POLITICAL PARTIES – AUSTRALIA – PLATFORMS

No deal vow as Tanya takes aim at Greens

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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)

Overseas companies ‘can game the system’

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Original article by Joe Kelly
The Australian – Page: 6 : 10-Jun-16

The Australian Labor Party’s proposal to increase the threshold for offshore investment in agricultural land has been criticised by Treasurer Scott Morrison. Labor would require purchases of farmland valued at $A50m or more to be approved by the Foreign Investment Review Board, but Morrison contends that offshore buyers would seek to avoid this by acquiring land for $A49m. Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce has also criticised Labor’s proposal to lift the threshold for foreign investment in the agribusiness sector to $A1bn.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, AUSTRALIA. FOREIGN INVESTMENT REVIEW BOARD, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF AGRICULTURE AND WATER RESOURCES, AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY

Labor retreats on cuts

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Original article by Phillip Coorey, Patrick Durkin
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1& 6 : 10-Jun-16

The Federal Opposition will unveil a number of savings measures on 10 June 2016 that it will implement if it wins the federal election. It will also no longer oppose some of the spending cuts that were announced in the Australian Government’s May 2014 Budget, which have been stalled in the Senate. These measures are expected to include the Government’s proposed changes to welfare payments such as the Family Tax Benefit and a reduction in R&D tax concessions. The Opposition aims to eliminate the budget deficit within five years.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF FINANCE

Labor admits bigger deficits prompting AAA warnings

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Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 9-Jun-16

The Federal Opposition has conceded that the budget deficit will increase over the next four years under its 10-year economic plan. However, it expects to eliminate the deficit in 2020-21, and argues that its policies will have a much greater net benefit to the budget bottom line over a decade than the Australian Government’s plans to reduce the company tax rate. Finance Minister Mathias Cormann has warned that the Opposition’s higher deficit over the next four years could jeopardise Australia’s triple-A credit rating.

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

Business rebuts tax-cut attacks

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Original article by Jacob Greber
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 8 : 9-Jun-16

The heads of four Australian employers’ and industry groups have criticised opponents of the Federal Government’s proposal to progressively reduce the company tax rate over 10 years. They note that GDP will be boosted by one per cent on an ongoing basis as a result of the tax cuts, and argue that there is no justification for taxing businesses at a different rate depending on their size. The business leaders also warn that opposition to the tax cuts reflects broader anti-business sentiment.

CORPORATES
THE AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRY GROUP, AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY, BUSINESS COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA, MINERALS COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA, FORTESCUE METALS GROUP LIMITED – ASX FMG, EVOLUTION MINING LIMITED – ASX EVN, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIAN GREENS, GRATTAN INSTITUTE, THE AUSTRALIA INSTITUTE LIMITED

Tax cut gain ‘twice cost to the budget’

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Original article by David Crowe
The Australian – Page: 1 & 6 : 8-Jun-16

Research by Chris Murphy of Independent Economics has concluded that the Australian Government’s proposal to progressively reduce the company tax rate will have significant economic benefits. Murphy has estimated that the "consumer benefit" from the tax cuts will be around $A2.39 for every $A1.00 in forgone revenue. Murphy has also rejected suggestions that the tax cuts will boost the after-tax profits of offshore investors.

CORPORATES
INDEPENDENT ECONOMICS, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, GRATTAN INSTITUTE, THE AUSTRALIA INSTITUTE LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN GREENS, CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA (INCORPORATED)