POLITICAL PARTIES – AUSTRALIA

PM urged to adopt 2035 emissions reduction target of 70pc

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Original article by Greg Brown
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 7-May-25

The federal government will decide its 2035 emissions reduction target later this year, based on advice from the Climate Change Authority. However, the Labor Environment Action Network’s convener Felicity Wade says the group wants the 2035 target to be at least 70 per cent lower than 2005 emission levels. Wade adds that the environment must be a top priority for Labor’s second term in office, while LEAN wants the government’s ­nature positive laws to be legislated within 12 months. There are already doubts as to whether Labor’s 2030 emissions reduction target is achievable.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, LABOR ENVIRONMENT ACTION NETWORK

PM, Dutton get ready to rumble – officially

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Original article by Geoff Chambers
The Australian – Page: 5 : 18-Feb-25

Federal government MPs are believed to have been told to prepare for Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to formally announce the date of the election sometime between 3 and 11 March. Strategists from all political parties and activist groups such as Climate 200 now anticipate an election on either 5 or 12 April, with the latter seen to be the most likely. Climate 200 will help fund candidates in 35 seats nationwide, although this includes just four seats that are currently held by Labor. Meanwhile, history may be against Opposition leader Peter Dutton, given that no federal government has lost office after only one term since 1931.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, CLIMATE 200 PTY LTD, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA

Dark money totalling $67.2m flowed to Labor, Coalition and Greens in 2023-24

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Original article by Dan Jervis-Bardy, Sarah Basford Canales
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 4-Feb-25

Data from the Australian Electoral Commission shows that Labor, the Coalition and the Greens declared a total of $156m in political donations for the last financial year. Labor and its state branches received $67.5m worth of political donations in 2023-24; the Coalition received $72.2m and the Greens received $17.1m. However, the four major political parties did not declare the source of a combined $67.2m worth of donations. These financial contributions were below the disclosure threshold of $16,300 which the federal government wants to reduce this to just $1,000. Rob Keldoulis was the biggest individual political donor in 2023-24, contributing $1.1m to the Climate 200 organisation personally and via his private investment company.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN ELECTORAL COMMISSION, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, NATIONAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN GREENS, CLIMATE 200 PTY LTD

Adam Bandt pushes for formal power-sharing deal with Anthony Albanese in case of minority election

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Original article by Jacob Greber, Greg Jennett
abc.net.au – Page: Online : 4-Dec-24

Greens leader Adam Bandt has outlined his party’s terms for helping Labor to form government if the 2025 federal election results in a hung parliament. Bandt says there would be a "lot of merit" in establishing a formal power-sharing deal with Labor that clearly states the legislative priorities for the next parliament. Bandt adds that priority areas will include expanding Medicare to include dental and mental health care for adults, free access to GPs, and action to address the rising cost of rental housing. The Greens have been more co-operative in recent weeks, and the party backed more than 40 government bills on the final day of parliament for the year.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN GREENS, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

Greens are gambling their future on violent activists

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Original article by John Ferguson
The Australian – Page: 5 : 13-Sep-24

The Greens are being accused of supporting the actions of violent pro-Palestinian activists at demonstrations in Melbourne in a cynical attempt to secure the pro-Palestinian vote in Labor seats like Wills and Calwell at the next federal election. However, while there may some short-term gain in supporting the protestors, the repulsive nature of the demonstrations, which saw protesters going after police horses with plastic bread crates and deliberately trying to scare them, could damage the Greens’ brand over the longer term.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN GREENS

Coalition eyes Labor’s IR laws to woo the west

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Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 7 : 13-Aug-24

The Coalition is developing a specific set of policies for Western Australia, where it lost four seats at the last federal election. They include winding back some of the federal government’s industrial relations laws that mining companies contend are hurting productivity, along with rethinking its initial opposition to the federal government’s proposal to provide production tax credits for extracting and processing critical minerals. The Coalition had dubbed the proposal as "tax cuts for billionaires", but that did not go down well with smaller mining companies who are trying to compete with cheaper Chinese-backed ventures overseas

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Not Labor they elected as people reel from Gaza war

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Original article by
The New Daily – Page: Online : 9-Jul-24

Fatima Payman says people who voted for a Labor government have told her that it is now not serving their interests, when being asked why the now independent senator was not quitting her seat. Payman quit the Labor Party last week after crossing the floor on the issue of Palestinian statehood, claiming the government was not moving quickly enough on the matter. She claims that it is not just Australia’s Muslim and Palestinian communities that are being affected by the war in Gaza, saying it has "been impacting each and every person with a conscience and a heart out there".

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Exiled Payman defiant after PM tells her to consider her position as senator

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Original article by Paul Sakkal, James Massola
The Sydney Morning Herald – Page: Online : 2-Jul-24

Senator Fatima Payman claims she has been "exiled" by her federal Labor colleagues as a result of her defying party convention and crossing the floor over the conflict in Gaza, and that their actions appear to be aimed at intimidating her into resigning from the Senate. Her comments come a day after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese summoned Payman to The Lodge to advise that she was suspended indefinitely from the Labor caucus, while it has been confirmed that Albanese told Payman that she should consider her position as a parliamentarian.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

Labor working tails off to lift primary vote

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Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 26-Mar-24

Labor won the 2022 federal election with a primary vote of just 32.6 per cent. The combined vote for the major political parties fell to a record low of 68.3 per cent; in contrast, the vote for minor parties and independents reached a record high of 31.7 per cent. There was a similar trend against the major parties in Saturday’s state election in Tasmania. However, Labor believes that its low primary vote is not permanent but reflects voters concerns about issues such as the cost of living crisis and migrant numbers. Treasurer Jim Chalmers says Labor is working hard to give people the government they "need and deserve". He adds that the next election will be "close and hard fought".

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY

Independents move to ban mega donations in far-reaching political transparency overhaul

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Original article by Paul Karp
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 19-Mar-24

Political donations of more than $1.5 million would be banned under the fair and transparent elections bill, which is being tabled by crossbench and independent MPs in both houses of federal parliament. The bill also calls for a ban on donations from socially harmful industries such as the fossil fuel sector and for ‘truth-in-political advertising’. It further calls for the donation disclosure threshold to be lowered to $1,000, but it does not support a recommendation from the electoral matters committee to cap spending on elections, due to concerns that this could effectively entrench the two major parties.

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