O75 Public Administration

Allan refuses to reveal details behind Covid curfew call

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Original article by Carly Douglas
Herald Sun – Page: Online : 24-Apr-25

The Victorian government is under scrutiny in the wake of revelations that the decision to impose a two-month curfew on Melbourne residents at the peak of COVID-19 in 2020 was not based on public health advice. The documents obtained via freedom of information laws show that the decision to enforce the curfew was made at a meeting of the government’s crisis cabinet. Premier Jacinta Allan was asked about the curfew at a press conference on Wednesday, but she avoided giving any explaination as to who proposed the curfew and which members of the cabinet had supported it.

CORPORATES
VICTORIA. DEPT OF PREMIER AND CABINET

Labor spends more than Coalition on election TV ads but Palmer’s Trumpet of Patriots leads YouTube outlay

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Original article by Amanda Meade, Henry Belot
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 24-Apr-25

Data shows that Labor has spent $5.8m on free-to-air and subscription TV advertising so far during the federal election campaign, while Clive Palmer’s Trumpet of Patriots party has spend $5.6m. In contrast, the Coalition has spent just $4.2m on broadcast TV advertising to date. The major political parties have also embraced social media, with Labor having spent nearly $700,000 to advertise on Facebook and Instagram since the election began; the Liberal Party has in turn spent $385,266 on these two platforms. Meanwhile, the Coalition has spent $2.3m on YouTube advertising, while Labor has spent $2m and Trumpet of Patriots has spent $4m.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, NATIONAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, TRUMPET OF PATRIOTS

Australians rush to cast early votes in record numbers

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Original article by Shane Wright
The Sydney Morning Herald – Page: Online : 24-Apr-25

Data from the Australian Electoral Commission shows that a record 542,000 people voted on Tuesday, when pre-poll voting began. This compares with just 314,000 on the first day of pre-poll voting in 2022. The AEC has also sent out ballot papers to 2.2 million people who have registered for a postal vote. The growing shift to early voting – just 46 per cent of Australians voted on the actual election day in 2022 – has implications for the major political parties and individual candidates, given that some key policies have not yet been announced. The total cost of each party’s policies are also typically released in the last week of an election campaign.

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AUSTRALIAN ELECTORAL COMMISSION

Super tax plan risks $25bn exodus

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Original article by Matthew Cranston
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 24-Apr-25

Financial services industry veteran Geoff Wilson says Labor’s proposed tax on the unrealised capital gains of superannuation funds is the ‘sleeper’ issue of the federal election campaign. He adds that the policy should be enough for Labor to lose office on 3 May. Labor intends to set the threshold at $3m, but the Greens will demand that it be reduced to $2m in return for supporting it. Wilson says he is receiving enquires from clients about shifting money from self-managed super funds into property due to concerns about the proposed tax, and he estimates that around 24,500 members of SMSFs could seek to withdraw money to avoid the threshold.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIAN GREENS

ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence increases 1.3pts to 85.5 as Australians enjoy Easter holidays

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 24-Apr-25

ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence rose 1.3pts to 85.5 in the week to 20 April. Consumer Confidence is now 5.2 points above the same week a year ago (80.3), but it is 0.8pts below the 2025 weekly average of 86.3. Analysis by State shows mixed results, with the weekly increase driven by rising confidence in Queensland and Western Australia; however, Consumer Confidence was unchanged in Victoria, and down slightly in New South Wales and South Australia. Now 16% of Australians (down 4ppts) say their families are ‘better off’ financially than this time last year, while 46% (down 1ppt) say their families are ‘worse off’. Looking forward, 29% (up 1ppt) of Australians expect their family to be ‘better off’ financially this time next year, while 26% (down 4ppts) expect to be ‘worse off’ (the lowest figure for this indicator since May 2022). Now 10% (unchanged) of Australians expect ‘good times’ for the Australian economy over the next 12 months, while 29% (down 4ppts) expect ‘bad times’. Meanwhile, 22% (unchanged) of Australians say now is a ‘good time to buy’ major household items, while 40% (also unchanged) say now is a ‘bad time to buy’.

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

Income tax rise to fund Dutton’s $21b for defence

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Original article by Michael Read, Andrew Tillett
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 5 : 24-Apr-25

Opposition leader Peter Dutton has justified his decision to delay announcing his defence policy until the final weeks of the election campaign. Dutton says he wanted to wait until the Coalition had a better understanding of the state of the nation’s finances and how much money it could spend on defence if it wins the 3 May election. Dutton has confirmed that a Coalition government would aim to increase defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP over five years, and three per cent over the next decade. He has also revealed that the proposed $21bn increase in defence spending will be funded by repealing the ‘top-up’ income tax cuts that Labor unveiled in its pre-election budget in March, and which are slated to take effect in mid-2026.

CORPORATES
LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

Dutton in U-turn on EV tax break

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Original article by Jack Quail, Greg Brown
The Australian – Page: 5 : 24-Apr-25

Opposition leader Peter Dutton issued a statement on Wednesday in which he committed to scrapping the fringe benefits tax exemption for people who buy electric vehicles. Dutton stated that abolishing the "badly designed" electric car subsidies will generate up to $3bn worth of savings over the forward estimates period and $23bn over the medium-term. However, Dutton had explicity ruled out abolishing the tax break on Monday. A Coalition source has suggested that Dutton might have misheard the question about the tax break on Monday. Dutton had previously backflipped regarding the Coalition’s policy of requiring federal public servants to return to working in the office full-time.

CORPORATES
LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA

‘Minerals for mates’: PM digs in

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Original article by Greg Brown
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 24-Apr-25

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says the federal government’s proposed strategic reserve of critical minerals and rare earths will make Australia "stronger and safer" in a time of global uncertainty. Albanese will announce details of the proposed national stockpile today; it will aim to ensure that such minerals are available to both local manufacturers and key allies, such as Japan, South Korea and the US. The government is expected to use the strategic reserve as a bargaining chip to negotiate an exemption from the Trump administration’s tariffs regime. The strategic reserve is also aimed at reducing China’s market dominance in the global supply of rare earths and critical minerals.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET

Housing crisis puts even safest seats at risk

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Original article by Ronald Mizen, Nila Sweeney, Tom Rabe
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 23-Apr-25

Analysis of data from Cotality suggests that the housing affordability crisis could potentially undermine support for the Coalition and Labor in traditionally safe seats at the election on 3 May. The analysis shows that a number of such seats have recorded the biggest decline in housing affordability since the previous federal election in 2022. They include the Labor seats of Watson, Blaxland and Kingsford Smith, and Coalition-held seats such as Banks and Moncrieff. Both major parties have announced new initiatives aimed at helping people to buy their own home.

CORPORATES
COTALITY, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, NATIONAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA

Dutton’s march to a war footing

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Original article by Ben Packham, Greg Sheridan
The Australian – Page: 1 & 6 : 23-Apr-25

Opposition leader Peter Dutton will announce details of the Coalition’s defence policy in Perth today. Amongst other things, the Coalition will propose to increase defence spending to 2.4 per cent of GDP by the fourth year of the budget’s forward estimates period, and to 2.5 per cent of GDP by 2030. The Coalition’s ultimate aim will be to lift defence expenditure to three per cent of GDP over the next decade, in line with the Trump administration’s push for America’s allies to meet this benchmark. The Coalition will also commission a new national security strategy, with Dutton noting that the world has changed significantly since the last such strategy was prepared a decade ago.

CORPORATES
LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA