AUSTRALIA – POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT

Overseas student numbers expected to drop by 100,000

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Original article by Julie Hare
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 12-Dec-23

Experts say the federal government’s new visa requirements on international students will help to ‘weed’ out people who are seeking to use the student visa system as a ‘back door’ to the Australian jobs market. Internal government estimates indicate that the new requirements could see the number of foreign students coming to Australia to study fall by around 70,000, while 38,000 graduates could find themselves being sent home for failing to meet English-language tests.

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More than 870 Australian federal public servants acted corruptly over six years, investigation finds

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Original article by Henry Belot
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 6-Dec-23

The Australian Public Service Commission’s latest ‘state of the service’ report has highlighted the extent of misconduct within the nation’s bureaucracy. An internal investigation by the APSC has found that more than 870 public servants had acted corruptly between 2017-18 and 2022-23. It also shows that 162 public servants had acted dishonestly or without integrity in the last 12 months. Meanwhile, the APSC has established a new team to investigate serious misconduct allegations in response to the former Coalition government’s ‘robo-debt’ scandal.

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AUSTRALIAN PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION

Australia Post to end daily letter deliveries in a bid to avoid losses

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Original article by Paul Karp
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 6-Dec-23

The federal government will announce changes to Australia Post’s community service obligations on Wednesday. The overhaul will result in ordinary letters and unaddressed mail being delivered every second business day in 2024, although parcels, express and priority mail will still be delivered each day. Communications Minister Michelle Rowland says Australia Post’s business structure must reflect the needs of modern consumers; she notes that Australians are receiving fewer letters and more parcels. Australia Post recently booked a loss of $200m for the 2022-23 financial year.

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AUSTRALIA POST, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF INFRASTRUCTURE, TRANSPORT, REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT, COMMUNICATIONS AND THE ARTS

Labor’s preventive detention regime passes Senate as third freed immigration detainee arrested

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Original article by Paul Karp
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 6-Dec-23

The Senate has passed the federal government’s preventative detention laws, which were introduced in response to the High Court’s landmark ruling on indefinite immigration detention. The bill was supported by the Coalition, which moved a motion for the Senate to immediately vote on the laws following revelations that a third former immigration detainee has been arrested and charged just weeks after being released. The convicted child sex offender faces three counts of having contact with a juvenile and using social media and a live chat facility in breach of his reporting obligations. The other two former detainees have respectively been charged with indecent assault and drug possession. The lower house will vote on the legislation on Thursday.

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Chalmers hints at cost-of-living relief

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Original article by Michael Read
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 5-Dec-23

Treasurer Jim Chalmers says households should not expect significant cost-of-living relief in the federal government’s mid-year update. However, he adds that the government may be open to further measures in its May 2024 Budget, depending on factors such as economic conditions at that time. Meanwhile, the national accounts data for the September quarter will be released on Wednesday; Chalmers says the data is likely to reflect the impact on economic growth of 13 interest rate rises since May 2022. The general consensus of economists is that the economy expanded by 0.4 per cent in the quarter.

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AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY

Roy Morgan Poll on Federal voting intention shows support increasing for both major parties as two-party preferred result narrows: ALP 51% cf. L-NP 49%

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 5-Dec-23

The ALP is now on 51% (down 1.5% on a week ago) ahead of the Coalition on 49% (up 1.5%) on a two-party preferred basis, according to the latest Roy Morgan Poll on Federal voting intention conducted last week. The primary vote of both major parties strengthened with the Coalition now on 37.5%, up 2.5% ahead of the ALP on 32.5%, up 0.5%. The Greens are down 1% to 12.5% and One Nation is unchanged on 5%. Support for Independents dropped 0.5% to 8.5% and was down 1.5% to 4% for Other Parties. This Roy Morgan Poll is based on interviewing a representative cross-section of 1,730 Australian electors from November 27 – December 3, 2023. For further details watch Roy Morgan’s weekly Market Research Update video presented by Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine on Tuesday afternoon.

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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

States take on Albanese in GST spat

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Original article by Phillip Coorey, Patrick Durkin
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 4 : 30-Nov-23

The federal government is under pressure from the states and territories to permanently retain the goods and services ‘no worse off guarantee’, which is slated to end by 2026-27. The guarantee was introduced in 2018, with the aim of compensating the states for GST revenue they lost as part of a deal to put a ‘floor’ under the allocation for Western Australia. Victoria’s Treasurer Tim Pallas contends that ending the guarantee would be ‘disastrous’ for the states, as they would be collectively $4.9bn worse off each year. The guarantee will be on the agenda for a meeting of the state and federal treasurers in Brisbane on Friday.

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VICTORIA. DEPT OF TREASURY AND FINANCE

Business pans unfair IR deal with Greens

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 5 : 30-Nov-23

The federal government’s Closing Loopholes Bill was passed by the lower house on Wednesday, with more than 80 amendments that Labor had agreed to implement. However, employers’ groups have criticised a Greens amendment that will have major implications for the government’s intractable bargaining laws, which allow unions or employers to unilaterally go to arbitration after nine months of failed bargaining. The amendment means that employees’ existing conditions cannot be reduced via such arbitration. Australian Chamber of Commerce & Industry CEO Andrew McKellar says the Fair Work Commission will make a lot more unilateral decisions as a result of this amendment, which will in turn further reduce productivity.

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AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIAN GREENS, AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY

Albanese insists ALP will honour its stage three tax cut promise

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Original article by Tom McIlroy
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 30-Nov-23

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has reiterated in parliament that Labor remains committed to implementing the Coalition’s legislated stage-three personal income tax cuts, which are slated to take effect in mid-2024. Labor had committed to proceeding with the tax cuts during the 2022 federal election campaign. Albanese has also told Labor’s final caucus meeting for the year that keeping election promises is critical to maintaining trust with voters, with the nation due to go the polls again in 2025.

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AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

Bill shock fears risk NDIS deal

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Original article by Sarah Ison, Stephen Lunn, Greg Brown
The Australian – Page: 1 & 5 : 30-Nov-23

The federal government will push for an overhaul of the National Disability Insurance Scheme at a meeting of the national cabinet on 6 December. However, several state and territory governments are believed to have warned that they will not agree to any NDIS reforms unless they know just how much the changes will cost them. NDIS Minister Bill Shorten has declined to comment on how the proposed reforms would affect state government budgets. However, he has emphasised the urgency of reining in the cost of the scheme.

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