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Nuclear costings coming ‘in coming weeks and months ahead of election’: Taylor
The shadow treasurer was also asked when the Coalition would release the costings of its nuclear plan.
We will not be announcing it on your program this morning, as much as you might like me to.
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Labour market steadying as latest monthly CPI result looms
The consensus for much of the year has been the Reserve Bank’s 13-year high interest rates would squeeze demand in the economy, nudge up unemployment and help bring down inflation. And then it could start cutting its cash rate.
And then more recently, we’re actually starting to see [the labour market] tighten.
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The independent MP Zoe Daniel was on ABC News Breakfast earlier to discuss her alternative to the under-16 social media ban, which she introduced as a private member’s bill yesterday.
Daniel said her bill would implement an overarching statutory duty of care on social media companies “that goes to safety by design – but that in and of itself is not enough”.
What you need to make that work is the companies to assess the risks, mitigate the risks, be transparent about how they’re doing that.
The bill builds in penalties so if the companies do not comply, they could be fined up to 10% of global revenue. Also, their onshore executives could be held accountable for that … and the bill also has a provision to enable users to have control over the algorithm, as exists overseas, particularly in the EU …
[There are] obviously privacy concerns, and given the government’s had to pull their misinformation [and] disinformation – or their censoring the Australian public – bill from the Senate this week, we want to make sure we get strong, robust laws that don’t damage the [right to] privacy and make compulsory Australians having to have digital IDs.
Continue reading...Chancellor understood to be determined to keep policy despite Treasury analysing ways to soften impact
Rachel Reeves is holding firm against a U-turn on inheritance tax for farmers, despite the Treasury analysing ways of softening the impact.
The chancellor is understood to be determined not to drop the policy even though some Labour MPs – and even ministers – are worrying about the political fallout that has led to farmers protesting in Westminster this week.
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Heatwave conditions are building over parts of Victoria and New South Wales today.
According to the Bureau of Meteorology, much of Victoria will experience heatwave conditions, with maximum temperatures in the mid to high 30s.
Continue reading...Steve Reed says he may not agree on inheritance tax changes but government will listen to rural Britain
The UK environment secretary has promised to reform the food system to ensure farmers are paid fairly for the food they produce, after many filled the streets of Westminster to campaign against inheritance tax changes.
Speaking at the Country Land and Business Association (CLA) conference, Steve Reed said: “I heard the anguish of the countryside on the streets of London earlier this week. We may not agree over the inheritance tax changes, but this government is determined to listen to rural Britain and end its long decline.”
Continue reading...Perth businessman tells AGM he made ‘error in judgment’ as company’s executive pay plans are voted down
Embattled mining billionaire Chris Ellison has told shareholders he can’t stress enough “how much I hate what I’ve done” after a series of scandals engulfed the company he leads, Mineral Resources.
The Perth businessman has previously acknowledged he failed to disclose revenue generated by overseas entities to tax authorities earlier in his career. A company investigation later found he had also used business resources for his personal benefit.
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New South Wales MPs condemned for ‘part-time’ parliamentary year
Scores of NSW MPs will earn the equivalent of more than $10,000 per sitting week in 2025 after a bid to increase the year’s 16-week calendar was rejected, AAP reports.
To do this, government MPs have to turn up to parliament and discuss matters. Voters won’t be happy that government MPs would prefer to hide in their electorate offices rather than turning up to parliament, where they face scrutiny.
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Oxfam reacts to Australia’s Cop29 pledge
Oxfam Australia has welcomed the government’s Cop29 pledge of $50m towards a global loss and damage fund to help the world’s most vulnerable people to repair the damage from climate breakdown.
If climate change losses and damages are not included in the new global climate finance goal, the new fund for responding to loss and damage risks becoming an empty vessel.
The danger is that developed country governments will prioritise meeting the new and ambitious climate finance goal, and will not prioritise a fund that doesn’t count towards it.
Continue reading...Jeremy Clarkson tells Westminster protest that government should admit plans weren’t ‘thought out and are a mistake’
In an interview with the BBC, Steve Reed, the environment secretary, defended imposing inheritance tax on some farms when Labour said in opposition that it was not planning to do that. Asked why the government changed its mind, he replied:
After we won the election, we discovered that the Conservatives have left a £22bn black hole in the public finances. And if we want to fix our National Health Service, rebuild all schools, provide the affordable housing that rural communities and across the country rely on, then we’ve had to ask those with the broader shoulders to pay a little bit more.
I’m sure we all feel betrayed because of the state that the Conservatives left the economy in. A £22bn pound black hole isn’t a small problem. It’s massive, and fixing that is necessary if we want to stabilise the economy and rebuild our public services.
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First investment announced as part of National Reconstruction Fund
The science and industry minister, Ed Husic, was on ABC News Breakfast to discuss the government’s first investment via the National Reconstruction Fund – $40m to a Toowoomba mineral processing factory.
The difference in terms of what the [NRF] does is it provides loans, equity, and guarantees to firms that are [working across] seven priority areas to expand and grow their operations.
Given the sizes of the investments, it does take more time to be able to go through to shape up what the investment will look like, how big it’ll be, over what term, the rate of return – because the other important thing to stress to viewers is – this is not about handing out grants, and certainly not doing it on the basis of political colour-coded spreadsheets as we saw with the last government.
In fact, the social media users were less likely to have a negative attitude towards Jewish and Muslim people, irrespective of where they were on the political spectrum.
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Three million Australians are at risk of homelessness, a 63% increase since 2016, a new report from Homelessness NSW and Impact Economics has revealed.
By looking at household data including income, support and rental stress, the report found in 2022 there were 3.04m Australians now at risk of homelessness, an increase on the 1.87m reported in 2016.
1 in every five days the frontline services could not assist a family with children because they were so stretched.
Individuals without children were turned away 1 in every 2 days.
Unaccompanied young people and children without accommodation were turned away on 1 in 9 days.
I think more broadly, the government under Anthony Albanese has got an excellent record of managing relationships around the world, making genuine progress, whether it’s with China, whether it’s with American friends or others.
I think when it comes to Peter Dutton, I think he has a kind of a reckless arrogance which doesn’t lend itself to foreign policy and maintaining and managing some of these complex relationships.
I think he would be a risk to our economy, and that’s because that reckless arrogance, which has been a defining feature of his time as a politician over a long period of time now … [it] doesn’t lend itself to managing these relationships, which are so important to us.
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Watt says issue of reconciliation not closed in Australia despite voice referendum
Wrapping up the interview, Murray Watt was also asked about the haka performed in New Zealand parliament yesterday over a controversial bill that proposes to radically alter the way New Zealand’s treaty between Māori and the crown is interpreted.
I think there are many Australians who care very deeply about the rights of our First Peoples. Of course, Australians had their say on the voice to parliament in the recent referendum but I don’t think that means the issue of reconciliation is closed in Australia. That is something that our government remains committed to working on with our First Peoples and I think a lot of Australians support that as well.
I probably won’t comment on what’s happening in New Zealand because it’s their own affairs, but it shows these issues still really matter to people.
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Could Donald Trump really fire Kevin Rudd?
The former prime minister’s criticism of Donald Trump has drawn the ire of those in the president elect’s inner circle, and prompted renewed debate about whether the incoming administration could seek retribution.
I’d be very much opposed to that.
You’ve got the world’s richest man, and you’ve given him this position of incredible influence in the American government. I think jobs for mates is a very bad idea. I don’t think that politicians should be putting their friends, their dear friends into positions of great influence in this country.
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The treasurer, Jim Chalmers will today announce funding of $900m for states and territories through a new national productivity fund to boost competition and productivity across the economy.
Launching the plan in a speech to the Australian Business Economists in Sydney, Chalmers is hoping the plan will will incentivise states to achieve productivity gains through pro-competitive policies such as streamlining commercial planning and zoning, and removing barriers to the uptake of modern construction methods.
In March this year, on behalf of the Council on Federal Financial Relations, I asked the Productivity Commission to model the potential impacts of a revitalised NCP.
Its final report landed this month and the benefits on offer are substantial, if not staggering. The PC found a revitalised NCP could boost GDP by up to $45bn a year and reduce prices by 1.45 percentage points. That GDP boost represents about $5,000 per household, per year.
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Meteorologists are forecasting that thunderstorms will develop over large swathes of the country every day this week, and likely into next.
Ben Domensino from Weatherzone has outlined the forecast as follows:
Early in the week, showers and thunderstorms will target central, eastern, southern and southeastern Australia on Monday and Tuesday. Severe thunderstorms are likely in parts of NSW and [Queensland] on both days and are also possible in other states.
Storms will become more focussed on a broad arc stretching across Australia’s eastern and northern states and down into the WA interior through the middle of the week. Sydney, Brisbane and Canberra will all be at risk of severe thunderstorm activity on Wednesday.
Continue reading...Groups providing vital services say impact of tax and minimum wage rises will lead to cutbacks
Charities have warned of “life-changing consequences” for a million vulnerable children and adults as a result of cuts to state-funded disability services driven by tax changes and wage rises announced in the budget.
The Voluntary Organisations Disability Group (VODG), which represents 100 charities in England, said Rachel Reeves’s decision to raise employers’ national insurance contributions (NICs) had been “ill thought through” and would put many local charity services at risk.
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Racism, colonialism ‘driving Indigenous self-harm’
Australia’s dark colonial past and ongoing racism are driving self-harm in Indigenous communities, according to a respected Aboriginal psychologist.
That whole process has left communities suffering from intergenerational trauma, disadvantage and ongoing racism, as well as the exclusion from the benefits of society and a lack of acknowledgment and respect for their different cultural values.
We still want clinical approaches but we want to see culture at the centre of that.
In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org
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Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, who had some colourful moments in his relationship with Donald Trump in his first presidency, is up now being colourful on the ABC. He says the Australian prime minister “has to stand up for Australia and not follow the conventional approach, which is being urged on everyone, which is to suck up to Trump and be utterly deferential:
I had a very successful relationship with Trump because I stood up to him, stood my ground, incurred his wrath, won his respect, and then got very good outcomes for Australia.
He did sort of encourage a mob to try to overthrow the peaceful transfer of power in 2021, on January 6.
The deal that Morrison instigated and Albanese signed up to is a very, very asymmetrical deal. All of the risk was on Australia. We have no agency and no leverage over this, and that’s why I think the most likely outcome is we’ll end up with no submarines, and that will be entirely our own fault because we signed up to a dud deal.
We have been clear, in terms of the Liberal party leadership, that Peter Dutton and the Liberal party have no plans, no intentions, to see any changes to abortion laws, that we respect the states’ rights in that regard, and I am very clear in terms of my respect for women’s reproductive rights.
Continue reading...Former tax office employee who spoke publicly about the agency’s pursuit of debts has pleaded not guilty to all charges
A South Australian court’s decision that federal whistleblower protections do not grant immunity for criminal acts committed while gathering evidence will stand, after the high court refused Richard Boyle’s attempt to appeal it.
The decision on Thursday will mean Boyle, a former Australian Taxation Office official, will soon face a criminal trial in Adelaide for 24 offences, including the alleged use of his mobile phone to take photographs of taxpayer information and to covertly record conversations with colleagues.
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