AUSTRALIA – POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT

Labor fails to rein in migration

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Original article by Julie Hare, Gus McCubbing
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 10 : 13-Nov-24

Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows that net overseas migration totalled 391,850 people in the first nine months of 2024. This is the highest level ever recorded for the first three quarters of a calendar year, eclipsing the record of 390,580 that was set in 2023. Monthly arrivals in the first quarter of 2024-25 averaged 41,823; the Institute of Public Affairs has estimated that this will need to fall to just 21,670 if the federal government’s net migration target of 260,000 for the current financial year is to be achieved. Meanwhile, Department of Home Affairs data shows that Immigration Minister Tony Burke did not cancel any visas on character grounds during his first month in the portfolio.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS, INSTITUTE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS LIMITED, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF HOME AFFAIRS

PM to quote Turnbull in Trump tariff talks

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Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 4 : 13-Nov-24

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will travel to Peru on Wednesday to attend the APEC leaders’ summit, ahead of the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro next week. However, he has rejected the Coalition’s push to have a stopover in the US to meet with president-elect Donald Trump, amid concerns that Australia will be directly impacted by his proposed tariff of up to 20 per cent on all non-China imports. Albanese has indicated that he will use similar arguments in tariff talks with Trump as those of former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull in 2017; the latter’s argument that Australia was one of the few nations that had a trade surplus with the US helped convince Trump to shelve plans to impose punitive tariffs on Australian steel and aluminium.

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AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION, GROUP OF TWENTY (G-20), UNITED STATES. EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT

Spare us the scare campaigns, says Watt

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: Online : 6-Nov-24

The CFMEU’s ­national secretary Zach Smith says the approvals process for enterprise agreements has become a "farce". He alleges that the Fair Work Commission is taking up to three months to approve new pay deals for workers in the CFMEU’s construction division in the wake of the move to place it in administration. Meanwhile, Workplace Relations Minister Murray Watt has downplayed fears about the impact of the federal government’s multi-employer bargaining laws on the mining sector. He notes that the FWC has authorised just 13 single-interest multi-employer bargaining processes since mid-2023, and none of them have covered mine production workers.

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CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY AND MARITIME EMPLOYEES UNION, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF EMPLOYMENT AND WORKPLACE RELATIONS

Resist your urge to splurge, ALP told

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Original article by Jack Quail
The Australian – Page: 1 & 5 : 6-Nov-24

The Reserve Bank of Australia’s decision to leave the cash rate unchanged at 4.35 per cent on Tuesday had been widely expected. The RBA remains focused primarily on underlying inflation, which governor Michele Bullock says is still too high for the central bank to consider reducing the cash rate. Underlying inflation was 3.5 per cent in the year to September, and Bullock notes that temporary electricity rebates contributed to the headline inflation rate falling to 2.8 per cent. Bullock has also emphasised the need for Treasurer Jim Chalmers to avoid any spending measures that may fuel inflation ahead of the federal election.

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RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY

Scandalous Covid betrayal of trust

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Original article by Rosie Lewis
The Australian – Page: 1 & 5 : 30-Oct-24

An independent panel’s review of the federal government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic has made 26 recommendations; it concluded that 19 of them should be prioritised over the next 12-18 months. The inquiry found that the public generally supported Covid measures such as lockdowns at the onset of the pandemic, but "draconian" measures were not justified after the initial wave and merely reduced trust in governments. The report noted that the nation is now less prepared for a future public health emergency because the health system has not recovered from the pandemic and Australians are now unlikely to comply with onerous restrictions in the wake of Covid.

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ALP delays small business IR review beyond election

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 7 : 30-Oct-24

The federal government agreed to review small business exemptions from the Fair Work Act in return for the support of crossbench senators David Pocock and Jacqui Lambie for its second tranche of industrial relations reforms. Amongst other things, the proposed review will consider the definition of a small business, which is currently set at fewer than 15 employees. However, the government has advised that the review may be delayed until mid-2025. Council of Small Business Organisations Australia CEO Luke Achterstraat says the current definition of a small business is not ‘fit for purpose’, and the government needs to provide the sector with as much certainty and confidence as possible.

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COUNCIL OF SMALL BUSINESS ORGANISATIONS OF AUSTRALIA LIMITED

Push to upgrade freebie Albanese to corruption watchdog

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Original article by Rhiannon Down, Geoff Chambers, Rosie Lewis
The Australian – Page: 1 & 2 : 30-Oct-24

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is continuing to attract scrutiny over revelations that he accepted free flight upgrades from Qantas when he was transport minister and shadow transport minister. However, Albanese contends that he has been "completely transparent" about his flights as an MP. Opposition leader Peter Dutton says Albanese had most likely been in breach of the ministerial code of conduct. Dutton has called for Albanese to refer himself to the National Anti-Corruption Commission, arguing that it should investigate his relationship with Qantas and the federal government’s decision to block Qatar Airways’ application for additional flights to Australia.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, QANTAS AIRWAYS LIMITED – ASX QAN, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. NATIONAL ANTI-CORRUPTION COMMISSION, QATAR AIRWAYS

US on track to sell us Virginia-class subs

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Original article by Joe Kelly
The Australian – Page: 5 : 23-Oct-24

Democrats congressional representative Joe Courtney has downplayed suggestions that the US government may adopt an alternative model for the AUKUS alliance. Veteran naval analyst Ronald O’Rourke recently proposed a so-called ‘Plan B’, whereby the US would retain ownership of Virginia-class nuclear-powered submarines rather than selling them to Australia. O’Rourke contended that this would allow the federal government to redirect billions of dollars to other defence programs. Courtney says he is not aware of any discussions in Congress regarding the O’Rourke plan, and he contends that the current AUKUS arrangement largely has bipartisan support.

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DEMOCRATIC PARTY (UNITED STATES)

Labor concerned Meta may sidestep obligations to pay for news as media bargaining code fight reignites

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Original article by Josh Butler, Amanda Meade
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 23-Oct-24

Seven West Media and Nine Entertainment have rejected a parliamentary committee’s recommendation to impose a ‘digital platform levy’ on big technology companies such as Google and Meta. The two media groups contend that rather than introducing a so-called ‘tech tax’, the federal government should use the existing provisions of the news media bargaining code to ‘designate’ such companies. Meta contends that the committee’s report ignores the realities of how its social media platforms work and the value they provide to news publishers.

CORPORATES
SEVEN WEST MEDIA LIMITED – ASX SWM, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, META PLATFORMS INCORPORATED, GOOGLE INCORPORATED

Dutton calls on Thorpe to resign

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Original article by Paul Garvey, Rhiannon Down
The Australian – Page: 5 : 23-Oct-24

Independent senator Lidia Thorpe may face a censure motion when the upper house sits in mid-November. However, shadow home affairs minister James Paterson says the measure is only symbolic, adding that Thorpe would probably wear it as a "badge of honour". Meanwhile, Opposition leader Peter Dutton says Thorpe’s disruption of a parliamentary reception for King Charles and Queen Camilla on Monday was "disrespectful". He adds that there is a very strong argument that Thorpe should resign in principle, given that she does not believe in the parliamentary system but receives a quarter of a million dollars a year from taxpayers. Thorpe is paid a base salary of $233,660 and an additional $25,702 for chairing a committee on so-called ‘forever chemicals’.

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LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA