Category Archives: Australian economy

Coronavirus Australia update: Northern Territory to reopen borders in July as Victoria records 18 new Covid-19 cases – question time live

Posted on by

Michael Gunner declared the NT Covid-free and will prepare to allow domestic travel; person who attended Melbourne Black Lives Matter protest among new Vic cases. Follow live

That leads to this exchange:

Tony Smith: The Prime Minister will resume his seat. The Prime Minister will resume his seat. The Manager of Opposition Business will resume his seat. The Prime Minister needs to withdraw that imputation.

Anthony Albanese to Scott Morrison:

My question is to the Prime Minister. Under this Prime Minister, Australia has entered its first recession in three decades. Australia now has an effective unemployment rate of 11.3%. How many unemployed Australians don’t have a job because the Prime Minister deliberately excluded them from JobKeeper?

No-one in this country is unemployed because of the Government’s responses.

People are unemployed in this country, people have been reduced to zero hours which is the same thing, people have been hit by the coronavirus pandemic!

Continue reading...

UK begins talks with Australia and New Zealand on free trade deal for post-Brexit era

Posted on by

Australian and New Zealand ministers say they are eager to do deals with the UK as their economies emerge from the coronavirus crisis

Australia and New Zealand are about to begin negotiations on a free trade agreement with the UK in what the Australian trade minister said was “a strong signal of our mutual support for free trade” in a post-Covid-19 world.

Simon Birmingham said Australia was “ready to help the UK find new beginnings post-Brexit and in doing so, open up new doors for our farmers, businesses and investors”.

Continue reading...

Australian politics live: consular officials talk to Karm Gilespie, Australian man facing death penalty in China – latest updates

Posted on by

Foreign affairs minister Marise Payne says Australian authorities visited the detention centre where the 53-year-old is being held. Follow live

Julian Hill is looking at the government’s spend on consultants (an evergreen sentence, no matter what political party is in government)

New analysis by the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) has found that the big four consultancy firms – Deloitte, Ernest&Young, KPMG and PwC – now collectively reap $800m a year in government contracts.

But only 20% of that figure is spent on actual consultancy contracts, meaning the Morrison government is paying top dollar to large consultancy firms to work as contractors doing the day-to-day work of public servants.

The Australia Institute has begun a new campaign to have truth in advertising part of Australia’s political advertising.

An open letter coordinated by the Australia Institute and signed by 29 prominent Australians calls for parliament to pass truth-in-political advertising laws that are nationally consistent, constitutional and uphold freedom of speech.

Signatories to the open letter include former political party leaders and politicians, Dr John Hewson, Cheryl Kernot and Michael Beahan; former supreme court judges, the Hon Anthony Whealy QC, the Hon Paul Stein AM QC and the Hon David Harper AM QC, as well as barristers, community leaders, business people and other prominent Australians.

Continue reading...

Australia considering shorter Covid-19 quarantine for students and low-transmission countries

Posted on by

Government ministers outline measures being considered to reopen for international travel

Senior Morrison government ministers have flagged shorter quarantine periods for international students and business travellers as part of a suite of measures to reopen Australia to international travel.

On Sunday, the health minister, Greg Hunt, confirmed that modifications to the existing mandatory two-week hotel quarantine could be enacted in addition to travel bubbles with safe countries, such as New Zealand, which would not require quarantine.

Continue reading...

Coronavirus Australia update: PM apologises for ‘no slavery’ comments as Queensland sticks with 10 July border open date – politics live

Posted on by

Qld deputy premier and health minister says situation will be reviewed at the end of June ‘as we’ve said consistently’. Follow live

Speaking of awkward, Angus Taylor just took a dixer.

So that is a bit awkward, then.

Continue reading...

Coronavirus Australia update: warning of severe Covid-19 economic shock as ‘double-hit scenario’ looms – politics live

Posted on by

Australia’s GDP could fall by 6.3% this year if hit by a second wave of infections, the OECD says in a new report. Follow live updates

Scott Morrison is now calling on all the closed states to nominate the date they will re-open in July.

Because he is getting “frustrated” at the interstate border closures.

“People who rallied this [past] weekend, showed great disrespect for their neighbours,” Scott Morrison says.

Continue reading...

Coronavirus Australia update: NSW reports zero community transmission as Queensland border challenge hits snag – politics live

Posted on by

Three new cases of Covid-19 reported were all from overseas travellers and are in quarantine; Queensland high court calls requests from lawyers to access border closure documents ‘a fishing expedition’. Follow live updates

Pat Dodson has spoken in the Senate on the issue of Indigenous deaths in custody:

Thirty years ago, the royal commission that I was part of made recommendations to the parliament - 339 recommendations.

That Commission had been set up by the government. And at that time, there were 99 deaths that we were concerned about in this nation to effect a national Royal Commission never got over 400 deaths since that Royal Commission, and we have 30 years that have passed that have not addressed the underlying issues that give rise to people being taken into custody and consequently die in custody.

Tony Burke’s answer to that same question:

Her politics feeds on outrage. It effectively – for all the talk of proud nationalism, that party has imported an American style of politics here.

I don’t want that style of politics here. I don’t particularly want to join the outrage, because that in fact elevates what she said. I would simply refer to it in the way that I guess One Nation wouldn’t want it referred to – that is importing foreign politics into Australia. We should be better than that. And most of us are.

Continue reading...

Morrison government to offer $25,000 grants to help build and renovate homes

Posted on by

The homebuilder scheme will run between June and December and aims to create a pipeline of construction work

The Morrison government will fund grants worth $25,000 for eligible singles and couples planning to build or renovate homes between June and the end of December, with the uncapped program estimated to cost taxpayers $688m.

With the March quarter national accounts indicating that Australia has entered the first recession in nearly three decades, the new tranche of economic stimulus designed to create a pipeline of work for the construction sector will be unveiled by the Coalition on Thursday.

Continue reading...

Coronavirus live update: Josh Frydenberg says Australia’s economy in recession as GDP falls 0.3% in March quarter – latest news

Posted on by

ABS reports growth slowed to 1.4% through the year as industrial relations roundtables prepare an agenda to regrow the jobs lost during Covid-19. Follow live

Linda Burney and Mark Dreyfus has put out a statement, calling for clear targets to address the over-representation of First Nations people in Australian’s prison systems, and child removal.

Here is part of it:

I doubt we’ll be seeing ‘back solidly in the red’ mugs for sale anytime soon though.

Continue reading...

Coronavirus Australia live updates: Queensland government apologises to Nathan Turner’s family – live news

Posted on by

Blackwater man who was wrongly believed to have died of Covid-19 at age 30 has been shown to have not had the disease. Follow live

Also worth paying attention to:

Related: Q+A: Matt Canavan grilled on climate change and family links to coal industry

The pandemic amplified many of the issues facing remote First Nations communitites. Today, Labor will question officials from the National Indigenous Australians Agency on its pandemic response & plans going forward. Watch at: https://t.co/Ngg6QzZtFn...
See more pic.twitter.com/vZorAaEDom

Continue reading...

Coronavirus Australia live update: Victoria and NSW further ease restrictions, as Rugby Australia cuts one third of staff – latest news

Posted on by

NSW pubs and museums reopen while Victoria restaurants and cafes can now serve meals for up to 20 people, as NSW says rail project linking Sydney’s second airport will create 14,000 jobs. Follow the latest news

The NSW government’s proposal to give public servants a one-off $1,000 stimulus payment if they agree to a 12-month pay freeze has been slammed by unions as insulting, AAP reports.

Treasurer Dominic Perrottet has been talking with union bosses about the proposal which would see non-executive frontline staff such as nurses, police officers, paramedics and teachers receive a one-off payment in return for accepting a pay pause.

Rugby Australia stood down 47 of its 142 fulltime staff on Monday morning, as it implements a restructure that will save the code $5.5m per year.

The cuts, which will also see 30 contractors and casual workers axed, comes after Rugby Australia reported a $9.4m loss in 2019.

We have delivered the news to staff this morning and told them that Rugby Australia values the contribution of each and every one of them, some of whom have given significant service to Rugby Australia and to the game over many years.

This is a difficult time for a lot of very passionate, hard-working Rugby people and we are committed to helping those people find their next opportunity, whether it be within the game or elsewhere.

Continue reading...

Coalition gave private pathology companies lucrative Covid contracts

Posted on by

Government has shielded closed collection centres from takeover and provides big subsidy increases after industry lobbying

The Australian government handed major pathology companies lucrative Covid-19 contracts through limited tenders, shielded their closed collection centres from takeover, provided large subsidy increases after industry lobbying, waived normal registration fees and promised to provide additional assistance outside of jobkeeper.

Guardian Australia has spent the past week examining aspects of the federal government’s response to coronavirus, investigating problems with jobkeeper, the childcare support package, and the potential economic impact of the sudden cessation of stimulus.

Continue reading...

Morrison government announces return to mutual obligation for jobseekers

Posted on by

Michaelia Cash says there will be a three-phase restart of welfare requirements

The federal government has announced a “limited capacity” return to mutual obligation requirements for Australia’s welfare recipients from next week.

The employment minister, Michaelia Cash, announced mid-May that mutual obligations for jobseekers, which had been put on pause at the beginning of the coronavirus crisis, would be further suspended until 1 June, after which a three-phase reintroduction would commence.

Continue reading...

Labor calls on Josh Frydenberg to front Covid-19 inquiry to explain jobkeeper ‘$60bn black hole’

Posted on by

Penny Wong says treasurer should have ‘the courage’ to take responsibility for error as Coalition faces calls to expand wage subsidy

Labor will attempt to pressure the treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, to appear before the Senate’s Covid-19 inquiry to explain the “$60bn black hole” in the jobkeeper program.

The move comes as the Morrison government faces growing calls to expand the wage subsidy to cover a wider group of workers, after revelations on Friday that the six-month program is now expected to cost the budget $70bn rather than $130bn.

Continue reading...

Covid commission boss Nev Power steps back at gas company amid conflict of interest concerns

Posted on by

The Morrison government commission has promoted gas as a key way to boost the economy after the coronavirus crisis

The head of the Morrison government commission tasked with coming up with plans to revitalise the economy after the coronavirus crisis, Nev Power, is to step aside from his position as deputy chairman of a gas company over conflict of interest concerns.

“Because of the perceptions of conflict of interest he has stepped back from participating in board meetings and will not participate in the decisions of the board” of Strike Energy, a spokesman for the National Covid-19 Coordination Commission said on Friday evening.

Continue reading...

Deputy PM ‘very concerned’ over reports China’s power plants warned not to buy Australian coal

Posted on by

Michael McCormack says trade minister and diplomats are trying to fix the issue

Deputy prime minister Michael McCormack is concerned coal exporters could face a tougher time selling the commodity into China.

There are reports the Chinese government is warning state-owned power plants not to buy new shipments of Australian thermal coal and instead favour domestic products.

Continue reading...

Australia coronavirus news: pressure mounts on Queensland to open borders – latest updates

Posted on by

Tourism operators and politicians are calling for Annastacia Palaszczuk to open the state’s border to domestic travellers. Follow live

Angus Taylor also spoke on the border closure issue while on the ABC:

Well, I think ultimately it’s a decision for Queensland but the advice coming in is very clear from the Chief Medical Officer and it’s clear what the New South Wales Premier has put her view as well.

What I want to see is opening up, getting things going again, jobs, investment and of course we have got to make sure all our policies are aligned with that at the federal level and we’d like to see states do the same and that includes our emissions policy which is all about strengthening the economy.

Speaking to the ABC a little earlier, Gladys Berejiklian says she did not think it was “logical at this stage to maintain those border closures for a prolonged period of time”.

She prefaced the comment with “that’s a matter for the Queensland premier and the Queensland government” before giving her opinion, so that might tell you how relations within national cabinet are starting to go.

New South Wales is in a position now where we’re really focused on jobs and the economy, and we’ll be able to get our industries up and running.

But for Australia to really move forward as a nation during this very difficult economic time as well as difficult health time, we do need our borders down, we do need to allow people to move between states, to live, to work, to see family.

Continue reading...

Australia coronavirus live updates: Victorian restaurants to reopen 1 June with 100 patrons by mid-July – latest news

Posted on by

Premier Dan Andrews says the easing of restrictions is due to low numbers of new cases, but patrons will still have to abide by social distancing. Follow live

Hazzard warns people in New South Wales to still stay 1.5 metres apart, and to not see friends if they are sick, even if it is just a runny nose.

I would just like to warn everybody that we are still vulnerable. We have to temper it in a way that when we go out, we’re still exercising the social distancing.

The 1.5 metres is a magic figure – it can keep you safe! I’ve observed today, people at cafes and restaurants, and many of them do not appear to be exercising that 1.5 metres. I’ll just say to them – please be careful.

New South Wales health minister Brad Hazzard is speaking now. He announces that as of 8pm last night, NSW only had one new case.

However, he says the source of that transmission is unknown, which means people should be on high alert.

Moving about Sydney this morning, I think it’s fair to say that there has been, in a sense, the great NSW bust-out.

People are rewarding themselves for many weeks of sacrifice and having themselves locked inside.

Continue reading...

Australian trade minister says ‘risk’ of trade with China may drive businesses to other markets

Posted on by

Australia reserves the right to take China to the WTO amid growing trade dispute, Simon Birmingham says

Simon Birmingham has warned China’s “unpredictable” trade interventions may force Australian producers to sell to other markets and diversification is to be encouraged given the “risk” of trade with China.

The trade minister told ABC’s Insiders on Sunday that Australia reserves its right to take China to the World Trade Organisation, and revealed he is still yet to hear back from his Chinese counterpart about the growing trade dispute. He said his call “ought to be returned”.

Continue reading...

Westpac admits it broke law over customers’ transactions allegedly linked to child exploitation

Posted on by

Bank files its defence to an Austrac lawsuit that accuses it of more than 23m breaches of anti-money laundering laws

Westpac has admitted to breaking the law by failing to monitor whether a dozen customers were making transactions consistent with child exploitation.

The admission is contained in Westpac’s defence to a lawsuit brought by Australia’s financial intelligence agency, Austrac, in which the bank is accused of more than 23m breaches of anti-money laundering laws.

Continue reading...