POLITICAL PARTIES – AUSTRALIA – PLATFORMS

Shorten pitches jobs growth

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 : 20-Jun-16

The Australian Labor Party officially launched its 2016 federal election campaign on 19 July. Opposition Leader Bill Shorten announced an additional $A3.1bn worth of spending commitments, including $A1.7bn for public transport projects. Labor has also revealed a $A257m program that will provide small businesses with tax breaks for hiring mature-age workers, mothers and carers who are seeking to re-enter the workforce, and people under the age of 25. Shorten also ruled out privatising Medicare.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF HUMAN SERVICES. MEDICARE AUSTRALIA, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY

Directors face new penalties

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 7 : 20-Jun-16

The Australian Government will increase the maximum civil penalty for breaches of the Corporations Act if wins the 2016 federal election. Company directors will face fines of up to $A216,000 for serious breaches of the Act, compared with $A200,000 at present. The registered organisations bill will also impose the same penalty on union officials, who can be fined a maximum of $A10,800 at present. Unions will also be prohibited from paying the fines of officials who breach the law.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF EMPLOYMENT, AUSTRALIA. ROYAL COMMISSION INTO TRADE UNION GOVERNANCE AND CORRUPTION, ACTU, CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA

Labor forces Medicare retreat

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 : 20-Jun-16

The future of Medicare was on the agenda for both major political parties on 19 June 2016. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull ruled out the privatisation of Medicare or any of its services. The Federal Government had previously flagged plans to outsource Medicare’s back-office functions. However, Opposition Leader Bill Shorten claims that the Government still plans to dismantle the existing Medicare system. He has also committed to blocking a proposal to reduce bulk-billing incentive payments for pathology and radiology services.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF HUMAN SERVICES. MEDICARE AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF HEALTH, AUSTRALIA. PRODUCTIVITY COMMISSION, PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS AUSTRALIA (INTERNATIONAL) PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, AUSTRALIA POST, NORTHROP GRUMMAN CORPORATION, TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS

Roy Morgan State of the Nation 24: Focus on Politics the 2016 Federal Election

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Roy Morgan Research
Market Research Update – Page: online : 17-Jun-16

Roy Morgan Research has presented the latest Australia State of the Nation, with the focus on the 2016 Federal Election. Economic issues are still the main concern for Australians. The 7-Eleven wage exploitation scandal and a Fair Work Commission ruling against Coles have made voters sensitive to problems related to industrial relations. Australia’s real unemployment level is much higher than suggested by official figures. Roy Morgan’s unemployment & under-employment rate is at 18.1 per cent, versus the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ unemployment figure of 5.7 per cent. Australians’ voting intentions suggest that Malcolm Turnbull will to be re-elected as Prime Minister on 2 July 2016.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN RESEARCH LIMITED, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, 7-ELEVEN STORES PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN GREENS, COLES GROUP LIMITED, REPUBLICAN PARTY (UNITED STATES), AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS, AUSTRALIAN ELECTORAL COMMISSION, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, NATIONAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, VICTORIA. COUNTRY FIRE AUTHORITY, NICK XENOPHON TEAM, PALMER UNITED PARTY, JACQUI LAMBIE NETWORK, GLENN LAZARUS TEAM, JOHN MADIGAN’S MANUFACTURING AND FARMING PARTY, DERRYN HINCH’S JUSTICE PARTY, FAMILY FIRST PARTY AUSTRALIA LIMITED, LIBERAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY

Labor’s proposed environmental approval laws a ‘disaster’

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Primrose Riordan
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 7 : 16-Jun-16

The Federal Opposition has been criticised over its proposal to reverse reforms that gave state governments increased responsibility for granting environmental approval for major projects. Northern Territory Treasurer David Tollner warns that the policy would result in job losses in industries such as agriculture and construction. New South Wales Environment Minister Mark Speakman has also expressed concern about the policy, although it is supported by Queensland Environment Minister Steven Miles.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, NORTHERN TERRITORY. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, NEW SOUTH WALES. DEPT OF PLANNING AND ENVIRONMENT, QUEENSLAND. DEPT OF ENVIRONMENT AND HERITAGE PROTECTION, TASMANIA. DEPT OF PRIMARY INDUSTRIES, WATER AND ENVIRONMENT, MINERALS COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE ENVIRONMENT

No deal vow as Tanya takes aim at Greens

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by David Crowe, Mark Coultan
The Australian – Page: 8 : 16-Jun-16

The Federal Government has launched a new advertising campaign in which it claims that the Opposition will seek an alliance with the Australian Greens and independents to form government. However, Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has ruled out an alliance with the Greens, while Deputy Leader Tanya Plibersek says the Greens’ election campaign is actively targeting the Australian Labor Party rather than the Coalition. She adds that there is lack of agreement within the Greens on some key issues.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIAN GREENS, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, NATIONAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, DEMOCRATIC LABOR PARTY

Blame-game in NBN backflip

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Phillip Coorey, Paul Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 5 : 14-Jun-16

The Australian Government has rejected claims that the Opposition’s policy will cap the cost of the national broadband network at $A29.5bn. The Australian Labor Party argues that its plan to resume deploying fibre-to-the-premises technology will reduce the cost of the rollout. Labor aims to connect an additional two million homes and businesses to the NBN via FTTP. However, Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has conceded that it would cost too much to upgrade premises that have been connected using fibre-to-the-home under the Coalition.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, NATIONAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, KPMG AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, McKINSEY AND COMPANY, INTELLIGENT BUSINESS RESEARCH SERVICES PTY LTD, TELSYTE PTY LTD, INTERNET AUSTRALIA

Labor, Libs leave $60b health hole

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Laura Tingle
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 6 : 14-Jun-16

The issue of public hospital funding is under scrutiny, with the health policies of the Coalition and the Australian Labor Party only providing funding for the next four years. Professor Stephen Leeder notes that none of the major political parties have outlined a plan for sustainable funding of the public hospital system. Deloitte Access Economics’ Chris Richardson says Australia faces a "black hole" in hospital funding that will ultimately have to be addressed by the federal government rather than its state counterparts.

CORPORATES
LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, NATIONAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, DELOITTE ACCESS ECONOMICS PTY LTD, SOUTH AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PREMIER AND CABINET

Copper stopper, two million more get fibre under Labor’s NBN plan

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: Online : 13-Jun-16

The Federal Opposition will announce details of its broadband policy on 13 June 2016. An additional two million homes and businesses will be connected to the national broadband network via fibre-to-the-home, rather than fire-to-the-node, if the Australian Labor Party wins the federal election. Labor will also seek to determine whether homes that have been connected via fire-to-the-node can be upgraded to fibre-to-the-home. Opposition Leader Bill Shorten says Australia needs a high-quality NBN in order to compete with Asia.

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

Reform FWC for actual fairness

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Steve Knott
The Australian – Page: 12 : 10-Jun-16

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten’s abrupt change in stance regarding the Fair Work Commission’s review of weekend penalty rates was not unexpected. FWC president Iain Ross – a former ACTU official – was appointed by Shorten in 2012, when he was the nation’s industrial relations minister. Indeed, 18 of the 27 appointments to the "independent" FWC made by the Australian Labor Party between 2007 and 2013 were affiliated with Labor or were previously in the union movement. Meanwhile, a survey has found that 87 per cent of employers in the resources sector support a review of the FWC.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, ACTU, AUSTRALIAN MINES AND METALS ASSOCIATION (INCORPORATED)