AUSTRALIA – POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT

AUKUS get-out clause for US, UK

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Original article by Ben Packham
The Australian – Page: 1 & 6 : 13-Aug-24

Documents tabled in federal parliament on Monday have revealed new details of the AUKUS defence alliance. The documents, which include a revised AUKUS agreement, show that the US and the UK will be able to withdraw from the defence pact with only one years’ notice if the deal to provide Australia with nuclear-powered submarines is deemed to be an ‘unreasonable risk’ to their own military requirements. Meanwhile, Australia has agreed to indemnify its alliance partners for any liability, costs or injury resulting from the AUKUS program. International law expert Don Rothwell notes that the documents do not outline just how much the alliance will cost Australia.

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Centrepay report that found major failings ignored by successive Coalition governments, author says

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Original article by Christopher Knaus, Lorena Allam
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 7-Aug-24

The federal government recently launched a review of the controversial Centrepay system for welfare recipients. However, the previous Labor government had also commissioned a review of the debt recovery system in 2012. That review was undertaken by Anna Buduls, who says her report has been "mostly buried" by successive governments since it was delivered just before the Coalition took office in 2013. Her recommendations included establishing a code of conduct for approved Centrepay operators and a dedicated complaints telephone line.

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AUSTRALIA. SERVICES AUSTRALIA. CENTRELINK, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

Labor’s attempts to tie gambling harm advocates into ridiculous secret agreements rejected

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Original article by Melissa Davey, Paul Karp
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 7-Aug-24

The Alliance for Gambling Reform is one of the organisations that have been invited to the federal government’s briefing on its proposed gambling advertising reforms. However, attendance at the briefing on Friday is conditional on signing a 12-page non-disclosure agreement. The Alliance’s chief advocate Tim Costello says his organisation will not sign the agreement, and he has questioned why it is necessary given that details of the reforms have been leaked to the media. The government has previously attracted scrutiny over its use of non-disclosure agreements in consultations over its legislative reforms.

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ALLIANCE FOR GAMBLING REFORM

Liontown wants lithium breaks as prices teeter

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Original article by Brad Thompson
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 19 : 7-Aug-24

Association of Mining & Exploration Companies CEO Warren Pearce says it is holding talks with the Western Australian government with regard to royalty relief for lithium producers. The price of spodumene has fallen to $US870 ($1,337) per tonne, and Liontown Resources CEO Tony Ottaviano contends that the government should intervene in order to avert a similar crisis to the rout that hit the nation’s industry. He has also suggested that the federal government should expand its production tax credit scheme to include the upstream processing of spodumene.

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ASSOCIATION OF MINING AND EXPLORATION COMPANIES, LIONTOWN RESOURCES LIMITED – ASX LTR

Greens’ divisive rhetoric is fuelling domestic terror threat: PM

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Original article by Ben Packham
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 6-Aug-24

The federal government has advised that the nation’s terrorism threat alert will be raised from ‘possible’ to ‘probable’. ASIO’s director-general Mike Burgess has warned that the chance of a terrorist attack in the next 12 months is now more than 50 per cent. He adds that young ‘lone-wolf’ terrorists armed with guns and knives pose the biggest risk. Burgess says that while the Israel-Hamas war is contributing to the growing threat of a terrorist attack, social media is being used to radicalise people and to spread ­extremist ideologies and conspiracy theories. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says the Greens have contributed to the growing tensions within the community with their stance on issues such as the war in Gaza.

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AUSTRALIAN SECURITY INTELLIGENCE ORGANISATION, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIAN GREENS

Unis capped at 40pc overseas students

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Original article by Julie Hare
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 6-Aug-24

Sources within the federal government have indicated that it proposes to enforce new caps on international student numbers from the start of 2025. Labor is expected to announce specific caps for each university and college within days, but they will be required to limit foreign student numbers to 40 per cent of their total enrolment. The proposed caps will be based on 2019 figures, when there were 671,200 foreign students in Australia; this compares with an estimated 780,100 in 2024. Sydney University, Monash and RMIT are among at least 10 universities that currently exceed the cap.

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AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY, MONASH UNIVERSITY, RMIT UNIVERSITY

Roy Morgan Poll: Labor edges further ahead as inflation is lower than expected and interest rates set to remain unchanged: ALP 51.5% cf. L-NP 48.5%

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 6-Aug-24

If a Federal Election were held now the result would be a narrow win for the Labor Party with the ALP on 51.5% (up 1%) ahead of the Coalition on 48.5% (down 1%) on a two-party preferred basis, the latest Roy Morgan survey finds. Although neither major party increased their support this week, the flow of preferences from minor parties tipped further in favour of the ALP, once again highlighting the importance of preference flows to determine the overall two-party preferred result. The Coalition primary vote decreased by 0.5% to 37% while ALP primary support was unchanged at 30.5%. Support for the Greens dropped 1% to 12% and support for One Nation was down 1% to 5.5%. It was smaller parties and independents that gained support. Support for Other Parties was up 1% to 5% and support for Independents increased 1.5% to 10% – the highest level it has been so far this year.

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

Labor vows to force banks to compensate Australians tricked out of money by scammers

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Original article by Karen Middleton
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 31-Jul-24

The federal government intends to pursue further reforms aimed at protecting consumers from scams. Assistant treasurer Stephen Jones will note in a National Press Club on Wednesday that the government’s crackdown helped to reduce losses from scams to $2.74bn in 2023, compared with $3bn in 2022. Jones will add that losses due to social media-based scams rose by 17 per cent in 2023, and he will argue that the ‘social licence’ of digital platforms requires them to do more to protect their users from fraudsters. Jones will also flag reforms that will require banks to compensate customers for losses incurred due to scams.

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AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, NATIONAL PRESS CLUB (AUSTRALIA)

BHP warns on made in Australia

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Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 6 : 31-Jul-24

The federal government aims to pass its Future Made in Australia bill when parliament resumes in August. However, BHP has used its submission to a Senate inquiry to warn of the risks associated with Labor’s signature Future Made in Australia policy, which amongst other things is aimed at attracting increasd investment in the nation’s critical minerals sector. BHP notes that many countries have large deposits of critical minerals, and are competing for private sector investment in this sector. BHP adds that factors such as Australia’s workplace laws, an uncompetitive tax system and proposed environmental laws could undermine the policy.

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BHP GROUP LIMITED – ASX BHP

PM calls for Barnaby Joyce to be sacked for telling voters to use votes as bullets

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Original article by Courtney Gould, Tim Fernandez
abc.net.au – Page: Online : 30-Jul-24

National Party MP Barnaby Joyce has apologised for using an inappropiate metaphor during an anti-wind farm rally in NSW on Sunday. Joyce likened a ballot paper in the upcoming election to a bullet and the ballot box to a gun’s magazine; he stated that voters should "get ready to load that magazine" and says goodbye to Chris Bowen, Anthony Albanese and the local MP Stephen Jones. Albanese has urged Opposition leader Peter Dutton to remove Joyce from his frontbench, contending that the analogy was completely unacceptable and could potentially incite violence behaviour. Joyce’s comments followed the recent failed attempt to assassinate former US president Donald Trump.

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NATIONAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET