AUSTRALIA – POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT

Fire inquiry accepts climate link: Morrison

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Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 6-Feb-20

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has advised that former defence force chief Mark Binskin will head the federal government’s bushfires royal commission. Morrison says the inquiry will proceed on the basis that climate change is real and contributed to the scale and severity of the bushfires. National Party leader Michael McCormack says that while human activity has contributed to climate change, it is the role of scientists to determine the extent of this. Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton in turn has pointed to arson as one of the causes of the bushfires.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, NATIONAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF HOME AFFAIRS

Greens want coal levy to fund more paid firefighters

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Original article by Judith Ireland
The Sydney Morning Herald – Page: Online : 6-Feb-20

Greens leader Adam Bandt has proposed the introduction of a levy on coal, gas and oil producers. The levy would be priced at $1 per tonne of carbon dioxide and would raise about $1.5bn a year. Most of the proceeds would be used to hire nearly 16,000 additional paid firefighters in metropolitan and rural areas. Bandt says the nation’s firefighters are exhausted by the intensity and duration of the bushfire season. The Australia Institute also called for a levy on fossil fuel producers in late 2019, as part of its proposal for a National Climate Disaster Fund.

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AUSTRALIAN GREENS, THE AUSTRALIA INSTITUTE LIMITED

Mines, hotels to host evacuees

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Original article by Geoff Chambers, Ben Packham
The Australian – Page: 1 & 7 : 6-Feb-20

The death toll from the coronavirus has risen to 492, and more than 24,000 people have now contracted the respiratory illness, including 14 in Australia. Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton has warned that more Australian citizens and permanent residents will probably need to be evacuated from China. He adds that the federal government may quarantine future evacuees in hotels and mining camps if the Christmas Island facility reaches capacity. Meanwhile, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has told his state counterparts that the virus’s impact on the domestic economy could exceed that of the SARS outbreak in 2003.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF HOME AFFAIRS, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY

Bandt abused PM with deaths claim

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Original article by Rosie Lewis
The Australian – Page: 4 : 5-Feb-20

Adam Bandt has stepped up his attack on the federal government’s environmental credentials after being elected unopposed as the new leader of the Greens. He has claimed that the Coalition’s climate change policy will result in many more deaths than the recent bushfires, as it will result in a 3-degree temperature increase. Bandt also contends that the business models of fossil fuel producers are unsustainable, and he has called for domestic coal-fired power generation and coal exports to be phased out by 2030. Larissa Waters and Nick McKim are the new joint deputy leaders of the Greens.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN GREENS

Travel ban ‘won’t be turned off’

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Original article by Ben Packham
The Australian – Page: 7 : 5-Feb-20

Health Minister Greg Hunt has indicated that the federal government is likely to extend its ban on non-citizens entering Australia from the Chinese mainland, which was initially slated to last for two weeks. Wang Xining, the China’s deputy ambassador to Australia, has described it as an over-reaction and notes that the World Health Organization believes that such measures are not necessary. Wang adds that the Chinese embassy was not advised of the travel ban before it was announced, but Hunt says that senior officials in China were told of the ban as soon as the government decided to impose it.

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AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF HEALTH, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION

Employers push for Fair Work review

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 9 : 3-Feb-20

The Australian Mines & Metals Association has called for a review of the Fair Work Commission, as well as the appointment of seven new commissioners over the next year. AMMA CEO Steve Knott has outlined a number of concerns about the FWC in a letter to Industrial Relations Minister Christian Porter. They include the lengthy delays in approving workplace agreements and claims that the allocation of full bench cases tends to favour Labor appointees.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, AUSTRALIAN MINES AND METALS ASSOCIATION (INCORPORATED), AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF EMPLOYMENT, SKILLS, SMALL AND FAMILY BUSINESS, AUSTRALIA. ATTORNEY-GENERAL’S DEPT

Government waives $1000 evacuation fee

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Original article by Richard Ferguson, Robyn Ironside
The Australian – Page: 6 : 3-Feb-20

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has advised that Australian citizens who are evacuated from Wuhan will not be charged up to $1,000 for their flight. He says the Department of Foreign Affairs had provided the government with incorrect advice with regard to the costs associated with ‘assisted departures’. However, Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton had previously stated that it is "commonsense" for the government to recoup some of the costs of the chartered Qantas flight. More than 200 of the 600 registered Australian citizens in Wuhan are expected to be evacuated to Christmas Island, where they will be quarantined for 14 days.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND TRADE, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF HOME AFFAIRS, QANTAS AIRWAYS LIMITED – ASX QAN

Joyce circles after minister quits

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Original article by Greg Brown, Geoff Chambers
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 3-Feb-20

Agriculture Minister Bridget McKenzie has resigned from the portfolio and as deputy leader of the National Party, after an investigation by top bureaucrat Phil ­Gaetjens found that she had breached the ministerial code of conduct. Gaetjens concluded that sports grants had not been improperly allocated during McKenzie’s previous role as sports minister; however, he found that McKenzie’s failure to declare her membership of a gun club that received a grant constituted a breach of the ministerial code. Some Nationals MPs are believed to have approached Barnaby Joyce about challenging Nationals leader Michael McCormack at a partyroom meeting on 4 February, when they will elect a new deputy.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF AGRICULTURE AND WATER RESOURCES, NATIONAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET

UK open for quick trade talks

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Original article by Geoff Chambers, Richard Ferguson
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 31-Jan-20

Britain is set to formally exit the European Union on 31 January, after the European Parliament approved the Brexit deal. Australia’s Trade Minister Simon Birmingham is optimistic that a free-trade agreement with the UK can be finalised by the start of 2021, when the 11-month Brexit transition period ends; he notes that the two nations have already struck some deals that will take effect at that time. Former trade minister Andrew Robb says ensuring that Australian farmers have better access to the British market will be crucial to a trade deal.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND TRADE

PM strikes $2b gas deal with NSW

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Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 4 : 31-Jan-20

Prime Minister Scott Morrison and New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian will release details of a $2 billion energy deal on 31 January. Under the agreement, NSW must find an extra 70 petajoules of gas per year for the east coast market, in return for the federal government underwriting new non-coal power generation, constructing new interconnectors and making funding available for carbon emissions reduction projects. The most likely way in which the NSW government will make available the extra 70 petajoules of gas is by approving Santos’s Narrabri coal seam gas project.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, NEW SOUTH WALES. DEPT OF PREMIER AND CABINET, SANTOS LIMITED – ASX STO