Category Archives: Australian economy

Bernie Sanders’ economic adviser says Australia’s bushfires are a climate change ‘wake-up call’

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Stephanie Kelton says Australia could ‘absolutely’ benefit from a program similar to the Green New Deal

Australia’s unprecedented bushfires are a wake-up call to the world about the importance of tackling climate change, Bernie Sanders’ economic adviser said, and the country should consider implementing a green new deal to transition to a low carbon economy.

Stephanie Kelton said Australia could benefit from an ambitious program of spending, similar to the one proposed by Sanders and others that aims to transform the US economy and help keep global heating below 1.5C.

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Cabinet papers 1998-99: Coalition’s campaign to unleash the GST laid bare

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Tax reform dominated debate, as ministers discussed East Timor and the 2000 Olympics – and resisted climate action

On 1 July Australia’s goods and services tax will have been in place for 20 years. It is uncontroversial in concept, with no major party advocating its abolition. Every so often there are calls for it to be increased from 10% or expanded – calls that are usually rebuffed.

But just how fraught the GST was to introduce is one of the key insights from the release of cabinet papers by the National Archives of Australia, covering the years 1998 and 1999. There were other concerns: East Timor’s independence, the 2000 Sydney Olympics, the failed republican referendum, and familiar resistance to doing anything but the minimum on climate change.

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Yes, Australia has always had bushfires: but 2019 is like nothing we’ve seen before

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Record low rainfall has contributed to a continent-scale emergency that has burned through more than 5m hectares and alarmed scientists, doctors and firefighters

As the area burned across Australia this fire season pushes beyond five million hectares, an area larger than many countries, stories of destruction have become depressingly familiar.

At the time of writing, nine people have been killed. Balmoral, in the New South Wales southern highlands, is the latest community affected in a state where up to 1,000 homes have been destroyed. A third of the vineyard area and dozens of homes were razed in the Adelaide Hills. It is too early for a thorough examination of the impact on wildlife, including the many threatened species in the fires’ path.

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Police ask Clover Moore for statement on Angus Taylor – politics live

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Sydney lord mayor approached by police investigating accusations the emissions reduction minister relied on a falsified document to attack her. Follow all the day’s political news live

That’s where we’ll leave the live blog for the day. Thanks for following along.

It’s been another messy day. Many say the medevac repeal has made it one of parliament’s darkest.

Another development on the Angus Taylor front.

The City of Sydney’s lord mayor, Clover Moore, has been approached by police to provide a statement for their investigation into accusations Taylor relied on a falsified document to attack her travel-related emissions. The council said in a statement:

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Labor condemns ‘disgraceful’ Westpac as Hartzer stands down – politics live

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Westpac chief executive’s resignation draws little sympathy on all sides of politics. All the day’s events, live

And here is another indication of where question time is headed:

Last week, a bank broke money laundering laws 23 million times.

But instead of going after them, the Liberals are going after unions – trying to take away their right to exist.

This Government hates working people. We'll fight them every step of the way. pic.twitter.com/9vMhFquk4W

A group of north Queensland dairy farmers are on their way to Canberra to express their frustrations at what is happening within their industry.

That’s at the same time the Nationals are trying to get ahead of Pauline Hanson, who may have come late to the issues, but certainly has been running full steam ahead since becoming aware of it.

David Littleproud, the drought minister, some time ago said he fixed the supermarket [milk price] problem. He said he thumped his chest, waved his fists at them, and demanded they put their milk prices up.

Well, we know that solution lasted about five minutes.

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Scott Morrison travels to Indonesia as Labor embraces free trade agreement

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PM to attend Joko Widodo’s inauguration and hold talks on FTA, which opposition leader says will be good for jobs

Scott Morrison’s whirlwind trip to Indonesia is a “good thing”, his political opponent says, as Labor embraces bipartisan support for Australia’s latest free trade agreement.

Morrison travelled to Indonesia for Joko Widodo’s second inauguration as president, with talks between the two leaders planned at the presidential palace.

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Coalition should consider increasing bank levy, Labor’s Jim Chalmers says

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Shadow treasurer calls for new banking inquiry after major banks failed to pass on full interest rate cut

Labor says the Morrison government should consider increasing the bank levy in response to the failure by the big players to cut interest rates in line with the central bank, and look at broader measures to boost competition in the sector.

The shadow treasurer, Jim Chalmers, told Sky News on Sunday the government needed to sign off on a new inquiry into competition in the banking sector by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, and consider all options, including hiking the bank levy, after the major banks declined to pass through the full rate reduction following the Reserve Bank’s latest cut to the official cash rate.

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Former Reserve Bank governor says interest rate cuts have ‘done everything they can do’

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Ian Macfarlane says Australia facing the ‘most perplexing and difficult’ era for monetary policy ever

Former Reserve Bank governor Ian Macfarlane has weighed into the debate over interest rates, believing any further cuts will have very little power to do anything useful.

The central bank cut the official cash rate to a record low of just 0.75% this week, the third reduction in a matter of months.

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Australia’s relationship with China in a ‘terrible’ state after Morrison’s US visit, Labor says

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Richard Marles accuses PM of taking ‘pot shots against our largest trading partner’ amid US-China tensions

Labor’s shadow defence minister, Richard Marles, says Australia’s relationship with China is in a “terrible” state following Scott Morrison’s visit to the United States.

Speaking fresh from a visit to Beijing, Marles said that Morrison’s “megaphone diplomacy” alongside Donald Trump about China’s status as a developing country had inflamed tensions.

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Lambasting China over their emissions might impress the US but it could be costly for Australia | Frank Jotzo

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In many regards, China’s climate action is stronger than that of Australia or America, at much lower levels of development

Visiting the United States, Australia’s prime minister demanded of China “participation in addressing important global environmental challenges” in light of its “new status and responsibilities”. As part of a broad call to expect more of China, the comments on environment caught attention as they were made at the time of the UN climate summit.

Pointing to China’s emissions growth as an excuse for lack of climate action in Australia was in vogue a decade and longer ago. Then, China’s energy use and carbon emissions rose sharply with its investments in factories, infrastructure and housing. But things have changed in China, and there no longer is a formal distinction between climate pledges from developed and developing countries. In many regards, China’s climate action is stronger than that of Australia or America, at much lower levels of development.

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Robodebt collector’s parent company harassed consumers, ACCC says

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Panthera, being pursued by consumer watchdog, is parent of ARL, contracted to recover debt from welfare recipients

LThe parent company of a debt collector handed $3.3m in taxpayer dollars to pursue welfare recipients over robodebts and other overpayments is being sued by the consumer watchdog for alleged harassment, coercion and unconscionable conduct.

ARL Group was among three companies to share in $16.5m in contracts to carry out debt recovery services for the Department of Human Services in the 2019-20 financial year, tender documents published in July show.

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Scott Morrison heads to Washington for state dinner with Trump – politics live

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Michael McCormack the acting prime minister as the government prepares to hand down its final budget statement. All the days events, live

From Josh Frydenberg’s office:

These outcomes demonstrate that the Government’s economic plan is working and confirm that the Budget will be back in the black and back on track for the 2019-20 year.

Importantly Australia has completed its 28th consecutive year of economic growth and maintained its AAA credit rating.

Josh Frydenberg (who is not yelling and for that we are all grateful)

The Australian economy is strong and ready for the challenges ahead.

As a result of the Morrison government’s economic plan and responsible economic management, the underlying cash balance in the final budget outcome for the 19/20 year is $13.8bn better than estimated at the time of the 2018/19 budget.

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‘I don’t know how we come back from this’: Australia’s big dry sucks life from once-proud towns

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Guardian Australia reports from three communities hard hit by one of the worst droughts in living memory

Australia is experiencing one of its most severe droughts on record, resulting in desperate water shortages across large parts of New South Wales and southern Queensland. Dams in some parts of western NSW have all but dried up, with rainfall levels through the winter in the lowest 10% of historical records in some areas.

The crisis in the far west of the state became unavoidable after the mass fish kills along the lower Darling River last summer, but now much bigger towns closer to the coast, including Dubbo, are also running out of water.

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‘Show some spine’: Jacqui Lambie returns to parliament with John Setka ultimatum

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The Senate powerbroker warns if the union boss does not resign, the Coalition’s ‘ensuring integrity’ bill will pass

The Senate powerbroker Jacqui Lambie has returned to Canberra following the parliamentary break with one message.

Either union boss John Setka resigns, or the government’s controversial ‘ensuring integrity’ bill will pass, with her vote.

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Shares across Asia fall sharply amid US-Chinese trade tensions

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Investors seek safe havens such as US treasuries and gold as the superpower standoff shows no sign of being resolved

Shares in Australia and across Asia Pacific have fallen sharply amid a new flare-up of US-Chinese trade tensions.

Despite a senior Chinese leader saying Beijing wanted to resolve the dispute with “calm negotiations”, indices were deep in the red on Monday.

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Robodebt could target pensioners and ‘sensitive’ groups, leaked documents show

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Exclusive: Coalition needs to include over 65s and other disadvantaged welfare recipients to hit $600m budget plan

The Morrison government could target thousands of pensioners and other “sensitive” welfare recipients under a proposed expansion of the controversial robodebt scheme needed to achieve a promised $2.1bn in budget savings, according to confidential documents seen by Guardian Australia.

The documents, stamped “PROTECTED CABINET”, show the scheme would fall $600m short of its required budget savings unless it is expanded to hit “sensitive” groups originally quarantined from data matching.

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Markets jittery as trade war and recession worries spook investors -as it happened

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Beijing has alarmed investors by threatening counter-measures against the US, threatening to escalate the trade war

Earlier:

Update: Britain’s FTSE 100 has hit a new six-month closing low.

The blue-chip index just closed 80 points lower at 7,067, a drop of 1.1%.

Time for a quick recap

Financial markets remain volatile today, as fears of an economic downturn hit stock prices and drive bond prices to new record highs.

Related: Online shoppers and Amazon Prime Day lift UK retail sales

If President Xi would meet directly and personally with the protesters, there would be a happy and enlightened ending to the Hong Kong problem. I have no doubt! https://t.co/eFxMjgsG1K

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$60bn wiped from Australian stock market on worst day for ASX in 18 months

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Labor accuses government of being ‘complacent’ about economy as ASX200 falls amid fears of a global recession

The Australian stock market has suffered its worst day in almost 18 months after $63bn was wiped off the value of shares amid mounting fears of a global recession.

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index on Thursday tumbled 187.8 points, or 2.85%, to 6,408.1 points, while the broader All Ordinaries shed 186.7 points, or 2.8%, to 6,490.8 points.

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Mike Pompeo urges Australia to stand up for itself over trade with China

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US secretary of state dismisses warning by top security analyst, arguing ‘you can sell your soul for a pile of soy beans or you can protect your people’

The US secretary of state Mike Pompeo has declared “you can sell your soul for a pile of soy beans, or you can protect your people”, dismissing a warning from prominent Australian security analyst Hugh White that Australia should avoid following Donald Trump into a confrontation with Beijing that America probably can’t win.

Pompeo issued the provocative declaration during a question-and-answer session at the Centre for Independent Studies in Sydney on Sunday.

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Government refers Crown allegations to integrity commission – politics live

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Attorney general responds to crossbench calls for inquiry. All the day’s events, live

Siri: what is the definition of “a punish”?

David Gillespie saddles the despatch box, and therefore us, with Michael McCormack, which gives me the permission I needed to go make a cup of tea.

“All politics is local, as it should be,” says Sliced White.

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