AUSTRALIA – POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT

Greens fire up climate row

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Original article by Joe Kelly, Andrew Burrell, Rachel Baxendale
The Australian – Page: 1 & 7 : 20-Mar-18

Australian Greens leader Richard Di Natale has been criticised for suggesting that a cyclone in Darwin and recent bushfires in two states were due to the Federal Government’s policy on climate change. A total of 69 homes were destroyed in the New South Wales town of Tathra, and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull says it is inappropriate to politicise such events. Di Natale’s leadership is also under scrutiny in the wake of the Greens’ loss in the Batman by-election.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN GREENS, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, GREENS (WESTERN AUSTRALIA), AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, BEGA VALLEY SHIRE COUNCIL, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY, NATIONAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, NORTHERN TERRITORY. DEPT OF THE CHIEF MINISTER

Cormann presses crossbench on tax cuts

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Original article by Joe Kelly
The Australian – Page: 4 : 20-Mar-18

Finance Minister Mathias Cormann says the Federal Government’s corporate tax cuts are needed to ensure that Australian businesses are internationally competitive. The Government will seek the Senate crossbenchers’ support for the tax package ahead of the May 2018 Budget, and it will require nine of them to vote in favour of the bill. The Nick Xenophon Team opposes the tax cuts, while One Nation leader Pauline Hanson is not convinced that reducing the tax rate for all companies to 25 per cent will result in higher growth in wages.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF FINANCE, NICK XENOPHON TEAM, ONE NATION PARTY, LIBERAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIAN GREENS

Hit black economy and raise billions

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Original article by Adam Creighton
The Australian – Page: 21 : 20-Mar-18

A report from KPMG concludes that targeting the black economy could generate revenue of at least $A5.8bn for the Federal Government. This includes an extra $A2.5bn in business taxes and an additional $A1.2bn in goods and services tax revenue. KPMG’s recommendations include banning income tax deductions for wages paid in cash and prohibiting cash transactions of more than $A100,000. The Government’s May 2018 Budget is expected to include its response to the final report of a black economy taskforce.

CORPORATES
KPMG AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN TAXATION OFFICE, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA

Journos reject spy risk claim for flawed law

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Original article by Dana McCauley
The Australian – Page: 26 & 28 : 19-Mar-18

Former Al Jazeera foreign correspondent Peter Greste has expressed concern about the potential impact of the Federal Government’s proposed espionage and foreign interference laws on freedom of speech. Media companies have also raised concerns about the limitations of the proposed laws in a new submission to federal parliament’s intelligence committee, while Law Council of Australia president Morry Bailes says the defence that reporting on an issue is in the public interest should be widened.

CORPORATES
AL JAZEERA, LAW COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, MEDIA, ENTERTAINMENT AND ARTS ALLIANCE, UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND, COMMUNIST PARTY (CHINA)

Cash could face court over raids

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Original article by Adam Gartrell
The Age – Page: 9 : 16-Mar-18

Daniel Walton, the national secretary of the Australian Workers’ Union, says it will seek to subpoena Jobs Minister Michaelia Cash to appear before a hearing into a police raid on the union’s offices in October 2017. The AWU also wants to subpoena Cash’s former media adviser, David De Garis, who resigned after admitting that he told the media about the raid, as well as the Fair Work Ombudsman’s former media director, Mark Lee. The latter has denied leaking details of the raid to De Garis.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF JOBS AND SMALL BUSINESS, AUSTRALIAN WORKERS’ UNION-FEDERATION OF INDUSTRIAL, MANUFACTURING AND ENGINEERING EMPLOYEES, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK OMBUDSMAN, AUSTRALIA. REGISTERED ORGANISATIONS COMMISSION, AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, GETUP LIMITED

Future Fund exempt from Labor tax plan

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Original article by Jacob Greber
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 16-Mar-18

Shadow treasurer Chris Bowen has advised that the Federal Government’s Future Fund will be exempt from Labor’s proposed changes to the dividend imputation system. He says exempting the sovereign wealth fund from the reforms will have no net impact on the Budget, while adding that the fund’s ability to meet future public sector pension liabilities could have been affected if it were denied access to cash refunds for unclaimed dividend imputation credits.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. FUTURE FUND MANAGEMENT AGENCY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF FINANCE, AUSTRALIA. PARLIAMENTARY BUDGET OFFICE

Media call for spy laws rewrite

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Original article by Primrose Riordan, Sam Buckingham-Jones
The Australian – Page: 2 : 16-Mar-18

Media companies and the Law Council of Australia have raised further concerns about the Federal Government’s foreign interference laws in new submissions to the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Intelligence & Security. The media industry argues that the bill is "deeply flawed" and it should be completely redrafted. The Law Council in turn has argued that the definition of some key terms in the draft bill need to be clarified, including "national security" and "news media".

CORPORATES
LAW COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. JOINT PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEE ON INTELLIGENCE AND SECURITY, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, FOX SPORTS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, TEN NETWORK HOLDINGS LIMITED, SKY NEWS, THE GUARDIAN AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN SECURITY INTELLIGENCE ORGANISATION, AUSTRALIA. ATTORNEY-GENERAL’S DEPT, HUMAN RIGHTS LAW CENTRE LIMITED

Beazley backs Swan for president’s role

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Original article by Troy Bramston
The Australian – Page: 6 : 15-Mar-18

Former Labor leader Kim Beazley says Wayne Swan would make a "very good" president of the federal Labor party and provide Opposition Leader Bill Shorten with valuable campaign advice. Shorten has also endorsed the former treasurer’s candidacy for Labor president, although ex-prime minister Kevin Rudd says Swan would be divisive at a time when Labor needs "unity of purpose". Labor’s climate change and energy spokesman Mark Butler is seeking a second term as the party’s president.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, TRANSPORT WORKERS’ UNION

Shorten in scramble to fix tax grab

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Original article by Simon Beavis
The Australian – Page: 1 & 6 : 15-Mar-18

Federal Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has signalled that he is open to a compromise regarding plans to unwind changes to the dividend imputation system, amid concern about the potential impact on retirees. Shorten has conceded that about 250,000 pensioners would be affected by the policy, and he has indicated that Labor will look at measures to ensure that they are not worse off. The Self-Managed Super Fund ­Association and seniors groups have urged Labor to reconsider the policy, while Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has accused Labor of targeting pensioners and self-funded retirees in a "cash grab".

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, SMSF ASSOCIATION, NATIONAL SENIORS AUSTRALIA LIMITED, ASSOCIATION OF INDEPENDENT RETIREES (AIR) LIMITED, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF HUMAN SERVICES. CENTRELINK

Tax grab to hit lowest incomes

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Original article by Simon Benson, Joe Kelly
The Australian – Page: 1 & 6 : 14-Mar-18

The Federal Opposition claims that abolishing cash refunds for excess dividend imputation credits would primarily affect wealthy individuals and members of self-managed superannuation funds. However, analysis by the Treasury suggests that people whose annual income is less than $A18,200 would be hardest hit, which is estimated to be about 610,000 individuals. In contrast, the reforms would only affect about 5,000 people with annual income of more than $A180,000. Treasurer Scott Morrison has warned that the policy would affect more than a million Australians, including 230,000 pensioners, while the wealthy would continue to gain the full value of their franking credits.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, FINANCIAL SERVICES CONSUMER POLICY CENTRE INCORPORATED, SMSF ASSOCIATION, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF FINANCE, AUSTRALIAN TAXATION OFFICE, CHIFLEY RESEARCH CENTRE