GOVERNMENT SPENDING POLICY – AUSTRALIA

Alert on $45bn Labor spree

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Original article by Patrick Commins
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 30-May-22

S&P Global Ratings has warned that the federal government’s "off-balance-sheet" election promises could potentially put Australia’s coveted AAA credit rating at risk. Labor announced nearly $45bn worth of spending commitments during the election, including its "rewiring the nation" program and funding for social and affordable housing. The ratings agency’s lead country analyst Anthony Walker says off-balance sheet spending is automatically included in its assessment of a nation’s financial position. Walker adds that further government spending risks fuelling inflation and more aggressive tightening of monetary policy.

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S&P GLOBAL RATINGS, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

Mining, defence top agenda on PM’s Perth visit

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Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 5 : 16-Mar-22

The federal government will provide four critical minerals projects with funding via its $1.3 billion modern manufacturing initiative. The $243m funding package will be announced by Prime Minister Scott Morrison during his trip to Western Australia; the projects include a battery material refinery hub near Kalgoorlie and a rare earth separation plant in the Northern Territory. Industry Minister Angus Taylor says the government support is aimed at addressing China’s global dominance of critical minerals supply. Morrison has also announced a $4.3bn upgrade of the Henderson naval shipyards in WA.

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AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF INDUSTRY, SCIENCE, ENERGY AND RESOURCES

The ABC’s budget hasn’t been restored – it’s still facing $1.2 billion in losses over a decade

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Original article by Alexandra Wake, Michael Ward
The New Daily – Page: Online : 10-Feb-22

The ABC’s management has welcomed the federal government’s new three-year funding package and the abolition of the budget indexation freeze that was imposed in 2018. The ABC will receive $3.284bn over the three years from 2022-23, including $45.8m to continue its enhanced news gathering program for local public interest journalism in regional areas. However, analysis shows that the ABC’s funding has been cut by $783m in total since 2014, and it faces accumulated funding cuts of $1.201bn over the period from 2014-15 to 2024-25.

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AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION

Labor Covid policies an extra $81bn hit: Finance Minister

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Original article by Geoff Chambers
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 9-Feb-22

The federal government has spent about $337bn on economic and health support programs since the COVID-19 pandemic began, which has contributed to the budget deficit blowing out to $134bn. However, Finance Minister Simon Birmingham says the government has contained spending during the pandemic by making its emergency measures "temporary, targeted and proportionate". He adds that Labor’s pandemic policies would have cost an additional $81bn in unnecessary spending and increased the deficit by 20 per cent. Shadow finance minister Katy Gallagher has in turn described the Coalition as the most wasteful government since Federation.

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AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF FINANCE, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

$25bn in Coalition grants made through closed process with no competitors, report finds

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Original article by Sarah Martin
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 20-Oct-21

The Auditor-General has released a report which shows that the federal government spent $60.2bn via its GrantsConnect program between December 2017 and June 2021. A total of 108,206 grants were allocated over this period, and 42% were awarded via a non-competitive tender process. The report also shows that 27 per cent of grants that were earmarked for regional development programs were allocated to recipients with capital city postcodes; just eight per cent of the grants were awarded to remote or very remote areas.

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AUSTRALIA. OFFICE OF THE AUDITOR-GENERAL

PM to end money for lockdowns

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Original article by Phillip Coorey, Tom McIlroy
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 4 : 29-Sep-21

The federal government’s temporary COVID-19 Disaster Payment will be phased out when the states and territories have achieved the vaccination rates that were agreed upon in the national plan to reopen the economy. The income support payments will be completely withdrawn two weeks after 80 per cent of the eligible population of a given jurisdiction has been fully vaccinated. States and territories that opt to set higher vaccination targets than the national plan will be required to implement their own income support programs. Treasurer Josh Frydenberg says the coronavirus cannot be eliminated, so Australia must learn to live with it.

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AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY

Angus Taylor and Keith Pitt asked by Senate inquiry chair to explain dealings with firm awarded Beetaloo gas grants

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Original article by Christopher Knaus
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 2-Sep-21

Two federal government ministers are under scrutiny over the decision to award $21m in grants for gas exploration in the Beetaloo Basin to Empire Energy, which has close links with the Liberal Party. It has been revealed that the company enquired about the eligibility criteria and application process for the grants some time before the guidelines for the program were released in March. Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young says Energy Minister Angus Taylor and Resources Minister Keith Pitt must disclose whether they had any communications with Empire Energy prior to this date.

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EMPIRE ENERGY GROUP LIMITED – ASX EEG, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF AGRICULTURE, WATER AND THE ENVIRONMENT, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF INDUSTRY, SCIENCE, ENERGY AND RESOURCES, AUSTRALIAN GREENS

Stimulus creates oversupply of homes

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Original article by Patrick Commins
The Australian – Page: 4 : 25-Aug-21

Tim Toohey of Yarra Capital says the take-up rate of the federal government’s HomeBuilder scheme was more than four times higher than expected. He says that together with state-based incentives, this will result in an oversupply of new housing by 2023. Toohey adds that there is also a good chance that house prices will fall over the next two years. The government received more than 99,000 applications to build a new home via the scheme, as well as some 22,000 applications to undertake renovations on an existing home.

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YARRA CAPITAL PARTNERS PTY LTD

Morrison refuses to say if he saw list of marginal seats to get car park funding

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Original article by Katina Curtis, Shane Wright
The Age – Page: Online : 6-Aug-21

The federal government’s $660 million commuter car park grants program has come under severe criticism from the Auditor-General. Only three of the 47 car parks promised in early 2019 have been built, and the Auditor-General has found that there was no criteria for assessing the merit of projects and that 77 per cent of those that were initially funded were in marginal Coalition seats. The Auditor-General has claimed that a list of "top 20 marginal seats" was used as the basis for deciding which projects to finance. Prime Minister Scott Morrison has refused to say if he saw such a list.

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AUSTRALIA. OFFICE OF THE AUDITOR-GENERAL, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET

Archives win $67m in urgent funding

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Original article by Troy Bramston
The Australian – Page: 3 : 1-Jul-21

The federal government has approved a $67.7m increase in funding for the National Archives of Australia to preserve and digitise its most at-risk records, including documents, photos, maps and film recordings. This had been recommended by former senior public servant David Tune, although the government will provide the additional funding over four years rather than seven. A group of prominent Australians recently signed an open letter to Prime Minister Scott Morrison urging the government to increase the National Archives’ funding.

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