O75 Public Administration

Up to 150 Australian tax office staff investigated over $2bn social media scam

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Original article by
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 14-Feb-24

The Australian Taxation Office has recovered more than $2bn via Operation Protego, which was set to investigate fraudulent claims for goods and services tax refunds. An additional $2.7bn in GST refunds was stopped just before payment was made. An auditor-general’s report has revealed that 57,000 people were involved in the scam, including about 150 employees of the ATO. There had been more than 100 arrests and 16 convictions over the same as of August 2023.

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AUSTRALIAN TAXATION OFFICE

Australian unemployment virtually unchanged in January but overall unemployment and under-employment at 3 million (19.3% of workforce)

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 14-Feb-24

In January 2024, Australian ‘real’ unemployment was virtually unchanged at 1,382,000 (8.9% of the workforce), and an additional 1,618,000 (10.4%) were under-employed. In total, 3 million Australians (19.3%) were unemployed or under-employed in January. Although unemployment and under-employment remain high, there has been a surge in employment over the last year – up by 732,000 to 14,150,000. This is the largest annual increase in employment since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, employment dropped 25,000 to 14,150,000 in January. Full-time employment drove the decrease (down 37,000 to 9,205,000), while part-time employment increased 12,000 to 4,945,000. The workforce in January was 15,532,000 (down 7,000 from December, but up 507,000 from a year ago). Roy Morgan’s unemployment figure of 8.9% is more than double the ABS estimate of 3.9% for December, but is comparable with the combined ABS unemployment and under-employment figure of 10.4%. The January Roy Morgan Unemployment estimates were obtained by surveying an Australia-wide cross section of people aged 14+.

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ROY MORGAN LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS

Multi-employer laws a danger to industry: miners

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 14-Feb-24

The Minerals Council of Australia will oppose a union’s push for a multi-employer enterprise agreement at five coal mines in NSW. The Collieries’ Staff & Officials Association recently applied to the Fair Work Commission to commence negotiations over a new enterprise agreement for mine supervisors at sites operated by Peabody Energy, Glencore, Whitehaven, Delta and Wollongong Resources. MCA CEO Tania Constable says each company has its own cost structures, business models and operating environments, and they not be "roped together" simply because they all produce coal.

CORPORATES
MINERALS COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA, COLLIERIES’ STAFF AND OFFICIALS ASSOCIATION, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, PEABODY ENERGY AUSTRALIA COAL PTY LTD, GLENCORE AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, WHITEHAVEN COAL LIMITED – ASX WHC, DELTA ENERGY PTY LTD, WOLLONGONG RESOURCES

ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence drops 1.2pts to 82.6

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 14-Feb-24

ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence fell 1.2pts to 82.6 in the week to 11 February; it has now spent a record 54 straight weeks below the mark of 85. Consumer Confidence is now 4.5 points above the same week a year ago (78.1), but 1.2 points below the 2024 weekly average of 83.8. Analysis by housing status shows the biggest drop this week (down 5.2pts) was for people who own their own home. Consumer Confidence was up in Victoria, Western Australia and South Australia, but down in both New South Wales and Queensland. Now 19% of Australians (down 2ppts) say their families are ‘better off’ financially than this time last year, while 52% (unchanged) say their families are ‘worse off’. Looking forward, 32% (down 1ppt) of Australians expect their family to be ‘better off’ financially this time next year, while 34% (up 1ppt) expect to be ‘worse off’. Now 12% (up 1ppt) of Australians now expect ‘good times’ for the Australian economy over the next 12 months (the highest figure for this indicator since April 2022), while 29% (down 1ppt) expect ‘bad times’ (the lowest figure for this indicator since May 2022). Meanwhile, 21% (down 2ppts) of Australians say now is a ‘good time to buy’ major household items, while 51% (up 2ppts) say now is a ‘bad time to buy’.

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ROY MORGAN LIMITED, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ

Frontline workers lose under Labor’s tax cuts

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Original article by Patrick Commins, Geoff Chambers, Geoff Chambers
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 14-Feb-24

Analysis suggests that essential workers will benefit in the short-term from the federal government’s changes to the legislated stage-three tax cuts. However, so-called ‘bracket creep’ means that many middle-income earners will be paying more tax in 10 years’ time. They include school principals, police officers, electricians and paramedics. Meanwhile, a report from S&P Global has concluded that the government’s changes could be "marginally" more inflationary than the original version of the package, given that they will return more money to low- and middle-income earners.

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S&P GLOBAL INCORPORATED

Albanese slaps down Greens over juvenile negative gearing demand

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Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 13-Feb-24

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has ruled out making changes to the negative gearing regime and the capital gains tax discount in order to secure the Greens’ support for its Help To Buy shared equity scheme for first-home buyers. Albanese says the federal government will not be open to negotiation, and he has criticised the Greens’ "juvenile approach" to the issue of negative gearing. The government was previously forced to make concessions in 2023 to secure the Greens’ support for its Housing Australia Future Fund. The Opposition intends to vote against the shared equity scheme.

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AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIAN GREENS

PM vows to crack down on doxxing

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Original article by Joe Kelly, Jess Malcolm, Ben Packham
The Australian – Page: 1 & 2 : 13-Feb-24

The federal government will criminalise ‘doxxing’ as part of an overhaul of the Privacy Act, after the personal details of 600 Jewish people in the nation’s creative industries were published online. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says it is "completely unacceptable" for Australians to be targeted due to their religion or faith. Anti-Defamation Commission chairman Dvir Abramovich says the laws are urgently needed, adding that the deliberate online targeting of Jewish people constitutes "digital terrorism". Meanwhile, the government has come under scrutiny for taking until 2 February to declare the mass killing of Israelis in October 2023 as a terrorist attack.

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AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, ANTI-DEFAMATION COMMISSION

Federal auditor to probe Labor’s $2.2b rail plan

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Original article by Gus McCubbing
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 6 : 13-Feb-24

A Senate estimates hearing has been told that Auditor-General Grant Hehir will examine the federal government’s $2.2 billion commitment to Victoria’s Suburban Rail Loop project. Hehir will look at whether this commitment represents value for money and if it was "informed by appropriate departmental advice". Department of Infrastructure secretary Jim Betts said the department will co-operate fully with Hehir’s investigation. Marion Terrill, former director of the Grattan Institute’s Transport and Cities Program, has welcomed the investigation, stating that big projects require more rather than less scrutiny.

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AUSTRALIA. OFFICE OF THE AUDITOR-GENERAL, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF INFRASTRUCTURE, TRANSPORT, REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT, COMMUNICATIONS AND THE ARTS, GRATTAN INSTITUTE

Staff disconnects from Tony Burke’s own office

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Original article by Joe Kelly
The Australian – Page: 5 : 13-Feb-24

The Department of Employment & Workplace Relations has disclosed that 36 per cent of its employees had an approved working from home arrangement at the end of October 2023. However, an Australian Public Service employee census survey shows that 72 per cent of the department’s staff had worked remotely at some point during 2023, including on an informal or ad hoc basis. The release of this data has coincided with the federal government’s push to introduce a legislated right for employees to ‘disconnect’ from their workplace outside of their designated working hours. Meanwhile, some 57 per cent of employees across the public service who completed the survey had access to working from home arrangements in 2023, compared with 46 per cent in 2021.

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AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF EMPLOYMENT AND WORKPLACE RELATIONS

Joyce leadership hopes take a tumble

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Original article by Jess Malcolm, Rhiannon Down
The Australian – Page: 5 : 13-Feb-24

National Party leader David Littleproud says shadow veterans’ affairs minister Barnaby Joyce will be supported rather than reprimanded in the wake of an incident in Canberra. Littleproud says Joyce is "deeply embarrassed" about the incident, in which he was filmed lying on a pavement while making a profanity-laden phone call. Joyce has acknowledged that he should not have mixed alcohol with prescription medication. However, some Nationals MPs have suggested that he now has little chance of regaining the party’s leadership.

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NATIONAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA