POLITICAL PARTIES – AUSTRALIA – PLATFORMS

Labor all at sea as boats view thrown overboard

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Original article by Rosie Lewis, Alice Workman
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 3-Jun-19

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton has criticised Labor’s decision to appoint Kristina Keneally to the portfolio. Dutton claims that she is the "least qualified" to be the shadow home affairs minister. Keneally has previously opposed the federal government’s policy of turning back asylum-seeker boats and expressed support for on-shore processing. However, she now says Labor fully supports boat turnbacks and offshore processing. Meanwhile, former shadow treasurer Chris Bowen will step into the health portfolio, while Bill Shorten has been given the National Disability Insurance Scheme portfolio. The new shadow cabinet has equal representation of men and women.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF HOME AFFAIRS

Doesn’t add up: Albo’s mine craft

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Original article by Greg Brown, Alice Workman
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 28-May-19

Resources Minister Matt Canavan contends that Labor has learned nothing from how Queenslanders voted in the federal election. Canavan was attacking new Labor leader Anthony Albanese and deputy leader Richard Marles for refusing to say whether they support Adani’s proposed Carmichael coal mine in Queensland’s Galilee Basin, with the Basin having estimated thermal coal reserves of 27 billion tonnes. Albanese stated in 2018 that "there’s no market" for thermal coal, and that the Adani mine is "a climate change issue".

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY, ADANI MINING PTY LTD, QUEENSLAND RESOURCES COUNCIL LIMITED

Bouris calling with a warning about Labor

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Original article by Simon Benson
The Australian – Page: 8 : 17-May-19

Wizard Home Loans founder Mark Bouris has attracted scrutiny from the Australian Electoral Commission for targeting voters via a robo-calling campaign. Bouris, who is not a candidate in the federal election, used automated phone calling technology to contact 200,000 households in marginal electorates. He warned that Labor’s proposed negative gearing and capital gains tax reforms would see house prices fall. Bouris has stressed that he was not acting on behalf of any political party.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN ELECTORAL COMMISSION, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, WIZARD HOME LOANS, YELLOW BRICK ROAD HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX YBR, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA

Shorten draws on spirit of ‘It’s time’

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Original article by Andrew Tillett
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 17-May-19

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten echoed the words of former Labor prime minister Gough Whitlam in a speech at Bowman Hall in Blacktown on 16 May. The Sydney venue was the scene of Whitlam’s iconic ‘It’s time’ speech 47 years ago, and like Whitlam in 1972, Shorten described the 2019 election as a choice between the ‘habits and fears of the past’ and the ‘demands and opportunities of the future’. Shorten used his speech to reiterate Labor’s key polices, including action on climate change and reversing penalty rate cuts.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

Warning as housing stock piles up

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Original article by Ben Wilmot
The Australian – Page: 25 : 17-May-19

Data from CoreLogic shows that based on current rates of sales, housing supply across Australia’s capital cities is currently 5.3 months, up from 3.9 months a year ago. Meanwhile, Macquarie Equities says Reserve Bank data suggests that 2.5-3.5 per cent of house buyers with bank-issued mortgage loans are in negative equity following the downturn in the housing market. RiskWise Property Research CEO Doron Peleg says Labor’s proposed changes to the negative gearing and capital gains tax regimes would make residential property investment less attractive.

CORPORATES
CORELOGIC AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, MACQUARIE EQUITIES LIMITED, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, RISKWISE PROPERTY RESEARCH, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, GRATTAN INSTITUTE, AUSTRALIAN PRUDENTIAL REGULATION AUTHORITY, STARR PARTNERS PTY LTD, MASTER BUILDERS AUSTRALIA INCORPORATED

Don’t worry if house prices fall, says Bowen

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Original article by Turi Condon, Ben Packham, Greg Brown
The Australian – Page: 1 & 6 : 16-May-19

Property Council of Australia president Stephen Conry says the housing market is "fragile", and it is not the right time for Labor’s proposed changes to the negative gearing regime. Real Estate Institute of Australia president Adrian Kelly warns that the prices of existing properties will fall if Labor implements its reforms, while the Housing Industry Association’s chief economist Tim Reardon says housing rents will rise. Meanwhile, shadow treasurer Chris Bowen has downplayed concerns that homeowners may find themselves in negative equity, arguing that they will only incur a loss if they sell.

CORPORATES
PROPERTY COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA LIMITED, THE REAL ESTATE INSTITUTE OF AUSTRALIA LIMITED, HOUSING INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, SQM RESEARCH PTY LTD

Shorten reaches out to miners

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Original article by Phillip Coorey, Andrew Tillett
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 10 : 16-May-19

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has indicated that Labor may be open to industrial relations reforms that would allow greenfields enterprise agreements to be struck for the life of a resources project rather than having to be renegotiated every 3-4 years. He argues that this would provide greater certainty for workers, unions, employers and global investors. Shorten also intends to hold a national economic summit in early June if Labor wins the federal election; the agenda will include industrial relations, wages, productivity and the economy.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MARITIME, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, WOODSIDE PETROLEUM LIMITED – ASX WPL

Secret plans for anti-graft body

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Original article by Chris Merritt
The Australian – Page: 8 : 15-May-19

Former Victorian Court of Appeal judge Stephen Charles says Labor has a detailed plan for its proposed federal anti-corruption commission. Charles says he is a member of a group of retired judges who drafted the plan, which has been accepted by Labor’s legal affairs spokesman Mark Dreyfus. A spokeswoman for Dreyfus has rejected suggestions that Labor has a "secret plan". Labor has previously stated that it has only developed a series of ‘design principles’ for the anti-corruption watchdog, and it will consult with legal experts if it wins the election.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, COURT OF APPEAL (VICTORIA), THE AUSTRALIA INSTITUTE LIMITED, NEW SOUTH WALES. INDEPENDENT COMMISSION AGAINST CORRUPTION, AUSTRALIA. ATTORNEY-GENERAL’S DEPT

Coalition rejects interest rate risk on loan plan

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Original article by Matthew Cranston
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 9 : 15-May-19

Finance Minister Mathias Cormann has downplayed concerns that the Coalition’s First Home Loan Deposit Scheme could prompt banks to impose higher interest rates on participants in the scheme. He is confident that banks will want to be involved in the scheme and will not charge higher interest rates, arguing that banks’ exposure will still be restricted to a maximum loan to value ratio of 80 per cent. The New Zealand government introduced a similar scheme in 2003.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF FINANCE, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, KEYSTART HOME LOANS, NEW ZEALAND. MINISTRY OF HOUSING, HOUSING NEW ZEALAND CORPORATION

Employers fear payroll nightmare

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 15-May-19

The Fair Work Commission is expected to make a ruling on the minimum wage before the end of May. However, employers’ groups have warned of the potential payroll complications if Labor wins the federal election and pushes ahead with plans to make a new wage submission immediately upon taking office. Any increase in the minimum wage will take effect from 1 July, and Australian Chamber of Commerce & Industry CEO James Pearson has expressed concern that employers will not have enough time to apply the new pay rates if Labor seeks to make a new submission to the FWC.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY, ACTU