O75 Public Administration

Taylor vows costings will beat Labor’s

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Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 4 : 15-Apr-25

Shadow treasurer Angus Taylor says the Coalition will not adopt Labor’s policy that would involve an optional $1,000 tax deduction for work-related expenses, which is slated to cost $2.4 billion over four years. Taylor says this is because the Coalition’s election spending promises that aim to ease cost-of-living measures are temporary ones, whereas he says Labor is focused on recurrent spending, and that the Coalition’s costings will result in a stronger bottom line than under Labor because of their temporary nature. His comments were echoed by Opposition Leader Peter Dutton on Monday, who likened the Coalition’s temporary measures to the government assistance that was issued during the pandemic.

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AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

Leaders to resist Trump on China

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Original article by Matthew Cranston, Simon Benson, Ben Packham, Will Glasgow
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 11-Apr-25

Australian Chamber of Commerce & Industry CEO Andrew McKellar has called on the federal government to not give in to possible demands from the Trump administration to impose trade restrictions on China. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says the government’s view is that free and fair trade is a good thing, and that Australia’s trade relationship with China is an important one. Opposition leader Peter Dutton says Australia needs to have a strong trading relationship with China, while Trade Minister Don Farrell has restarted negotiations with the European Union on a free-trade agreement.

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AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND TRADE

Trump admits transition problems as White House says tariffs on China actually 145 per cent

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Original article by
The Australian – Page: Online : 11-Apr-25

Donald Trump chaired a televised cabinet meeting on Thursday US time, during which he admitted there were "transition problems" with his tariff plan, as US shares fell again over the growing trade war between the US and China. The White House has clarified that tariffs imposed on China by Trump added up to 145 per cent, not 125 per cent, while Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said in a post on X that the Xi Jinping-led government would not back down against the US, and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said that "all options remain on the table" in terms of potential EU tariffs against the US.

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EUROPEAN COMMISSION

ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence up 1.5pts to 86.8 in early April after Federal Budget and Election date is set

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 9-Apr-25

ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence rose 1.5pts to 86.8 in the week to 4 April. Consumer Confidence is now 4.9 points above the same week a year ago (81.9), and in line with the 2025 weekly average of 86.5. Analysis by State shows that there were increases in Victoria and Western Australia, small declines in New South Wales and Queensland, and no change in South Australia. Now 19% of Australians (down 2ppts) say their families are ‘better off’ financially than this time last year, while 45% (unchanged) say their families are ‘worse off’. Looking forward, 30% (up 2ppts) of Australians expect their family to be ‘better off’ financially this time next year, while 28% (down 1ppt) expect to be ‘worse off’. Now 12% (up 2ppts) of Australians expect ‘good times’ for the Australian economy over the next 12 months (the highest figure for this indicator since July 2024), while 28% (down 2ppts) expect ‘bad times’. Meanwhile, 20% (down 3ppts) of Australians say now is a ‘good time to buy’ major household items, while 39% (unchanged) say now is a ‘bad time to buy’.

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ROY MORGAN LIMITEDAUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ

Roy Morgan Business Confidence drops 2.5pts to 106.0 in March despite interest rate cut in February

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 9-Apr-25

In March 2025, Roy Morgan Business Confidence was down 2.5pts to 106.0, despite the Reserve Bank cutting interest rates for the first time in over four years in mid-February. Business Confidence is now 4.3pts below the long-term average of 110.3, although it is up 7pts from March 2024. Business Confidence has now had a positive rating above 105 for six months in a row – the first time this has happened since July 2021. Now 60.7% (down 1.1ppts) of businesses expect ‘good times’ for the Australian economy over the next year, while 34.3% (down 0.8ppts) expect ‘bad times’ (the lowest figure for this indicator since February 2022). Meanwhile, 44.8% (unchanged) of businesses expect the business to be ‘better off’ financially this time next year, while only 17.3% (up 0.9ppts) expect the business to be ‘worse off’ financially. The latest Roy Morgan Business Confidence results for March are based on 1,481 detailed interviews with a cross-section of Australian businesses from each State and Territory.

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ROY MORGAN LIMITED

Dutton’s gas blast to cut bills

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Original article by Geoff ChambersMatthew Cranston
The Australian – Page: 1 & 8 : 9-Apr-25

Opposition leader Peter Dutton has released Frontier Economics’ modelling of the Coalition’s domestic gas reservation policy. It concludes that wholesale gas prices would fall by 23 per cent if LNG producers are required to redirect an additional 10-20 per cent of their output to the domestic market. This would in turn reduce households’ gas bills by about seven per cent. The cost of gas for large industrial users would fall by 15 per cent, which would have a flow-on effect across the economy. The Coalition’s gas reservation plan includes a $400m levy on east coast LNG producers in the first year; the levy is intended to cover the gap ­between the Coalition’s proposed domestic price of $10 a gigajoule and the LNG net back price.

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LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA

Labor lifts spending higher than Covid years

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Original article by Simon BensonJack QuailPerry Williams
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 9-Apr-25

Federal government spending per capita peaked at $25,500 during the pandemic. However, analysis of the recent budget suggests that this will rise to $30,100 by 2029. This would be the highest per-capita spending in the nation’s history, and it is 27.2 per cent higher than the per capita expenditure of $23,700 in the former Coalition government’s last budget in 2021-22. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has defended his government’s economic credentials, arguing that inflation has fallen from a peak of 7.8 per cent to just 2.4 per cent and wages have increased for the last five quarters. Meanwhile, 44 out of 100 undecided voters have deemed Albanese to be the winner of the first leaders’ debate; 35 said Opposition leader Peter Dutton won, and 21 were undecided.

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AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINETLIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA

Emergency RBA rate cut could cause panic

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Original article by Matthew CranstonJack Quail
The Australian – Page: 4 : 9-Apr-25

The Reserve Bank of Australia is believed to have ruled out an emergency board meeting in response to the global financial market turmoil in the wake of the Trump administration’s tariffs policy. Former RBA governor Bernie Fraser has advocated bringing forward the next board meeting to reduce the cash rate by 50 basis points. However, the RBA is expected to retain its existing schedule, with its next board meeting to be held on 19-20 May. Harvey Norman’s chairman Gerry Harvey contends that a large interest rate cut is not necessary and would merely weigh on financial market and consumer sentiment.

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RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIAHARVEY NORMAN HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX HVN

Trump’s trade chief admits US running up the score with tariffs on Australia

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Original article by Michael Koziol
The Age – Page: Online : 9-Apr-25

US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer has defended the Trump administration’s decision to impose a baseline tariff of 10 per cent on Australian imports. Democrats senator Mark Warner asked Greer why the US would do so, given that the US has a trade surplus with Australia and the two nations are close allies. Greer argued that Australia will be subject to the lowest tariff rate, adding that the government needs to reduce the $US1.2trn trade deficit that it inherited from the Biden administration. He stated that the US should be "running up the score on Australia", implying that it could use a bigger surplus with Australia to offset its trade deficits elsewhere. Meanwhile, the US has advised that cumulative tariffs of 104 per cent on Chinese imports will take effect on Wednesday.

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UNITED STATES. OFFICE OF TRADE REPRESENTATIVES

Marles stays mum on US role in port U-turn

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Original article by Ronald Mizen
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 5 : 8-Apr-25

The federal government continues to attract scrutiny over its decision to terminate a Chinese company’s 99-year on the Port of Darwin if it wins the 3 May election. A review of the lease in 2023 had concluded that it was not necessary to vary or cancel Landbridge’s lease. Defence Minister Richard Marles addressed a press conference on Monday, but he declined to elaborate on why Labor’s position on the port lease has changed. Marles said the government has had discussions with US regarding the lease, and also decline to comment on whether this contributed to Labor’s new stance. Labor pre-empted Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s own announcement on cancelling Landbridge’s lease.

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AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF DEFENCE, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, LANDBRIDGE GROUP COMPANY LIMITED, PORT OF DARWIN, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA