AUSTRALIA – POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT

Plibersek praised nature positive deal with Pocock and Greens as critical before PM scrapped it, documents reveal

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Original article by Dan Jervis-Bardy
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 30-Jan-25

A draft Senate program shows that a bill to establish a federal environmental protection agency is listed for debate next Thursday. Documents released via freedom of information laws confirm that Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek reached a written agreement with the Greens and independent senator David Pocock to amend the EPA legislation in late November. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese intervened to put the deal on hold less than 24 hours later. The proposed EPA is part of the federal government’s so-called ‘nature positive’ environmental reforms. Shadow environment minister Jonno Duniam has called for the proposed laws to be scrapped, and says Plibersek and Albanese must state their real intentions regarding the legislation.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF CLIMATE CHANGE, ENERGY, THE ENVIRONMENT AND WATER, AUSTRALIAN GREENS, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET

ACCI warns of need for cap on spending

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Original article by Sarah Ison
The Australian – Page: 6 : 30-Jan-25

The Australian Chamber of Commerce & Industry will call for federal government spending to be capped at 25 per cent of GDP. The ACCI’s pre-election Agenda for Business policy blueprint will also advocate tax reform, the abolition of stamp duty and changing the definition of a small business to 25 employees or less, compared with the current threshold of 15 employees. CEO Andrew McKellar will use a speech on Thursday to argue that rising government spending is pushing up interest rates and adversely affecting productivity. Data released in late 2024 shows that government spending has risen to a record high of almost 28 per cent of GDP.

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AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY

Labor axes aspirational 15 per cent super guarantee goal

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Original article by Sarah Ison
The Australian – Page: 4 : 29-Jan-25

The superannuation guarantee is scheduled to increase to 12 per cent in July, and Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones says the federal government has no plans to further increase it. However, Labor’s national platform in 2023 included setting a ‘pathway’ to increasing the super guarantee to 15 per cent once the initial target of 12 per cent has been reached. Jones says the policy platform is merely a set of principles rather than binding commitments, and Labor has no plans to further increase the super guarantee.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

Roy Morgan Poll: Coalition maintains a narrow lead over ALP on the Australia Day long weekend: L-NP 52% cf. ALP 48%

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 29-Jan-25

A Coalition Government, with a slim majority, would now win a Federal Election with an unchanged two-party preferred vote from a week ago: L-NP 52% cf. ALP 48%, the latest Roy Morgan survey finds. Although primary support for the Coalition dropped 1.5% to 40.5% and ALP support was up 1% to 29.5%, the movements for the minor parties cancelled this trend out. Support for the Greens dropped 1.5% to 11.5% while support for One Nation was up 2% to 6%. Other Parties were down 0.5% to 3.5% while support for Independents increased 0.5% to 9%. The latest Roy Morgan survey is based on interviewing a representative cross-section of 1,567 Australian electors from January 20-26. When comparing different polls, it is always important to make sure to take note of the dates when the polls are conducted to undertake a proper comparison between two polls.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, MORGAN POLL, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, NATIONAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN GREENS, ONE NATION PARTY

Deep end: big tech’s disruption

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Original article by Ben Packham
The Australian – Page: 1 & 2 : 29-Jan-25

Science Minister Ed Husic says it is too early for the federal government to determine whether China’s DeepSeek AI platform is a potential national security risk. He says the government will take advice from national security agencies on the potential threat posed by the DeepSeek chatbot. US technology investor Marc Andreessen has described the latest version of DeepSeek as "AI’s Sputnik moment". However, Australian Strategic Policy Institute executive director Justin Bassi says the West was never reliant on the Soviet Union’s economy or its technology in the way it is with China; he adds that Western governments and companies acted after the Soviets launched the Sputnik artificial satellite in 1957, and similar action is required now.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF INDUSTRY, SCIENCE AND RESOURCES, AUSTRALIAN STRATEGIC POLICY INSTITUTE LIMITED

Coalition demands Labor hate speech crackdown explicitly outlaw threats and attacks on places of worship

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Original article by Krishani Dhanji
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 24-Jan-25

Federal parliament will resume in February, with Labor’s proposed crackdown on hate speech set to be one of the major points of discussion. Tabled in September, Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus contends that the legislation will act as a deterrent to anti-Semitism and other forms of hate speech and would protect places of worship, but the Coalition wants the legislation to explicitly outlaw threats and attacks against places of worship. For her part, independent MP Allegra Spender has called on the government to include a stronger vilification offence for hateful speech in the legislation. Her eastern Sydney electorate has a large Jewish community and LGBTQ+ community, who she said have both raised concerns about the proposed legislation not doing enough.

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AUSTRALIA. ATTORNEY-GENERAL’S DEPT

ALP’s workaround to cope with a new political climate

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Original article by Greg Brown, Colin Packham
The Australian – Page: 1 & 5 : 22-Jan-25

US President Donald Trump signed a number of climate-related executive orders on the first day of his second term in office. They included the formal withdrawal of the US from the Paris climate agreement, the abolition of electric vehicle subsidies and an expansion of the fossil fuel sector. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he would not offer a "running commentary" on Trump’s domestic policy agenda; he added that Australia will not make any major policy changes in response to Trump’s election, including on climate change. However, the government has flagged the possibility of working directly with US states that are controlled by the Democrats regarding climate initiatives.

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UNITED STATES. EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET

Cops suspect foreign actors paying crims for anti-Semitic attacks

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Original article by Geoff Chambers, Alexi Demetriadi
The Australian – Page: 1 & 7 : 22-Jan-25

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese belatedly convened a meeting of the national cabinet on Tuesday to discuss the growing incidence of anti-Semitism in Australia. The virtual meeting with state and territory leaders was held in the wake of the latest anti-Semitic attack, in which a Sydney childcare centre was firebombed and daubed with an anti-Semitic message; the facility is not directly linked to the Jewish community, but it is located just 200 metres from the Maroubra synagogue. Australian Federal Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw has raised the possibility that ‘overseas actors’ may be using encrypted devices to hire ocal criminals to carry out anti-Semitic attacks and paying them with cryptocurrency.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE

Union demands action over bank branch closures

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Original article by David Ross
The Australian – Page: 14 : 22-Jan-25

The Finance Sector Union’s national secretary Julia Angrisano has urged federal government intervention to ensure that consumers still have access to bank branches. Data from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority shows that 2,334 branches have been closed nationwide over the last seven years. The Bank of Queensland recently advised that it will close another 14 branches, in addition to several that were already slated to close. Agrisano says the government has failed respond to a review of banking in regional areas, where many people no longer have access to branch banks.

CORPORATES
FINANCE SECTOR UNION, AUSTRALIAN PRUDENTIAL REGULATION AUTHORITY, BANK OF QUEENSLAND LIMITED – ASX BOQ

Dutton pledges mandatory sentences for terror

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Original article by Rhiannon Down, Ellie Dudley
The Australian – Page: 4 : 21-Jan-25

Opposition leader Peter Dutton has urged Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to convene a meeting of the national cabinet to address the growing problem of anti-Semitism and extremism. Dutton has also committed to introducing a minimum mandatory sentence of six years for terrorism offences and 1-5 years for displaying Nazi symbols and those of prohibited terrorist organisations. However, Law Council of Australia president Juliana Warner and Australian Lawyers Alliance spokesman Greg Barns have criticised Dutton’s push for mandatory sentencing for such crimes.

CORPORATES
LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, LAW COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN LAWYERS ALLIANCE