POLITICAL PARTIES – AUSTRALIA – PLATFORMS

Tax break idea worthy, but unworkable

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Original article by David Crowe
The Australian – Page: 4 : 17-Aug-17

Senator Nick Xenophon’s proposal to provide a 40 per cent tax break for smaller media companies has merit, and it is likely to benefit the publishers of newspapers such as "The Saturday Paper" and websites like "The New Daily". However, the Federal Government would need to determine whether the local editions of overseas publications would be eligible for the tax break. There is also the question of whether taxpayers should subsidise small media outlets that would be competing with the monolithic ABC for both funding and audiences.

CORPORATES
NICK XENOPHON TEAM, AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, SCHWARTZ MEDIA PTY LTD, THE NEW DAILY, THE GUARDIAN AUSTRALIA, DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA, THE HUFFINGTON POST, POLITIFACT AUSTRALIA

Coalition tips Medicare Levy will get over the line

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Original article by David Crowe
The Australian – Page: 1 & 2 : 17-Aug-17

The Federal Government is optimistic that its proposed 0.5 per cent increase in the Medicare levy will be passed by the Senate. The bill will be put before the upper house on 17 August, although a vote is unlikely before September. The increase in the levy is one of 10 bills that were endorsed by the Coalition’s partyroom on 16 August. The Opposition is pushing for the increased levy to be restricted to people whose annual income exceeds $A87,000. The Government hopes to secure the support of crossbenchers.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, NICK XENOPHON TEAM, ONE NATION PARTY, AUSTRALIAN GREENS

Hanson deal on media laws

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Original article by Rosie Lewis, Darren Davidson, Primrose Riordan
The Australian – Page: 1 & 3 : 16-Aug-17

The Federal Government has agreed to a number of concessions to secure One Nation’s support for its cross-media ownership reforms in the Senate. Amongst other things, the ABC and SBS will be required to disclose the salaries of their highest-paid staff, while the ABC Act will be amended to include the requirement that the public broadcaster’s news coverage is "fair and balanced". The support of the Nick Xenophon Team for the media bill will be crucial, given that the Greens have rejected the One Nation reforms.

CORPORATES
ONE NATION PARTY, AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, SPECIAL BROADCASTING SERVICE (SBS), NICK XENOPHON TEAM, AUSTRALIAN GREENS, AUSTRALIAN CONSERVATIVES, LIBERAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF COMMUNICATIONS AND THE ARTS, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED – ASX FXJ, TEN NETWORK HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX TEN, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, MEDIA, ENTERTAINMENT AND ARTS ALLIANCE

TV networks face slug for local content fund

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Original article by Andrew Tillett
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 6 : 15-Aug-17

The Australian Government is continuing to hold talks with Senate crossbenchers regarding its cross-media reform bill, which is slated to be debated on 15 August. The Greens remain open to negotiation, and the party has proposed that TV networks should be required to contribute to a "local content fund". This was a key recommendation of the Convergence Review in 2012. The Greens’ Sarah Hanson-Young has also advocated an increase in funding for the ABC and SBS, while One Nation wants their funding to be reduced.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN GREENS, ONE NATION PARTY, AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, SPECIAL BROADCASTING SERVICE (SBS), AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF COMMUNICATIONS AND THE ARTS, NICK XENOPHON TEAM, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, GOOGLE INCORPORATED, FACEBOOK INCORPORATED, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION

Fifield in legislative limbo with crossbench

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Original article by Darren Davidson
The Australian – Page: 24 & 26 : 14-Aug-17

The Federal Government is still holding talks with the Greens and Senate crossbenchers in a bid to secure support for its cross-media ownership reforms. Cory Bernardi, David Leyonhjelm and Derryn Hinch intend to support the bill, although the Government will require the support of another seven crossbenchers. Meanwhile, the Greens have expressed concern about One Nation’s proposal to undertake an expenditure review of the ABC and SBS. The bill is expected to be debated in the upper house in the week beginning 14 August.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF COMMUNICATIONS AND THE ARTS, AUSTRALIAN GREENS, ONE NATION PARTY, NICK XENOPHON TEAM, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, SPECIAL BROADCASTING SERVICE (SBS)

Slap for exemptions in Labor ‘tax grab’

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Original article by Joe Kelly
The Australian – Page: 5 : 11-Aug-17

The Federal Opposition has been attacked over its plans to exempt farmers from its proposed crackdown on the taxation of discretionary trusts. Labor has claimed that its proposed changes will raise $A17 billion over 10 years. Shadow treasurer Chris Bowen says the exemption of farmers is warranted on the grounds that their income fluctuates. However, Small Business Minister Michael McCormack says the same argument could be made for small business owners, and Labor is not planning to exempt them from its changes.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF INDUSTRY, INNOVATION AND SCIENCE, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF FINANCE

Hanson’s media bill demands rejected

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Original article by Rosie Lewis
The Australian – Page: 4 : 9-Aug-17

The Australian Government has signalled that it may be open to supporting some of the Senate crossbenchers’ proposed amendments to it cross-media ownership reform bill. These include the Nick Xenophon Team’s push for an inquiry into the growing market power of Google and Facebook and a 40 per cent tax break for smaller news publishers. However, Communications Minister Mitch Fifield is unlikely to support One Nation’s push for the costs of the ABC and SBS to be reviewed.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF COMMUNICATIONS AND THE ARTS, NICK XENOPHON TEAM, ONE NATION PARTY, AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, SPECIAL BROADCASTING SERVICE (SBS), AUSTRALIAN GREENS, GOOGLE INCORPORATED, FACEBOOK INCORPORATED

Fifield to broker media deal with Greens or One Nation

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Original article by Max Mason
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 29 : 7-Aug-17

The Australian Government’s cross-media ownership reform bill is slated to be debated in the Senate on 9 August. The Government is said to be confident of negotiating a deal with either the Greens or One Nation to support the bill. The Greens have previously been opposed to abolition of the "two out of three" rule. However, the party may be prepared to back the bill if there are measures to protect media diversity, which is also a key issue for the Nick Xenophon Team.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN GREENS, ONE NATION PARTY, NICK XENOPHON TEAM, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF COMMUNICATIONS AND THE ARTS, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, SPECIAL BROADCASTING SERVICE (SBS)

Hanson uses media votes as clout for ABC review

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Original article by Rosie Lewis
The Australian – Page: 4 : 4-Aug-17

The Federal Government’s cross-media ownership bill will be on the Senate’s agenda when Parliament resumes in the week beginning 7 August. One Nation continues to have concerns about the impact on media diversity of abolishing the "two-out-of-three" rule, although the minor party has signalled that it may be open to supporting the media reforms if the Government agrees to a review of the ABC and SBS. The proposed review would include the public broadcasters’ costs and the number of TV channels they operate.

CORPORATES
ONE NATION PARTY, AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, SPECIAL BROADCASTING SERVICE (SBS), NICK XENOPHON TEAM, AUSTRALIAN GREENS, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF COMMUNICATIONS AND THE ARTS

Labor to re-arm unions in inequality fightback

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Original article by Andrew Tillett
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 5 : 3-Aug-17

The Opposition’s industrial relations spokesman Brendan O’Connor has flagged a greater role for unions in enterprise agreement negotiations if the Australian Labor Party wins the next federal election. He has used a Sydney Institute speech to argue that employers now have too much bargaining power in wage negotiations, and noted that there has been a marked shift toward industrial award at the expense of collective agreements since 2008. He also questioned the effectiveness of the Fair Work Act and whether the Fair Work Commission’s powers are sufficient.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, SYDNEY INSTITUTE, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE