O75 Public Administration

Gaza protests: business braces for more pain

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Original article by Patrick Durkin
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 16-Apr-24

Pro-Palestine protestors sought to block "the arteries of capitalism" in a number of Australian cities on Monday, with ports, train stations and CBDs among their targets. Victorian police stated that 14 protestors were arrested in Melbourne, including 12 near the Boeing factory in Port Melbourne, where a road was blocked. Another two were arrested for tampering with traffic lights in Carlton, with Victorian Chamber of Commerce & Industry CEO Paul Guerra saying blocking roads and interfering with traffic lights is "dangerous, insensitive and disrespectful". Victorian’s Opposition leader John Pesutto says people have a right to protest, but in a peaceful way, and that the protestors on Monday were giving democracy a bad name.

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VICTORIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY, LIBERAL PARTY OF VICTORIA

US-Japan strategy flags ADF Patriot gains

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Original article by Ben Packham
The Australian – Page: 1 & 2 : 12-Apr-24

President Joe Biden has announced a trilateral air defence network involving the US, Japan and Australia, following a summit meeting in Washington with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. The new strategy will give Australia access to US and Japanese knowledge and hardware for the Australian Defence Force’s proposed air and missile defence system, which is in the early stages of development with Lockheed Martin. Professor Peter Dean, who was co-lead of the 2023 Defence Strategic Review, says the new strategy puts Australia on track to acquire Patriot aerial interceptor missiles.

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UNITED STATES. EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT, AUSTRALIAN DEFENCE FORCE, LOCKHEED MARTIN CORPORATION

Anti far-right campaigners say Labor’s anti-doxxing laws could be weaponised

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Original article by Josh Taylor
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 12-Apr-24

The federal government is looking at legislating to make doxxing a criminal offence, as well as the right to sue for serious invasion of privacy. It comes after a spreadsheet containing the names, professions and social media accounts of 600 Australian Jewish writers and artists who were members of a WhatsApp group was posted online; it was posted in response to some group members actively targeting pro-Palestinian writers and their publishers over their coverage of the Israel-Gaza conflict. In its submission on the proposed laws, the White Rose Society, which routinely investigates neo-Nazi groups and unmasks those groups in its reporting, claimed that not all doxxing is harmful, and that exposing such groups for the purpose of community and public safety is an important service.

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‘Seize the moment’, Assange family tells PM

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Original article by Andrew Tillett
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 8 : 12-Apr-24

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has welcomed indications that US espionage charges against Wikileaks founder Julian Assange could be dropped. President Joe Biden say he is considering a request from Australia to drop the charges, and Albanese says these comments are "encouraging". He adds that Assange has already paid a significant price and there is nothing to be gained by his continued incarceration. The family of Assange has urged the federal government to keep lobbying the Biden administration to drop the charges and its push to extradite him to the US Assange has now spent five years in Britain’s Belmarsh prison; he had previously live in the Ecuador embassy for seven years after requesting political asylum.

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WIKILEAKS, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, UNITED STATES. EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT

PM’s plan risks forever subsidies

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Original article by Michael Read, Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 4 : 12-Apr-24

Productivity Commission chair Danielle Wood has warned that the federal government’s Future Made in Australia Act will have an economic cost. The government will provide incentives and subsidies to encourage local manufacturing, but Wood contends that the Act must include a mechanism for winding back this financial support in order to avoid having businesses become reliant on government subsidies. Meanwhile, Opposition leader Peter Dutton says local manufacturers are going broke or relocating offshore due to factors such as high energy costs and the government’s industrial relations regime.

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AUSTRALIA. PRODUCTIVITY COMMISSION, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA

Bridget Archer leads criticism after Peter Dutton compares pro-Palestine protest to Port Arthur massacre

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Original article by Sarah Basford Canales, Luca Ittimani
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 12-Apr-24

Opposition leader Peter Dutton is under growing scrutiny over a recent speech in which he raised concern about the growing incidence of anti-Semitism in Australia. Liberal backbencher Bridget Archer has questioned the appropriateness of Dutton’s comment in which he said that pro-Palestine protests at the Sydney Opera House on 9 October were "akin to a Port Arthur moment in terms of their social significance". Archer says this comment was "incredibly disrespectful" to the victims and survivors of the Port Arthur massacre, while Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says Dutton "went too far". Dutton says he was referring to former prime minister John Howard’s strength as a leader; the Port Arthur massacre resulting in stricter gun laws in Australia.

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LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET

Chinese Premier Li Qiang tipped to visit Canberra in June

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Original article by Michael Smith, Andrew Tillett
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 11 : 12-Apr-24

The office of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has declined to comment on reports that Chinese Premier Li Qiang will visit Australia in June. He would be the most senior Chinese leader to visit Australia since his predecessor Li Keqiang in 2017. Warwick Smith from the Business Council of Australia says a June trip would be logical, as it would coincide with the Australia China Business Dialogue in Sydney. The Chinese media reports also suggested that the ban on Australian lobster exports will be lifted during the visit. China recently scrapped its punitive tariff on Australian wine.

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AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, BUSINESS COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA

Labor using population surge for jobs spin

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Original article by Geoff Chambers
The Australian – Page: 2 : 10-Apr-24

The federal government recently claimed that it has created about 790,000 new jobs since it won the May 2022 election. This is an average of 1,220 jobs per day, which Labor says is the highest of any government. However, shadow treasurer Angus Taylor contends that the growth in jobs merely reflects the fact that Australia’s adult population has increased by more than one million people since Labor took office, which is equivalent to an average of 1,369 per day. He adds that immigration is the only thing keeping the economy going at present. Taylor also notes that nearly one million people are now working a ­second or third job due to the cost-of-living crisis.

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AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA

Labor turns screw on mergers

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Original article by Ronald Mizen
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 6 : 10-Apr-24

The federal government will give the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission new powers to block merger deals in reforms to be announced by Treasurer Jim Chalmers today. He contends that the existing competition laws do not adequately address ‘serial acquisitions’ by large companies and acquisitions that entrench the power of market leaders. The reforms will not be as extensive as ACCC chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb wanted. She has pushed for merger partners to be required to satisfy the ACCC that the deal is unlikely to substantially lessen competition. However, the ACCC will have to be reasonably satisfied that a merger is likely to substantially lessen competition in order to block a deal.

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AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY

NDIS cost shifting criminal: Shorten

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Original article by Christine Middap, Ellie Dudley, Stephen Lunn
The Australian – Page: 1 & 6 : 10-Apr-24

The federal government has flagged a crackdown on the use of the National Disability Insurance Scheme by convicted criminals. NDIS Minister Bill Shorten has responded to revelations that one of the nation’s worst serial sex offenders will receive an NDIS support package when he is released from prison. Shorten says the government does not believe that it is appropriate for this person to receive NDIS funding. He adds that state governments should not use the NDIS as a ‘dumping ground’ to fund support for violent criminals, contending that providing them with such services is the responsibility of state justice and corrections departments.

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AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF SOCIAL SERVICES