Australia news LIVE: Albanese sells stage 3 tax cut changes ...

29 Jan 2024

Brisbane Times

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10.01am

RSPCA lashes Victorian government for duck hunting decisionBy Broede Carmody

In state news, the RSPCA has slammed the Victorian government for its decision, due to be announced today, that it will not ban duck hunting despite a recent parliamentary inquiry recommending an end to the practice.

Albanese - Figure 1 — Photo Brisbane Times

Victorian state ministers will meet today to discuss harsher penalties for hunters who break the law and further mandatory training, but not a total end to the sport.

This masthead was the first to report on the measures yesterday afternoon.

This morning, RSPCA Victoria boss Dr Liz Walker said the Victorian government was going against public sentiment and “clear evidence”:

“The evidence is there, with other states like Queensland, New South Wales and Western Australia all having banned it up to three decades ago with people still enjoying the great outdoors.

“Instead of sanctioning the injury, pain, suffering, distress of our native birds, the Government should have listened to the Inquiry, and millions of Victorians who also want to see it banned.

“This decision simply leaves us asking when it comes to duck and quail hunting, why is Victoria different?

“We urge the government to hear the millions of Victorians who have made clear their support for a duck hunting ban in Victoria and to reverse this decision.”

WA banned duck hunting in 1990, NSW followed suit in 1995 and Queensland banned the practice in 2005.

9.41am

Chalmers rebukes business call for lower minimum wage rise after tax cutsBy Olivia Ireland

Treasurer Jim Chalmers says revised tax cuts were never intended as a substitute for decent wages, rebuking the business lobby’s request to the workplace tribunal for a lower minimum wage increase this year in light of the reformed stage 3 tax cut package.

This masthead reported today that employers will argue to the Fair Work Commission that by keeping the safety net lift closer to its current level of $23.23 per hour when it is reviewed in June, the industrial umpire will reduce the need for future rate rises and increase employment.

Albanese - Figure 2 — Photo Brisbane Times

Jim Chalmers in Canberra on Monday morning.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Asked about this at a Canberra press conference, Chalmers said the government’s reformed package for stage 3 was never about substituting wage increases.

“Our tax cuts should be on top of a decent increase in the minimum wage, not instead of one,” he said.

“This is not an either or here. You know, we want to get wages growing in our economy at the same time as we provide additional cost of living relief via the tax system.

“One of the reasons why we’ve got wages growing again after a decade of deliberate wage stagnation and wage suppression is because there have been a couple of decent pay rises granted by the Commission.

“We will make our submission in the usual way, but our tax cuts are never intended as a substitute for the decent wages that workers in our country need and deserve.”

9.28am

Neo-Nazi ‘grubs’ have no place in society, let alone government jobs: ChalmersBy Olivia Ireland

Returning to Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ press conference this morning, he was asked if any state or federal government employees should keep their jobs if they are found to be neo-Nazis, to which he said they had no place in a civilised society.

On Sunday, NSW Police said they concluded an operation in Artarmon just after 11am when pictures were posted by social media users showing men dressed in black, some wearing balaclavas.

Jim Chalmers on Monday morning.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

It comes after police stopped a group of men in similar attire at North Sydney station on Friday while they were on their way to Australia Day events in the CBD.

“There’s no place for these kinds of grubs in a civilised society and obviously that applies to government agencies as well,” Chalmers said when asked about the events.

Albanese - Figure 3 — Photo Brisbane Times

“Australians would have been shocked by those scenes that we saw in Sydney in recent days and we commend the NSW Police.

“I commend the NSW premier and also as a federal government. We’ve taken a number of steps to stamp out this kind of hate being expressed on our streets, but there’s no place for these kinds of people.”

9.15am

Guardian political editor joins Albanese’s officeBy Paul Sakkal

Guardian Australia political editor Katharine Murphy, one of the Canberra press gallery’s most senior journalists, is joining Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s office.

The move was confirmed by Guardian management on Monday morning.

Murphy is a former Fairfax journalist and joined the Australian arm of the Guardian at its inception last decade.

Katharine Murphy on the set of Insiders in 2017.Credit: Meredith O’Shea/Fairfax Media

The prime minister’s office has been shaken up since late last year when head of media Liz Fitch departed.

Former Kevin Rudd staffer Fiona Sugden has also joined Albanese’s media team, which came under scrutiny last year as Labor lost the Voice referendum and struggled to manage other fast-moving political issues.

Guardian Australia boss Lenore Taylor said she was sad to let Murphy go.

“[Guardian Australia] has succeeded beyond anything we imagined back then and Murphy’s dedication, tireless work and brilliant political analysis have played a significant part of that success,” Taylor wrote in an email.

“We’ll all miss her terribly and so will our readers.”

Murphy will depart on Friday and her role in Albanese’s office is not yet clear.

9.11am

Treasurer ‘wouldn’t read too much into’ PM booingBy Olivia Ireland

Treasurer Jim Chalmers is not concerned about Prime Minister Anthony Albanese being booed at the Australian Open final on Sunday night.

Albanese - Figure 4 — Photo Brisbane Times

Albanese attended Rod Laver Arena for the men’s singles tournament final at the Australian Open between Jannik Sinner and Daniil Medvedev.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers speaks in Canberra.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

When the prime minister’s name was announced, he received boos from the crowd. Chalmers congratulated Sinner for his win, saying the reception given to Albanese was not concerning.

“I think it’s a well-worn Australian tradition at sporting events for that to happen, and I don’t think we should read too much into it,” he said.

8.56am

Chalmers rules out negative gearing reformBy Olivia Ireland

The government is not contemplating negative gearing policies that were first brought to the 2019 election.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers shut down a question on reports Labor MPs would support revisiting the government’s negative gearing policies, saying their current housing policies is the priority.

“We’re not contemplating or considering resurrecting the policies that we took to the 2019 election. Our focus when it comes to tax and housing has been on incentivising build to rent properties with the tax breaks that I budgeted for in the May budget,” he said.

“I know that our opponents will want to focus on what we aren’t proposing because they want to distract from the position they’ve taken on the tax changes that we are proposing, and that’s because their position on stage 3 is indefensible and untenable.”

8.46am

Treasurer claims progress fighting inflation, says tax cuts will address bracket creepBy Olivia Ireland

Treasurer Jim Chalmers says there has been welcome and encouraging progress in the fight against inflation, and says the government’s plan is about “relief and reform” which will help address bracket creep.

Albanese - Figure 5 — Photo Brisbane Times

Speaking from Canberra, Chalmers said there was still a way to go with addressing inflation pressure as the monthly Consumer Price Index for December will come out in the middle of the week.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers in Canberra last Thursday.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

“We have made welcome and encouraging progress in the fight against inflation, but it’s not mission accomplished because people are still under pressure and that’s why we are delivering a bigger tax cut,” he said.

“There is more than one way to return bracket creep. Our plan is relief and reform. It’s cost-of-living relief, and it’s also important [for] tax reform to improve and strengthen the tax system into the future by dropping two rates and by lifting two thresholds.

“We are giving everyone a tax cut, we’re delivering $359 billion worth of tax relief, and we are returning bracket creep where we can do the most good, which is middle Australia.”

8.37am

Former Labor minister replaces Costello as Future Fund chairBy Shane Wright

Former Labor minister and former secretary of the ACTU, Greg Combet, has been appointed to head the federal government’s $210 billion Future Fund.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers today announced Combet, who is currently the head of the government’s Net Zero Economy Agency and had been until mid-2013 the chair of IFM Investors, will succeed former Liberal treasurer Peter Costello as head of the fund.

Greg Combet at the Jobs and Skills summit in Canberra in 2022.Credit: James Brickwood

“As you know Greg Combet has extensive experience in investment and superannuation as well as government and the climate and energy transformation,” Chalmers said.

Albanese - Figure 6 — Photo Brisbane Times

“Greg Combet is a person of extraordinary breadth and depth and character and experience and he is the perfect appointment to take the Future Fund into the future.”

The fund was created by Costello, initially to save and invest budget surpluses so as to cover federal government superannuation liabilities.

It is now overseeing a series of other investment funds including the Medical Research Future Fund, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Land and Sea Future Fund and the Disaster Ready Fund.

Costello was appointed to the Future Fund’s board of guardians by then Labor treasurer Wayne Swan in 2009. He was then made chairman by Liberal treasurer Joe Hockey in 2014 before being reappointed for a second 5-year term by Josh Frydenberg in 2019.

His term is due to expire next month.

Combet served in the Rudd and Gillard governments as industry and climate change minister, before retiring at the 2013 election.

8.21am

Watch: Treasurer Jim Chalmers speaks in Canberra

Treasurer Jim Chalmers spoke at Parliament House in Canberra at 9.30am.

Watch below:

8.01am

Albanese responds after being booed at Australian Open finalBy Lachlan Abbott

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has brushed off the frosty reception he received at the Australian Open final last night, saying the boos that echoed around Rod Laver Arena when his name was announced was just another chapter in a long national tradition of booing politicians at sporting events.

The prime minister began his media appearances this week with two interviews on Melbourne FM radio stations.

On Fox FM, Albanese was asked whether he expected to be booed when he was welcomed during the presentations after the final.

“It’s a bit of tradition in Australian sport, isn’t it?” Albanese said, with a slight chuckle.

The prime minister also continued to argue the case for his changes to stage 3 tax cuts.

“Every Australian will get a tax cut. So many of low- and middle-income earners have been doing it really tough. And so we have changed our position,” he said.

“We’ve redesigned the tax cut so that every Australian gets a tax cut – that starts from the first [tax] rate of $18,200 right up to $45,000. They were going to get not a single cent. And we don’t think that’s fair. But the tax cuts are really aimed at middle Australia.”

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