AUSTRALIA – POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT

PM breaks ice with China

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Original article by Ben Packham, Amanda Hodge
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 14-Nov-22

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese briefly spoke with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang at the East Asia Summit’s gala dinner on Saturday night. It was the first face-to-face meeting between leaders of the two nations in three years, and Albanese says the four-minute conversation focused on the upcoming 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Australia and China. Albanese also had an unscheduled 40-minute meeting with US President Joe Biden on the final day of the summit on Sunday; they discussed issues such as the AUKUS alliance and climate change, and Albanese invited Biden to address a joint sitting of parliament in 2023 when he visits Australia for a meeting of Quadrilateral Security Dialogue nations. Albanese hopes to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the G20 leaders’ summit in Bali.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, EAST ASIA SUMMIT, UNITED STATES. EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT, GROUP OF TWENTY (G-20)

Call for energy ministers to agree to gas price cap at 30% of current market offers

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Original article by Peter Hannam
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 28-Oct-22

Federal and state energy minister will meet in Melbourne on Friday, in the wake of the budget forecast of big increases in electricity and gas prices. Energy Users Association of Australia CEO Andrew Richards has called for gas prices to be capped in response to the energy crisis that has been driven by the invasion of Ukraine. He notes that some industrial users are being offered contracts for gas at about $35 per gigajoule. This compares with about $10 per gigajoule just over a year ago, and Richards contends that capping prices at around this level would be "pretty fair and reasonable" for manufacturers and gas producers alike.

CORPORATES
ENERGY USERS ASSOCIATION OF AUSTRALIA

Right to strike law risks jobs

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman, Phillip Coorey, Carrie LaFrenz
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 6 : 28-Oct-22

The federal government tabled its Secure Jobs, Better Pay bill in parliament on Thursday. A Senate inquiry into the proposed legislation will report on 17 November, after a push by independent senator David Pocock to delay it until February was rejected. Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke has indicated that he is open to making changes to the multi-­employer bargaining provisions of the bill, which will allow unions to undertake industry-wide industrial action for the first time. Business leaders have expressed concern about the proposed reforms; Australian Industry Group CEO Innes Willox says they will result in more strikes and fewer jobs, while Minerals Council of Australia CEO Tania Constable warns that expanding multi-employer bargaining will "unleash industrial chaos" on the mining sector.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF EMPLOYMENT AND WORKPLACE RELATIONS, THE AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRY GROUP, MINERALS COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA

Future dark under ALP: Dutton

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Original article by Geoff Chambers
The Australian – Page: 1 & 2 : 28-Oct-22

Opposition leader Peter Dutton has used his budget-reply speech to criticise the federal government’s stance on a range of issues, including industrial relations, energy policy, housing and taxation. Dutton described Labor’s push for multi-employer bargaining as a "throwback to the 1980s" that will reduce productivity and result in strike action across the country. Dutton also contended that the government’s first budget will leave the average family about $2,000 worse off by Christmas, given that it will result in a rise in power prices, the cost of living, taxes, interest rates, unemployment and the deficit. Dutton said the government has already broken its election promise to reduce energy bills by $275 within three years, and he claimed that Labor is "laying the groundwork to break" its promise on the stage-three tax cuts. He also backed the Coalition’s proposal to allow people to use superannuation savings to buy their first home, contending that Labor’s budget plan to encourage super funds and other institutional investors to fund one million new homes is unrealistic.

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LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

Labor scraps pay secrecy clauses

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 19-Oct-22

Federal cabinet has approved the Secure Jobs Better Pay bill, which will be put before parliament on 27 October. Employment and Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke says that helping to close the gender pay gap is a key objective of the bill. Amongst other things, the legislation will ban the use of pay secrecy clauses in employment contracts, while gender equity will be become a central objective of the Fair Work Act. The bill will also broaden the scope of multi-employer bargaining, simplify the ‘better-off-overall test’ and abolish the Australian Building & Construction Commission. A second tranche of industrial reforms in 2023 will include increased workplace rights for gig economy workers and ‘same job, same pay’ rules for labour hire workers.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF EMPLOYMENT AND WORKPLACE RELATIONS

Shorten: NDIS blows out to $50b

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Original article by Phillip Coorey, Michael Read
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 6 : 19-Oct-22

The federal government will bring forward a review of the National Disability Insurance Scheme, amid growing concern about the rising cost of the program. NDIS Minister Bill Shorten says the review will examine its operation, sustainability and responsiveness to participants’ needs. He has conceded that many people who use the NDIS do not have "complex needs". Shorten has revealed that the government’s first Budget on 25 October would show that the projected cost of the NDIS will rise by $8.8bn over the next four years, to $50bn a year. The former Coalition government had estimated that it would cost $44.6bn annually by 2025-26.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF SOCIAL SERVICES

Treasurer tipped for $114b revenue windfall

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Original article by Tom McIlroy, Ronald Mizen
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 12-Oct-22

Deloitte Access Economics has forecast that the federal government’s Budget on 25 October will include additional revenue of $114.4bn over four years. Deloitte also anticipates that government spending will be higher than expected, and the firm has forecast that cumulative underlying cash deficits will be $45.5bn lower over four years. Stephen Smith of Deloitte says the strength of the domestic economy is a key reason why Australia has emerged from the pandemic with a budget position that is far healthier than most of its peers.

CORPORATES
DELOITTE ACCESS ECONOMICS PTY LTD

Freeze rents or we’ll block Labor housing bill: Greens

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Original article by Geoff Carmody
The Australian – Page: 4 : 5-Oct-22

Legislation to establish the federal government’s Housing Australia Future Fund will be put before parliament after the Budget is handed down on 25 October. Investment returns from the fund will be used to build 30,000 new social and affordable homes over the first five years. However, the Greens contend that this will not be sufficient to meet the nation’s housing needs, and will seek a number of concessions in return for their support. They include a commitment to building 275,000 new public and affordable homes over five years and imposing a nationwide rent freeze for two years.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN GREENS

Miners say they’re pawns in IR inquiry

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Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 6 : 5-Oct-22

The Minerals Council of Australia has criticised a Senate committee’s decision to require industry representatives to appear before its inquiry into a bill on labour hire firms that has been put forward by One Nation’s Malcolm Roberts. MCA CEO Tanya Constable argues that it is not necessary as the industry is already consulting with the federal government regarding its own proposed ‘same job, same pay’ legislation. Labor’s 2022 federal election platform included a commitment to crack down on the use of labour hire workers in sectors such as mining.

CORPORATES
MINERALS COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA, ONE NATION PARTY, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

Don’t break tax promise: Labor MPs

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Original article by Greg Brown
The Australian – Page: 1 & 2 : 5-Oct-22

Labor MPs Helen Polley, Mike Freelander and Meryl Swanson have stated that the federal government must not back down on its election commitment to proceed with the Coalition’s stage-three personal income cuts. Freelander says he is "uncomfortable" about the tax cuts – which will benefit high-income earners in particular – but he contends that governments must keep their promises. Treasurer Jim Chalmers has again refused to rule out making changes to the tax package, while Assistant Treasurer Andrew Leigh has also emphasised the need to abide by election commitments. Meanwhile, Chalmers has doubled down on his warning about the outlook for the global economy and the prospect of a further rise in Australia’s inflation rate.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY