AUSTRALIA – POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT

Labor to embrace free-trade agenda

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Original article by Greg Sheridan
The Australian – Page: 5 : 6-Jul-17

The Australian Labor Party’s foreign affairs spokeswoman Penny Wong will warn against any push toward protectionist trade policies in a Lowy Institute speech on 6 July. Wong will stress Labor’s commitment to open trade and globalisation, arguing that trade barriers are not in the nation’s interests. She will also highlight the importance of Australia’s long-standing alliance with the US and the need to further strengthen the relationship between the two nations. Establishing closer ties with Asia will also be a feature of Labor’s foreign policy.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, LOWY INSTITUTE FOR INTERNATIONAL POLICY

Top rate to swamp 1.2m taxpayers

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Original article by Adam Creighton
The Australian – Page: 1 & 2 : 6-Jul-17

Analysis of data from the Parliamentary Budget Office suggests that 7.3 per cent of Australians – or nearly 1.2 million people – will be paying the highest marginal tax rate in 2028, compared with just three per cent in 2015. The PBO data also shows that the Federal Government’s total income tax revenue will rise from about $A177bn in 2016 to $A378bn in 2028. The projections are based on expectations that Australia’s population will rise to 29.1 million over the next decade.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. PARLIAMENTARY BUDGET OFFICE, THE CENTRE FOR INDEPENDENT STUDIES LIMITED, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA

Scurry to plug tax loophole for the wealthy

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Original article by Nick Tabakoff
The Australian – Page: 2 : 5-Jul-17

Financial Services Minister Kelly O’Dwyer has advised the Australian Taxation Office that the Federal Government’s tax cuts for small businesses were not meant to apply to passive family investment companies. BDO’s Tony Sloan argues that the ATO is merely applying the existing tax cuts legislation, which he says is sufficiently broad to include family investment vehicles. Sloan adds that the Government may have to amend the legislation in order to ensure that such investment vehicles cannot claim tax refunds and deductions.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF FINANCE, AUSTRALIAN TAXATION OFFICE, BDO CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS AND ADVISERS, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY

Bid to break media deadlock

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Original article by Rosie Lewis
The Australian – Page: 5 : 5-Jul-17

Abolition of the "two-out-of-three" rule remains a major stumbling block for the Federal Government’s cross-media ownership reforms. However, Senator Nick Xenophon says the key issue is the need to ensure that diversity of media voices is increased and the industry creates and retains more jobs for journalists. The Nick Xenophon Team will propose a range of measures aimed at safeguarding media diversity, in a bid to resolve the impasse in the Senate.

CORPORATES
NICK XENOPHON TEAM, AUSTRALIAN GREENS, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, ONE NATION PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF COMMUNICATIONS AND THE ARTS, GOOGLE INCORPORATED, FACEBOOK INCORPORATED

Government pushes for progress on group life insurance code

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Original article by Alice Uribe
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 : 4-Jul-17

The Australian life insurance sector’s new code of conduct took effect in the week ending 30 June 2017. The code will be enforced by an independent committee, but it does not come under a legal or regulatory body. As yet, the code does not cover life insurance within superannuation, something that Financial Services Minister Kelly O’Dwyer wants addressed sooner than later. O’Dwyer notes that a working group had been looking at the issue for six months, but with seemingly little progress.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF FINANCE, AIA AUSTRALIA LIMITED, FINANCIAL SERVICES COUNCIL, FINANCIAL SERVICES OMBUDSMAN LIMITED

Rhiannon ‘disappointed’ in leader Di Natale

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Original article by Jacob Greber
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 5 : 3-Jul-17

Australian Greens senator Lee Rhiannon says she wants to see her party become more democratic. Her comments follow a move by federal colleagues to ban her from attending important party room meetings. The ban resulted from claims that Rhiannon was undermining her colleagues over the party’s approach to the Federal Government’s schools funding package. Rhiannon says the decision effectively disenfranchises all members of the Greens’ New South Wales branch, and that she is "disappointed" with Greens leader Richard Di Natale.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN GREENS, THE GREENS NSW INCORPORATED

PM’s dare to dissident Liberal MPs

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Original article by Jacob Greber
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 4 : 3-Jul-17

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has warned that he will quit Parliament if he is ousted in a leadership spill. Tensions between the moderate and conservative factions of the Liberal Party have escalated in the wake of leaked comments by Christopher Pyne, while former prime minister Tony Abbott is among members of the party who are advocating structural reform. The Coalition would be keen to avoid a by-election in Turnbull’s electorate, given that it has a one-seat majority in the lower house.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF DEFENCE, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF FINANCE, LIBERAL PARTY OF NEW SOUTH WALES, GROUP OF TWENTY (G-20), INSTITUTE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS LIMITED

Greens at war over Rhiannon suspension

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Original article by Andrew Tillett
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 5 : 30-Jun-17

Australian Greens senator Lee Rhiannon has been banned her by federal colleagues from attending important party room meetings. The ban resulted from claims that Rhiannon was undermining them over the party’s approach to the federal government’s schools funding package. They will not lift the ban until the Greens’ New South Wales branch ceases telling its MPs how they should vote, but the NSW branch has refused to accept Rhiannon’s suspension.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN GREENS, THE GREENS NSW INCORPORATED, AUSTRALIAN EDUCATION UNION

Reform or fail: BHP’s Nasser

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Original article by Matt Chambers
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 30-Jun-17

BHP Billiton chairman Jac Nasser has told the Competitive Advantage Forum that Australia needs bipartisan political support for reform in areas such as taxation, energy policy and education. He warned that Australia is approaching a "tipping point" and without strong leadership on key issues it risks ceasing to be a "great country" socially and economically. Amongst other things, Nasser says a national policy on energy security is required, while he has criticised proposals for bank levies by the federal and South Australian governments. Nasser will step down as chairman of BHP in August.

CORPORATES
BHP BILLITON LIMITED – ASX BHP, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, UNITED STATES. EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT, FORD MOTOR COMPANY

Licence fee win boosts TV, radio

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Original article by Stephen Brook
The Australian – Page: 19 : 29-Jun-17

Free TV chairman Harold Mitchell and Commercial Radio Australia CEO Joan Warner have welcomed the Federal Government’s decision to waive broadcasting licence fees for the 2016-17 financial year. The Government proposes to permanently replace broadcasting licence fees with a spectrum charge as part of its media cross-ownership reforms. Shares in listed media companies rallied after the one-off waiver was announced. It is expected to save broadcasters about $A127m.

CORPORATES
FREE TV AUSTRALIA LIMITED, COMMERCIAL RADIO AUSTRALIA LIMITED, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, SOUTHERN CROSS MEDIA GROUP LIMITED – ASX SXL, SEVEN WEST MEDIA LIMITED – ASX SWM, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF COMMUNICATIONS AND THE ARTS, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIAN GREENS, ONE NATION PARTY