AUSTRALIA – POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT

Green goal shattered as Bowen faces COP heat

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Original article by Perry Williams, Richard Ferguson
The Australian – Page: 1 & 5 : 16-Sep-26

Modelling suggests that renewables will account for just 53 per cent of Australia’s electricity generation by 2030, well below the federal government’s target of 82 per cent. This projection is based on the number of renewable energy projects that were being built at the end of June; the modelling shows that although sufficient renewable energy and battery-storage projects have been proposed to reach the 2030 target, not enough of them will be completed by this date. Meanwhile, Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen’s Turkish counterpart and COP31 president Murat Kurum says his nation will make final decisions regarding the climate summit. Kurum says Bowen is only the president of negotiations.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF CLIMATE CHANGE, ENERGY, THE ENVIRONMENT AND WATER

No east coast gas crisis: Santos

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Original article by Colin Packham
The Australian – Page: 13 & 19 : 9-Sep-26

Santos CEO Kevin Gallagher will address the National Press Club in Canberra today; he will use the speech to contend that Australia’s east coast is not facing an imminent gas crisis and that it will have adequate supplies until at least 2030. He will also reject claims that Queensland’s LNG export industry has caused supply issues for the east coast market. Gallagher will in turn urge the federal government to make changes to its proposed domestic gas reservation scheme, arguing that the "must sell" clause on reserved gas should be replaced by an obligation for producers to offer gas to the domestic market on commercial terms.

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SANTOS LIMITED – ASX STO

Audit office to take a look after Labor accused of sports rorts pork-barrelling

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Original article by Rob Harris, Paul Sakkal
The Age – Page: Online : 9-Sep-26

The Australian National Audit Office will examine the allocation of funding via the federal government’s Major and Local Community Infrastructure Program. Auditor-General Caralee McLiesh says it will then decide whether to undertake a full audit of the "invitation-only" $560m scheme, which was established prior to the 2025 federal election with the aim of funding community projects. Analysis by the Centre for Public Integrity has found that 73.2 per cent of the program’s funding was allocated to safe Labor seats and marginal electorates that Labor wanted to win. It has also been revealed that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese failed to declare an honorary membership of the Marrickville Golf Club on his parliamentary register of interests; the club was promised a $6m grant via the infrastructure program. The ANAO will also decide whether to audit a $170m government program for multicultural communities; about 85 per cent of funding was allocated to Labor-held seats.

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AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL AUDIT OFFICE, AUSTRALIA. OFFICE OF THE AUDITOR-GENERAL, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET

‘Abusing his power’: Pauline Hanson accuses Anthony Albanese of acting like an emperor by refusing to allocate staff to One Nation

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Original article by Laurence Karacsony
News24 – Page: Online : 2-Sep-26

One Nation currently has two MPs and four senators, but the populist party has been allocated just four advisers. In contrast, the Greens’ 11 federal parliamentarians have been allocated a total of 17 advisers. One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has been embroiled in a long-running dispute with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese over the allocation of staffers; she has accused Albanese of "abusing his power" by understaffing One Nation, and contends that he is doing so to halt the party’s rise against Labor. Hanson says she has asked for a "fair allocation" of nine advisers, noting that this would still be less than the Greens’ ratio.

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

Labor’s social media rules a belated patch-up: Reddit

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Original article by Paul Karp
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 8 : 2-Sep-26

Reddit recently launched a constitutional challenge to the federal government’s landmark ban on the use of social media platform by people under the age of 16. Amongst other things, Reddit has contended that the ban breaches the implied freedom of political communication, because social media is an important source of news and a platform for civic engagement. Reddit is one of the 10 social media platforms that are included in the ban; it has accused Communications Minister Anika Wells of rewriting the rules for the ban as a "patch-up job" to boost its defence of the policy in response to the legal challenge.

CORPORATES
REDDIT INCORPORATED, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF INFRASTRUCTURE, TRANSPORT, REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT, COMMUNICATIONS AND THE ARTS

‘Consequences’: China strongarms Pacific

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Original article by Ben Packham
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 2-Sep-26

Taiwan has had a presence at the annual Pacific Islands Forum summit since 1993 as a ‘development partner’, with the exception of last year’s summit. However, China’s warning that Taiwan’s participation in the 2026 summit in Palau will have "consequences" has prompted Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to state that "the Pacific Islands Forum determines what happens here, not any other country". Only three of the Forum’s 18 members recognise Taiwan as an independent country, while Papua New Guinea contends that Taiwan’s participation in the forum is "inappropriate". Meanwhile, the federal government is set to allocate $600m to target drug trafficking in the region.

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AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, PACIFIC ISLANDS FORUM

Super tax puts SMSFs on red alert

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Original article by Matthew Cranston
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 5 : 26-Aug-26

The federal government is under growing pressure to make further changes to its tax reforms following revelations about their potential impact on superannuation funds that have exposure to managed investment trusts. The SMSF Association has warned that "hundreds of thousands" of self-managed super funds will face higher effective tax rates due to the new rules, which place restrictions on how managed investment trusts can offset capital gains and losses. CEO Peter Burgess notes that the latest data from the Australian Taxation Office shows that SMSFs allocated some $264bn to listed, unlisted and ‘other managed investments’ which could potentially be impacted by the tax changes.

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SMSF ASSOCIATION, AUSTRALIAN TAXATION OFFICE

Mediocre nation: business warns of competition crisis as Labor unrest grows

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Original article by Geoff Chambers, Sarah Ison
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 26-Aug-26

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese delivered the keynote speech at the Business Council of Australia’ annual dinner last night. He emphasised the need for business and the federal government to work together to keep the economy and democracy strong amid the rise of populism, and argued that Labor’s property tax reforms are the key to fighting populism and ensuring prosperity. Meanwhile, BCA president Geoff Culbert said every policy decision has consequences for business, investment and all Australians. Noting that the nation now ranks rank 21st out of 42 nations on the Competitiveness Index, he has called for action to reverse this, including more competitive tax rates, reduced red tape and government spending, and an overhaul of the planning system.

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

Controversial NDIS bill passes Senate with substantial amendments as Labor and Coalition strike deal

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Original article by Sarah Basford Canales
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 19-Aug-26

Independent senator David Pocock says the federal government’s amendments to its National Disability Insurance Scheme reform bill have improved the legislation. However, Pococks adds that he still does not support the bill, due to measures such as a reduction in funding for NDIS participants’ social and community participation. The Senate passed the bill last night without Pocock’s support, after the Coalition agreed to back the government’s amendments. The bill will be put to a final vote in the lower house today, while legislation to repeal the so-called ‘widow tax’ is also expected to be passed; the Coalition had previously stated that its support for the NDIS reforms was conditional on removing the controversial tax.

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Tech tax changes could spur job losses at Nine, News Corp

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Original article by Zoe Samios
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 5-Aug-26

The federal government’s changes to its News Bargaining Incentive will allow technology companies to offset a tax levy by securing commercial deals with at least six local media groups. However, the tax offset with each news pubisher will be capped at 16.7 per cent of the digital platform’s tax liability; this means there will be no incentive for them to provide more funding to one media company than another. Nine Entertainment’s CEO Matt Stanton says there could be more job losses in the media sector if the bill is passed by parliament in its current form, because it penalises media groups that have invested more in quality journalism than their peers. News Corp Australia has expressed similar concerns.

CORPORATES
NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS