Category Archives: Australian budget 2024

Dutton won’t rule out a Coalition government quitting ICC – as it happened

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Chris Bowen says nuclear energy is ‘slow, expensive and risky’

Chris Bowen is also asked about the latest CSIRO report released today, showing electricity from nuclear power in Australia would be at least 50% more expensive than solar and wind.

CSIRO and Aemo have looked at large-scale nuclear for the first time. It finds that that would be far more expensive than renewables, despite claims from the opposition – quite inappropriate attacks on CSIRO and Aemo from the opposition, that they hadn’t counted the cost of transmission. The cost of transmission and storage is counted, and still renewables comes out as the cheapest.

And of course, CSIRO points out that nuclear will be … very slow to build. So nuclear is slow and expensive and is risky when it comes to the reliability of Australia’s energy system.

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Australia news live: Telstra announces 2,800 job cuts; mediation talks in Reynolds and Higgins defamation case

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Liberal senator, and former political staffer expected to attempt again to resolve a pair of high-profile defamation cases. Follow today’s news headlines live

A High Court decision in Britain to allow Julian Assange to appeal his extradition to the US is a “small win” for the WikiLeaks founder but he should be freed now, the union for Australia’s journalists says.

As AAP reports, the Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance remains concerned there is no certainty an appeal will be successful, which would mean Assange could still be tried for espionage in the US.

Tonight’s decision by the High Court is a small win for Julian Assange and for the cause of media freedom worldwide.

MEAA welcomes the decision of the High Court, but we remain concerned that there is no guarantee of success.

We call on the Australian government to keep up the pressure on the US to drop the charges so Julian Assange can be reunited with his family.

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Guardian Essential poll: $300 energy rebate shouldn’t go to high-income households, voters say

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Poll finds lukewarm response to Labor’s 2024 budget, with only 27% of people thinking it will make a ‘meaningful difference’ to the cost of living

A majority of voters approve of the main measures in Labor’s third budget, although three in five think the Albanese government’s $300 electricity bill rebate should have been better targeted.

Those are the results of the latest Guardian Essential poll of 1,149 voters, which found a lukewarm reaction to the budget overall, with just over a quarter (27%) saying it would make a “meaningful difference” to their cost of living.

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Budget replies reveal Coalition ‘all over the shop’, PM says, labelling Dutton’s nuclear policy ‘shocking’ – as it happened

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Crowdfunding campaign launched for Namatjira portraits

Australian presenter and comedian Dan Ilic has launched a crowdfunding campaign to have Vincent Namatjira’s latest exhibition, Australia In Colour, projected on to a billboard in Times Square.

This is an invitation to help get as many people to know about Australia In Colour as possible by putting the highlight of the show on a huge billboard in Times Square the week of the 27th May. We need to raise about $30,000 by Thursday. Any excess money raised will be donated to a charity of the artist’s choice.

Every Victorian deserves to have a roof over their head and that’s why we’re pulling every lever we can to enable 800,000 homes to be built over the next decade.

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Australian government launches working holiday visa lottery for some applicants

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Ballot aims to make system more equitable for those from China, India and Vietnam while also tightening temporary migration

Backpacker visas for citizens of certain countries will be handed out by lottery in only the second time Australia has used such a system, as the federal government escalates its crackdown on temporary migration.

Hopeful working holidaymakers from China, India and Vietnam will have to pay $25 to enter a randomised ballot for a limited number of visas from July 2024.

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Jim Chalmers labels Peter Dutton’s budget reply an ‘unhinged’ and ‘nasty’ rant

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Opposition leader promised in speech on Thursday to restrict property investment by non-residents

The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, has criticised the opposition leader Peter Dutton’s budget reply speech as “unhinged” and lacking in economic credibility, as he set out around Australia to explain the government’s own economic plan.

With parliament now in recess for a week, Chalmers headed to Port Augusta in South Australia with the environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, and SA state and federal colleagues to promote the government’s renewable energy transition agenda, badged as Future Made in Australia.

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Labor spending millions more on urgent care clinics without evidence they work, experts say

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Budget includes $227m funding boost but health expert says ‘the value of urgent care clinics is yet to be established’

Doctors and health policy experts have questioned the federal government’s decision to fund an extra 29 urgent care clinics in the absence of strong evidence that they work.

Tuesday’s budget included $227m to fund the clinics, which will bring the total number across Australia to 87. The clinics offer bulk-billed walk-in care, seven days a week over extended hours, with the intention of reducing the burden on emergency departments and easing out-of-pocket health costs.

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Dutton readies budget reply as Chalmers links migration cut to inflation fight

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Treasurer says migration ‘important’ but needs to be ‘well managed’

Jim Chalmers has said the projected halving of net migration will contribute to Australia’s inflation fight, ahead of Peter Dutton’s budget reply which is expected to attack Labor over the spike in arrivals.

As Guardian Australia revealed in April, the Coalition will make home ownership a “core” election issue by linking the net migration intake to housing construction, a policy expected to be announced or at least constitute a major theme of the opposition leader’s reply on Thursday.

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Australia’s budget has ‘gaping hole’ in funds for DV victims, environment and housing, advocates say

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Labor touts cost of living package as ‘substantial’ but advocates say changes are inadequate

The federal government’s decision not to further increase funding for jobseeker, housing and domestic violence is a “gaping hole in the heart of the budget”, advocates have warned, with politicians and civil society dismayed there was not more cost of living support announced on Tuesday.

The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, said the budget’s cost of living package was “substantial” and targeted at “middle Australia”, listing the revamped stage-three tax cuts, $300 energy bill rebates, a slight increase to rent assistance and freezing medicine prices as the highlights of its response.

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Budget 2024 live updates: reaction and fallout from the Australia federal budget – latest news

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Treasurer grilled on inflation and migration after National Press Club address. Follow today’s news and 2024 federal budget reaction live

Jim Chalmers said the government didn’t create a new system for the energy payments (so everyone gets it) because it is done through the energy retailers, who don’t have people’s income data.

It’s not a cash payment paid directly to you – instead, it is paid through the energy sector, which takes money off your bill. In this case, $75 a quarter.

I don’t see it in political terms. I think primarily the motivation of this budget is to help people who are doing it tough. More help is on the way for people who are doing it tough via the tax system, via their energy bills and with rent assistance and cheaper medicines and in other ways as well. That’s our primary motivation.

Once you go beyond providing this to people on pensions and payments, you have to design a whole new system in order to create a new distinction. We are providing this energy bill relief to every household. We think that’s a good way to help things make things easier. Some of the other measures are more targeted.

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Future Made in Australia: what’s in the $23bn package meant to create a ‘renewable energy superpower’

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Jim Chalmers’ budget didn’t answer all the questions about what projects will be funded but there is a lot more clarity now

The federal government has been talking up its Future Made in Australia (FMIA) policy in recent months and more detail was revealed in Tuesday night’s budget.

Here’s what we know so far.

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How it began v how it’s going: 2024 budget shows limits of financial forecasting

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Australia’s financials have generally improved compared with forecasts made a year ago but there are threats to the country’s outlook lurking

Financial forecasting is difficult at the best of times, let alone during a period marked by persistent inflation against a backdrop of global economic unease.

But forecasts still provide a framework for governments to build their policy and spending plans around. Australia’s financials have generally improved compared with forecasts made a year ago but there are more than a few threats to the country’s outlook lurking.

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Federal budget 2024 live updates: energy bill rebate and rent assistance boost confirmed ahead of Australian treasurer Jim Chalmers’s budget speech tonight – latest news

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Treasurer will be able to boast back-to-back surpluses when he speaks at 7.30pm tonight. Follow live updates today

Nick McKim said he agrees with EY chief economist, Cherelle Murphy, who says that you can look after people without impacting inflation by taking the money you are spending on people who don’t need it, and redirecting it to people who do. (Therefore it is the same pool of money, but targeted differently.)

McKim:

For example, you could end the massive tax breaks for property investors who own multiple investment properties then put in place a rent freeze and a rent cap, for example.

You could tax billionaires and CEOs on the basis of their wealth and you could use that revenue to raise income support, which would lift a large number of Australians out of the grinding poverty that they experience every day.

No, certainly not. I mean, what the surplus shows is that they’re prioritising their own political benefit over investing in the kind of programs that would provide genuine help to people who are really doing it tough at the moment.

So what you’re going to see in the budget tonight is that having talked up an absolute storm on things like climate change and on things like cost of living, Labor is simply not prepared to take the action necessary to respond to those challenges that the urgency and the scale that is required.

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PM promises ‘Labor party budget through and through’ – as it happened

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More details on government’s plan to cap international student numbers

The government has released a little more information on its plan to cap international students in a bid to ease housing shortages and clamp down on sub-standard education providers and agents. It will introduce legislation next week which will:

Prevent education providers from owning education agent businesses.

Pause applications for registration from new international education providers and of new courses from existing providers for periods of up to 12 months.

Require new providers seeking registration to demonstrate a track record of quality education delivery to domestic students before they are allowed to recruit international students.

Cancel dormant provider registrations to prevent them being used as a market entry tool by unscrupulous actors.

Prevent providers under serious regulatory investigation from recruiting new international students.

Improve the sharing of data relating to education agents.

[The Coalition will announce its] energy policy not at the time of the media’s choosing or at a time of the government’s choosing but a time of the Coalition’s choosing.

But it will be very clear in advance of the next election the way we want to go about opening up a new energy source for Australia. That will deliver emissions free energy and lower energy prices by increasing the mix of types of energy over the long term.

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Jim Chalmers flags cost of living help for job seekers in federal budget

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‘There is more than one way to help people who are on income support,’ treasurer says when suggesting rebates and concessions could be boosted

The federal government is poised to expand rebates and concessions available to job seekers in next week’s federal budget, which is also expected to increase rent assistance.

The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, has confirmed that Tuesday’s budget will not increase the jobseeker payment but suggested it would boost concessions linked to social security payments, among a suite of measures designed to offer cost-of-living relief without pushing up inflation.

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Budget sneak-peek predicts higher wages and tax breaks – but no increase for Australians on jobseeker

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Government dampens hopes for an increase to jobseeker, despite pressure from economists, social justice groups and equality advocates

Australians are forecast to have more disposable income next year, according to budget predictions, with higher wages, tax cuts and lowering inflation.

But those on unemployment payments are unlikely to see any major change to their financial situations, with the government dampening expectations the base jobseeker rate will increase, despite growing pressure from economists, social justice groups and equality advocates.

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Chalmers says Labor’s budget will be neither ‘scorched-earth austerity’ nor ‘free-for-all of spending’

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Ministers promise ‘responsible middle path’ and hint at second consecutive surplus but warn some spending deficits will remain

The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, has declared next week’s budget neither the time for “scorched-earth austerity” nor for unrestrained spending as he hints again at a possible second consecutive surplus.

“The budget is in much better nick than the budget that we inherited almost precisely two years ago,” Chalmers said on Monday.

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‘Placement poverty’ to be tackled in Labor budget with new payments for student teachers and nurses

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Midwives and social workers will also be given $320 weekly payment for undertaking mandatory work placements at university

Student teachers, nurses, midwives and social workers will receive a $320 weekly payment during their mandatory placements under a new cost-of-living measure in the May budget.

The Albanese government will establish a commonwealth practical payment for 68,000 university students and 5,000 vocational education and training students undertaking mandatory workplace placements as part of their courses.

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Childcare workers to get wage boost in budget as Australia battles staff shortages

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Exclusive: Move is intended to prevent workers from leaving for other sectors, including aged care, where wages were recently increased

The Albanese government is in the final stages of signing off on a boost to childcare workers wages as a centrepiece of next month’s budget.

Guardian Australia understands the budget razor gang, the expenditure review committee, has considered a number of proposals on the sector-wide wage increase, which would see the government cover a significant pay rise for early childcare educators.

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