AUSTRALIA – POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT

Singapore backs AUKUS subs

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Andrew Tillett, Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 6 : 6-Mar-24

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will use a speech on Wednesday to emphasise that Australia’s destiny lies in the Asia-Pacific region. He will also tell ASEAN leaders that Australia is committed to working with them to ensure that the principles of sovereignty, territorial integrity, equality and independence are upheld. Albanese held meetings with the leaders of Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia and Timor Leste on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit in Melbourne on Tuesday. Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong told Albanese that Australia’s future fleet of nuclear-powered submarines will be welcome to visit the Changi naval base. He also urged China to drop its remaining trade sanctions against Australia.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, ASSOCIATION OF SOUTH-EAST ASIAN NATIONS, SINGAPORE. PRIME MINISTER’S OFFICE

Keep cost-of-living focus: MPs, unions

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Sarah Ison
The Australian – Page: 5 : 5-Mar-24

The federal government’s budget in May will include further measures aimed at relieving cost-of-living pressures for households. Some Labor MPs have argued that the cost of living should be the government’s top priority until the next election; they include Queensland MP Graham Perrett, who warns that other issues could become a distraction in the lead-up to the poll. Electrical Trades Union secretary Michael Wright in turn contends that the energy transition is the key issue, arguing that it will result in the single biggest cost of living decrease "in human history".

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, ELECTRICAL TRADES UNION

Work to do on female candidates, says Liberal Party MP

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Jason Whittaker
abc.net.au – Page: Online : 5-Mar-24

Liberal MP Keith Wolahan has conceded that the party is falling short of its target on female representation in federal parliament. Speaking on the ABC’s Q+A program on Monday night, Wolahan said the Liberals are ready to preselect women but must do more to ensure that this occurs. He has also stressed that the preselection process must be democratic, and that Liberal candidates must be chosen by the party’s members. The Liberals may come under further scrutiny after McKinsey consultant Simon Kennedy was chosen as its candidate in the seat of Cook, which was recently vacated by Scott Morrison. There had been a push within the party to select Gwen Cherne to contest the seat at the upcoming by-election.

CORPORATES
LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA

ALP increases lead Federally as the Albanese Government easily wins the Dunkley by-election

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 5-Mar-24

Support for the ALP has increased 3.5% to 53.5% to put the party well ahead of the Coalition on 46.5% (down 3.5%) on a two-party preferred basis. If a Federal Election was held now the Albanese Government would be returned with an increased majority, the latest Roy Morgan survey shows. There was a swing to the ALP in all six States, with the biggest swings in NSW and Victoria, largely reversing the result of a week ago. The swing to the ALP came after the ABS announced lower than expected inflation in January of 3.4% last week – all but removing the chance of an interest rate rise in mid-March and a definite positive for the Government. The ALP also retained the seat of Dunkley despite a swing of 3.6% to the Coalition. Meanwhile, primary support for the Coalition was down 1.5% to 36.5%, while support for the ALP recovered (up 2.5% to 34%); also helping the ALP was an increase in Greens support, up 1.5% to 13.5% and a decrease in One Nation support, down 1.5% to 3.5%. Support for Independents & Other Parties was down 1% to 12.5%. The latest Roy Morgan survey is based on interviewing a representative cross-section of 1,679 Australian electors from February 26 – March 3. Further details will be released in Roy Morgan’s weekly video update presented by CEO Michele Levine.

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

PM pledges $2b green energy fund

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 5 : 5-Mar-24

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will announce on Tuesday that the federal government will establish a $2 billion finance facility to help fund green energy and infrastructure investment in South-East Asia. The facility is one of five recommendations by special envoy to South-East Asia Nicholas Moore that the government will adopt and announce on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit. Moore told the summit on Monday that South-East Asia will need an estimated 454 gigawatts of additional generation capacity between 2021 and 2050; he said that much of the extra capacity will need to come from renewable energy sources.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, ASSOCIATION OF SOUTH-EAST ASIAN NATIONS

Negative gearing change can win support: Greens

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Tom McIlroy
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 28-Feb-24

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has told a meeting of Labor’s caucus that legislation to establish the Help to Buy shared equity scheme for home buyers is expected to be passed by the lower house this week. However, the said the bill is likely to be blocked in the Senate by the Liberal Party and the Greens. Meanwhile, the Greens have signalled that they are open to a compromise on negative gearing in return for supporting the Help to Buy scheme. The party has proposed restricting negative gearing to existing investment properties, and progressively scrapping the regime for people who buy additional properties.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIAN GREENS, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA

‘Every taxpayer wins’: PM hails stage three victory

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Patrick Commins
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 28-Feb-24

The federal government’s changes to the legislated stage-three personal income tax were passed by the Senate with bipartisan support on Tuesday night. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese contends that 84 per cent of Australians will get a bigger tax cut than they would have via the original version of the former Coalition government’s tax package. The government can be expected to capitalise on the stage-three changes in the final days of campaigning for the Dunkley by-election; Albanese says the changes are a win for "every single taxpayer" in the Melbourne electorate.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET

ALP and Coalition can’t be split Federally as parties contest Dunkley by-election: ALP 50% cf. L-NP 50%

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 27-Feb-24

Support for the ALP has dropped 2.5% to 50% and the party is now even with the L-NP 50% (up 2.5%) on a two-party preferred basis. If a Federal Election was held now we would have a hung Parliament with minor parties and independents deciding who would be our next Government, the latest Roy Morgan survey shows. There were big swings against the ALP in New South Wales and Victoria after asylum seeker boats landed in Western Australia and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton ‘hammered’ the Albanese Government all week over the failures in border protection policies. There were also significant anti-Semitic protests in Sydney and Melbourne last week as well as extensive blackouts of hundreds of thousands of people in Victoria due to heavy storms throughout the State. The swing in Victoria suggests a closer than expected by-election in the seat of Dunkley – although the ALP still leads 51.5% cf. L-NP 48.5% in Victoria. Primary support for the Coalition increased 1% to 38% – it’s highest for over a year, while support for the ALP dropped significantly, down 2.5% to 31.5%. The Greens were down 1% to 12%, One Nation increased 1% to 5% and support for Independents & Other Parties was up 1.5% to 13.5%. The latest Roy Morgan survey is based on interviewing a representative cross-section of 1,682 Australian electors from February 19-25. Further details will be released in Roy Morgan’s weekly video update presented by CEO Michele Levine.

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

Labor’s drone ship gamble

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Cameron Stewart
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 21-Feb-24

The federal government will increase its spending on defence to 2.4 per cent of GDP from the early 2030s, in response to the review of the navy’s surface fleet. The government will increase defence spending by $1.7bn over the four-year forward estimates period and $11.1bn over the next decade. Amongst other things, the government will fast-track the acquisition of 11 new general purpose frigates, while the Hunter-class project will be scaled back from nine frigates to just six. The navy will also retire the first of the ageing Anzac-class frigates immediately, while a second will be decommissioned by 2026. The government will invest in a fleet of semi-autonomous ships that are still being developed in the US; these ‘drone’ ships will each have 32 missile cells, significantly increase the navy’s firepower.

CORPORATES
ROYAL AUSTRALIAN NAVY

BHP urges Labor to fix IR before issuing subsidies

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Peter Ker, Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 21-Feb-24

BHP CEO Mike Henry says the resources group would be supportive of any assistance for Australia’s embattled nickel industry, such as a short-term production tax credit. However, he warns that a tax credit may not be sufficient to save the industry, given the significant challenges facing the nickel market. Henry adds that getting industrial relations policy right is more important than offering subsidies and rescue packages. BHP in particular will be impacted by the same job, same pay’ regime for labour hire workers. BHP’s wholly-owned labour hire firm, Operations Services, pays workers less than their colleagues employed on site-specific enterprise bargaining agreements. BHP’s Western Australian nickel mines are among the sites that use Operations Services workers.

CORPORATES
BHP GROUP LIMITED – ASX BHP, OPERATIONS SERVICES