AUSTRALIA – POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT

ALP snubs Greens, unions on teen super

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Original article by Thomas Henry, Matthew Cranston
The Australian – Page: 4 : 1-Jul-26

The Greens have moved to block a provision in payday superannuation laws that exempt businesses from making super contributions to employees under the age of 18 who work for less than 30 hours per week. However, the Senate has agreed to delay parliamentary debate on the disallowance motion, which has the support of unions and super funds. The ACTU’s assistant secretary Joseph Mitchell says it is unfair that young workers are not paid super on their wages, contending that doing so could boost their super balance by thousands of dollars when they retire. Business Council of Australia CEO Bran Black opposes the motion, arguing the need for measures that make it easier rather than harder to employ people.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN GREENS, ACTU, BUSINESS COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA

Bowen’s world COP goals

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Original article by Greg Brown
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 1-Jul-26

Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen says his co-presidency of the COP31 climate summit in November will have positive economic benefits for Australia. Bowen concedes that he does not expect the summit in Turkey to result in "massive breakthroughs" on global climate action, contending that there will be a "more iterative" step forward on the issue compared with landmark ones such as COP21 in Paris. Bowen has also indicated that a push to curb coal and gas exports will not be on the agenda for COP during his joint presidency. Taxpayers are facing a bill of more than $500m in travel costs for Bowen and his team of more than 100 bureaucrats ahead of the summit.

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

Break their funding: McKenzie calls for penalties on universities that teach white guilt

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Original article by David Crowe
The Age – Page: Online : 24-Jun-26

National Party senator Bridget McKenzie has used a speech in London to argue that social factors – including respect for ‘Australian values’ – should be a key criteria in determining the migrant intake. McKenzie said that Australia has become "addicted" to immigration, and she argued that this carries a social cost if it does not deliver a fair outcome for families. She contended that Australia needs to curb the number of fee-paying international students, given their growing share of the nation’s population. McKenzie also called for an overhaul of the funding model for universities, particularly ones that teach students doctrines such as ‘white guilt’ and ‘climate catastrophe’. McKenzie is a former maths teacher and university lecturer.

CORPORATES
NATIONAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA

New One Nation MP David Farley sides with teals and Greens

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Original article by Brittany Busch, Nick Newling
The Sydney Morning Herald – Page: Online : 24-Jun-26

The House of Representatives has voted against an amendment to the fuel tax credit scheme that was proposed by independent MP Nicolette Boele. She sought to cap the annual rebate for mining companies at $50m and an "orderly phase-out" of fuels that are eligible under the scheme. The amendment was supported by the Greens, Teal MPs and One Nation’s recently-elected MP for Farrer, David Farley; however, both Labor and the Coalition voted against it. Meanwhile, Farley has responded to comments made by One Nation leader Pauline Hanson on the need for Australia to be a "monoculture". He contended that the nation is multicultured, multiracial and multifaith; however, he agreed that migrants must "blend in" by "acting Australian".

CORPORATES
ONE NATION PARTY, AUSTRALIAN GREENS, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, NATIONAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA

Labor-Greens deal clips the wings of SMSFs

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Original article by Anthony Keane, Noah Yim, Cliona O’Dowd
The Australian – Page: 4 : 24-Jun-26

Treasurer Jim Chalmers estimates that changes to the rules governing the purchase of residential properties via self-managed superannuation funds will boost government revenue by about $50m over four years. Labor has agreed to scrap the limited recourse borrowing arrangements for SMSFs in return for the Greens’ support for its budget tax reform legislation in the Senate; Chalmers contends that this will only affect "a very small part" of the housing market. However, economists and financial advisers contend that the changes will make SMSFs less attractive and result in fewer new ones being established, while boosting demand for industry super funds.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, AUSTRALIAN GREENS

Labor predicts budget backlash will fade

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Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 24-Jun-26

The federal government has secured the Greens’ support for its capital gains tax and negative gearing reforms in the Senate, in return for several concessions. Self-managed superannuation funds will be banned from borrowing to buy residential properties, while the government has agreed to extend a Senate inquiry into its National Disability Insurance Scheme reform bill for eight weeks; delaying the passage of the NDIS legislation until mid-August is expected to cost the budget hundreds of millions of dollars, given that the reforms were intended to start on 1 July. Finance Minister Katy Gallagher believes that the general public’s concerns about the tax reforms will quickly abate.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN GREENS, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF FINANCE

Pressure to stagger fuel excise increase

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Original article by Matthew Denholm
The Australian – Page: 5 : 17-Jun-26

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has indicated that the federal government will make a decision on extending the fuel excise reduction next week. The temporary halving of the excise to $0.263 per litre is slated to end on 30 June, and the Australian Trucking Association has called for the full tax to be phased in over three months to avoid a sudden spike in petrol prices. The Australasian Convenience and Petroleum Marketers Association and the ServoPro industry body for independent service station operators also favour reinstating the full tax over a period of time.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIAN TRUCKING ASSOCIATION LIMITED, AUSTRALASIAN CONVENIENCE AND PETROLEUM MARKETERS ASSOCIATION, SERVPRO

KPMG referred to national anti-Corruption watchdog

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Original article by David Ross
The Australian – Page: 13 & 19 : 17-Jun-26

Greens senator Barbara Pocock has referred KPMG to the National Anti-Corruption Commission in response to the accounting firm’s audit scandal. Pocock is concerned that KPMG may have breached the Commonwealth Supplier Code of Conduct, while she contends that a temporary ban on new public contracts is inadequate. The three-month ban does not apply to extensions on existing contracts; KPMG holds some $653m worth of public contracts with the federal government. Pocock is a vocal critic of the nation’s four major accounting firms.

CORPORATES
KPMG AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA. NATIONAL ANTI-CORRUPTION COMMISSION, AUSTRALIAN GREENS

Strategy of the rebellion: Joyce to take on Chalmers

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Original article by Sarah Ison, Greg Brown
The Australian – Page: 1 & 2 : 17-Jun-26

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson will make her first National Press Club speech today, as the increasingly popular party prepares to allocate portfolios to its team of six MPs and senators. Former deputy prime minister and National Party defector Barnaby Joyce expects to be given the treasury portfolio; Joyce contends that he is best suited to take on Treasurer Jim Chalmers, given that he is a former accountant and served on the expenditure review committee when the Coalition was in office. Meanwhile, independent economist Saul Eslake has called for One Nation have its policies costed by the Parliamentary Budget Office; he says the party’s cost-of-living measures would not help to reduce the underlying inflation rate.

CORPORATES
ONE NATION PARTY, NATIONAL PRESS CLUB (AUSTRALIA), NATIONAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, AUSTRALIA. PARLIAMENTARY BUDGET OFFICE

Review puts top bureaucrats’ pay under spotlight

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Original article by Nicola Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 5 : 17-Jun-26

The independent Remuneration Tribunal is undertaking a 14-month review of senior federal public servants’ remuneration packages. It will assess the salaries of the top 26 bureaucrats, whose salaries range from $816,000 to $1,035,690 a year. The tribunal is seeking feedback from the public as to whether their salaries and benefits are "appropriate", and it recently completed the first public consultation phase of the review. Departmental secretaries are entitled to a range of benefits, including domestic airline lounge memberships, business-class airfares and relocation expenses if they do not live in Canberra.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. REMUNERATION TRIBUNAL