting to bite in the community after nine consecutive cash rate hikes.
Continue reading...Landmark case from Indigenous man seeking to access pension three years early hears Australia fails to account for age gap from ‘racial disadvantage’
First Nations Australians should be granted access to the pension at a younger age due to a gap in life expectancy “which is closely connected to race”, the federal court has heard.
The full federal court on Monday commenced hearings in a landmark case brought against the commonwealth by 65-year-old Indigenous man, Uncle Dennis, who is seeking to access the pension three years early.
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Continue reading...Staff underpaid more than $80m in past three years. Follow the day’s news live
Fresh push to ban ‘asbestos of the 2020s’
There’s a fresh push to ban engineered stone commonly used in kitchen benchtops and linked to an incurable lung disease likened to asbestosis, AAP reports.
Instead of planning a family, we’re planning my funeral. I used to install kitchen benches. People liked engineered stone because it was cheap. But the dust got into my lungs causing deadly, incurable silicosis.
That’s too high a price for anyone to pay. Nothing will save my life but if you join the campaign to stop the importation and manufacture of engineered stone, you can help save someone else’s. Please.
Australian workers like Kyle are dying because of engineered stone.
The companies flooding our markets with this cheap and nasty material know that, but to them profits are more important than people’s lives.
It is incredibly distressing … when we hear about these horrific murders and we have to do more to prevent [them from] happening.
I often say we have to start responding to the red flags before more blue police tape surrounds the family home.
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‘The onus is on Labor’ to explain why it needs more coal and gas: Bandt
There’s some discussion about possible alternatives – one suggestion is to pause new developments on gas and coal developments while reforms to the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 have been hammered out.
We are up for good-faith discussions and proposals like that are coming from people like the Climate Council, from The Australia Institute. I’ve seen the Australia Conservation Foundation out saying there are serious problems with the government’s proposal.
You can’t put the fire out while pouring petrol on it.
I don’t think the penny has quite dropped with the government how much things are have moved on. 66% of people between 18 and 34 back our position – don’t want new coal and gas mines opened. 57% of the general population. Things have moved on.
I know Labor talks a lot about history, but the students who are marching in the streets at the moment, behind banners saying, “No new coal and gas” were in primary school in 2009. They do not want it, no one can understand why we are coming up to the year anniversary of the floods in Lismore, people cannot understand why Labor says they want to open up new projects.
Why does Labor want to go to the wall to open new coal and gas projects? These are huge climate bombs. They’ve got a very – I think it is an untenable task...
Continue reading...Special legislation passed by the Albanese government with Coalition support. This blog is now closed
Marles says Australia able to track balloons
The defence minister, Richard Marles, says government would have capability to track a balloon if one was to appear over Australia as it did in the US a couple weeks ago.
Well, I think it’s important that this statement’s been made by the president to clarify the circumstances. There’s obviously been a particular fascination about balloons over the last month given the original spy balloon that we saw over the United States. I think from an Australian point of view, what’s important to say is that we’ve had no advice of any balloon of that kind being over Australia but we very much do have the capability to track such an object if there was one-to-and to deal with it.
Look, human rights matter and need to be central in the way we engage with the world. For this government, we will always call out human rights concerns where we have them and we’ve done that in respect of Xinjiang and the Uyghur population. I’ve done it publicly in China.
It forms part of the way in which we speak with China in our relationship. I think it’s also important, though, that in doing that, you know, be we raise those issues in a respectful way with China and in the context of the broader relationship and in the context of seeking to take steps which actually make a difference and it is important that we are stabilising our relationship with China.
There is no room for any harmful practices in NSW, particularly if they affect our young and vulnerable.
When the parliament returns, my government will provide in principle support for legislation that brings an end to any harmful practices. This is a complex matter and in working through it with parliamentary colleagues we will carefully consider the legal expression and effect of such laws.
Continue reading...When the governor and colleagues faced the economics committee, rates were the focus – how high will they go, and will they stall the economy?
Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe and fellow senior executives fronted the economics committee of the House of Representatives on Friday for about three hours.
Here are six things we learned.
Continue reading...Domain chief Jason Pellegrino says decline is worse than during Covid lockdowns and banking royal commission
A collapse in the number of new homes on the market, especially in Sydney and Melbourne, is outpacing even the shaky listing rates recorded during pandemic lockdowns, weighing on the profits of real estate companies.
The chief executive of property portal company Domain Group, Jason Pellegrino, said on Thursday that the scale of listings declines during the last three months of 2022 also eclipsed pullbacks recorded during the banking royal commission, which scrutinised lending practices in public hearings in 2018.
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Continue reading...Lost in the questioning from hostile senators was much insight into why the Reserve Bank wants to keep raising rates
There’s no doubt the Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe’s appearance before Senate estimates on Wednesday was good theatre.
Dubbed by one media outlet as Australia’s “most-loathed banker”, Lowe parried questions from mostly hostile senators demanding to know why the central bank had inflicted a record nine interest rate rises in a row, with more to come.
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Continue reading...RBA boss tells Senate estimates about rationale for rate rises as Adam Bandt demands end to new coal and gas projects. Follow live
Around and around we go …
So CBA shareholders are to get a (fully franked) dividend of $2.10 for each of their share – 20% more than the last time dividends were sent out.
We reported strong financial and operational performance in our financial results for the six months ended 31 December 2022. Our cash net profit after tax of $5,153 million reflects the Bank’s customer focus and disciplined strategic execution. Our continued balance sheet strength and capital position creates flexibility to support our customers and manage potential economic headwinds, while delivering sustainable returns to shareholders. A fully franked interim dividend of $2.10 per share was determined, an increase of 20% on 1H22, driven by organic capital generation and a reduction in share count from share buy-backs. Despite the current uncertainty, your Board and management feel optimistic for the future and are committed to delivering for our customers and for you, our shareholders
Continue reading...Inflation is dangerous, corrosive and hurts people, RBA governor tells Senate estimates
The Reserve Bank governor, Philip Lowe, says he has heard about the personal pain caused by soaring interest rates with a “very heavy heart” – but tackling “dangerous” inflation was critical even if the moves were unpopular.
Lowe, making his first public appearance for 2023 before Senate estimates on Wednesday, reiterated the challenges of achieving a “fairly soft landing” for the economy with unemployment rising only to 4.5% during next year.
Continue reading...Further rate rises, Reserve Bank strategy, transparency and whether to extend Lowe’s term are likely to come under scrutiny
When Philip Lowe fronts Senate estimates on Wednesday and the House of Representatives’ economics committee on Friday, the governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia will be peppered with questions about the central bank’s performance and thinking.
Here are four key issues he and his RBA colleagues will likely be asked about during the review of the central bank.
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