Productivity summit ends, treasurer signals tax reforms
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Herald Sun
23 minutes ago
- Herald Sun
Treasurer Jim Chalmers hails ‘consensus' on new tax that will be phased in starting with EV vehicles
Don't miss out on the headlines from On the Road. Followed categories will be added to My News. Treasurer Jim Chalmers has emerged from his three-day economic roundtable with '10 clear areas' for reform and consensus on a new regime of road user charges to replace petrol excise. Wrapping up the talks in Canberra on Thursday night, the Treasurer confirmed that he will hold further talks with the states on September 5. Based on a planned NSW road user scheme, a national rollout will depend on your mileage but might cost between $300 and $400 a year. But there's no clear guidance yet on how much the new tax will cost, whether it will entirely replace petrol excise over time or when it will apply to EV cars and hybrids. The Treasurer also talked up reforms to harness the power of artificial intelligence, slashing red tape to build more new houses, abolishing nuisance tariffs, establishing a single national market and tax reform. 'There was a lot of support in the room for road user charging,'' the Treasurer said on Thursday night. 'There wasn't a final model settled, but there was a lot of conceptual support for road user charging.' 'There was more than the usual amount of consensus in a conceptual way around road user charging. A lot of reform appetite in that area, which is welcome. 'The states are putting together an options paper and to give you a sense of the considerations that people in the room were grappling with. 'Right around the table people had a view that this is an idea whose time has come and so we will do that work.' Get all the latest Australian news as it happens — download the app direct to your phone. Based on a planned NSW road user scheme, a national rollout will depend on your mileage but might cost between $300 and $400 a year./AFP Tax reform On tax, the Treasurer said that participants had 'a few hours of very welcome conversation and debate about the future of the tax system'. He said that there was support to address three objectives in the tax system. 'The first one is about a fair go for working people and including in intergenerational equity terms,' he said. 'That's the first category. The second one was about an affordable, responsible way to incentivise business investment, recognising the capital deepening challenge that we have in the economy and what that means for productivity and for growth. 'And then thirdly, how we make the system simpler, more sustainable so that we can fund the services that people need, particularly in the context of the big shifts in our community, including ageing and other pressures as well. How EV tax could be rolled out Treasurer Chalmers said he would now hold further talks with state and territory treasurers on September 5. reported earlier this month that Australia's new tax on electric vehicle drivers is set to kick off with a trial period for trucks before it stings cars. The Albanese Government is looking at a staged rollout to test the proposed new EV tax and trucks will be the first cab off the rank. It is also interested in a new road user charge that sends price signals on the best time to be on the road, or the freeway. Over time, it could replace petrol taxes and apply to all cars based on distance travelled and when cars and trucks are on the road to tackle congestion. Treasurer Jim Chalmers has emerged from his three-day economic roundtable with '10 clear areas' for reform and consensus on a new regime of road user charges to replace petrol excise. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman Free ride for EVs nearly over The free ride enjoyed by drivers of electric vehicles is coming to a close with Treasurer Chalmers and state governments finalising plans for a new road-user charge. All Australian motorists who buy petrol and diesel at the bowser pay 51.6 cents a litre in fuel excise. But drivers of EV vehicles pay nothing. 'The status quo won't be sustainable over the next decade or two,'' Treasurer Jim Chalmers told 'As more and more people get off petrol cars and into EVs we've got to make sure that the tax arrangements support investment in roads. 'But we're in no rush, changes of this nature will be made, because the status quo won't work in 10 or 20 years.' The Treasurer made no secret of his support for a road user charge before the election, but favours a staged rollout of the changes. Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas said that electric vehicles are 'heavier and do more damage to the road network as a consequence than do internal combustion engine vehicles'. 'By giving drivers a clear signal about the cost of infrastructure, they would have an incentive to use it more efficiently,' the Productivity Commission report said. The free ride enjoyed by drivers of electric vehicles is coming to a close with Treasurer Jim Chalmers and state governments finalising plans for a new road-user charge. (Photo by JOSH EDELSON / AFP) How does fuel excise work? The current rate of fuel excise is 51.6 cents in excise for every litre of fuel purchased. For a typical household with a car running on petrol, the tax costs more than $1200 a year. But the flat sales tax isn't paid by drivers of pure electric vehicles, who simply need to plug in their cars to recharge. While registration and driver's licence fees go to state and territory governments, fuel excise is collected by the federal government. Australian motorists paid an estimated $15.71 billion in net fuel excise in 2023-24, and are expected to pay $67.6 billion over the four years to 2026-27. However, governments have long-warned that a road-user charge will be required to fill the gap in the budget left by declining revenue from the fuel excise, as the petrol and diesel engines in new cars consume less fuel and Australians adopt hybrid and electric cars. What does the AAA say? The Australian Automobile Association (AAA) is calling for a national approach to road-user charging but wants a guarantee the revenue will be earmarked for road upgrades. The AAA backs a distance-based road-user charging as a fairer and more equitable way to fund land transport infrastructure. The 2024 federal budget forecasted a reduction in fuel excise receipts by $470 million over four years from 2024-25. Roadblocks to reform Currently, New South Wales is the only state with firm plans to introduce a road-user charge from 2027 or when EVs reach 30 per cent of new car sales. Plug-in hybrid EVs will be charged a fixed 80 per cent proportion of the full road-user charge to reflect their vehicle type. Western Australia has also stated an intention to implement a road-user charge. Meanwhile, Victoria's electric vehicle levy had to be scrapped following a ruling from the High Court. Two Victorian electric car owners launched a legal challenge on the basis the tax was not legal as it was an excise that only a federal government could impose. They won, with the High Court upholding the legal challenge. There have been several false starts to enshrine a road-user charge including in South Australia, where the former Liberal Government planned to introduce a charge for plug-in electric and other zero emission vehicles, which included a fixed component and a variable charge based on distance travelled. It was later pushed back to 2027 due to a backlash before the legislation was ultimately repealed. Originally published as Treasurer Jim Chalmers hails 'consensus' on new tax that will be phased in starting with EV vehicles
ABC News
2 hours ago
- ABC News
Laura Tingle on Netanyahu vs Albanese
Sam Hawley: The Israeli leader, Benjamin Netanyahu, says Anthony Albanese is a weak leader who has betrayed Israel and abandoned Australia's Jews. But do we really need to be in lockstep with Israel as it broadens its assault on Gaza? Today, global affairs editor Laura Tingle on the dramatic slide in relations. I'm Sam Hawley on Gadigal land in Sydney. This is ABC News Daily. Sam Hawley: Laura, Benjamin Netanyahu has begun the mission to take over Gaza City. He really isn't listening to any of the international condemnation, is he? Laura Tingle: He's not. And he's also not listening to an exceptional level of opposition to this manoeuvre within Israel either, Sam. I mean, we've seen those massive, massive protests in Israel. News report: There are thousands of Israelis who turned out for this protest, blocking off an entire street. This is the culmination of a day of action right across the country, not only in cities like Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, but in smaller locations as well. Laura Tingle: And there's a lot of, you know, anger and resistance to what he's doing there, but certainly there's no signs of him showing any interest in what the rest of the world says about either moving into Gaza City or, for that matter, further incursions into the West Bank. Sam Hawley: All right. Well, Laura, let's discuss now the stoush that is unfolding between Israel and Australia. The Israeli Prime Minister thinks our Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, is weak. Just tell me about this statement he put on X this week. Laura Tingle: Yes, he basically said that Anthony Albanese was a weak politician who had betrayed Israel and abandoned Australia's Jews. Now, this is an incredibly strong and very personal comment to be making about any other world leader and has followed a series of escalations or deteriorations in the relationship. Sam Hawley: All right. Well, the Prime Minister, in response to that, he was quite measured in what he said, wasn't he? Laura Tingle: He was. He basically said, no, he doesn't take any of these things personally and just refused to rise to the bait of having a go back. Anthony Albanese, Prime Minister: Well, I treat leaders of other countries with respect. I engage with them in a diplomatic way. I don't take these things personally. Laura Tingle: But Prime Minister Netanyahu has sort of gradually been ramping up the pressure on Australia and other countries about this and about suggesting that Australia had a, you know, quote, anti-Israel attitude. And it's not entirely clear why he thinks this is a good manoeuvre, apart from anything else, in Australia, we tend to have always taken all of these things very personally. And if some foreign figure has criticised Australia or the Australian government, it's gone straight in to be red meat into the Australian political debate. But I think it's interesting now that there's been this combination of things happen. One, I think the Prime Minister's now got his bearings and his sort of level of confidence up about dealing with foreign policy. And he's very measured in these sorts of circumstances, whether it's Israel or the US or wherever. But I think also the political mood in Australia has changed, I think, both towards Israel and also in terms of the sort of hysteria politics, if you like. I mean, some figures in the opposition have been trying to run this very hard and saying this is a gross failure on Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's part. But it has not sort of developed the momentum that it might have once done a couple of years ago. Sam Hawley: Yeah, I was going to say the federal opposition leader, Sussan Ley, she thinks or says that the relationship has been badly mismanaged. Sussan Ley, Opposition Leader: We are seeing a relationship that has deteriorated and the consequences of that are not good. The Prime Minister needs to explain how he is going to get this relationship that he has so badly mismanaged back on track. Sam Hawley: But that might not be the view among the wider Australian population, you think? Laura Tingle: Well, no, I mean, polls confirm the idea that Australians' sympathy towards Israel and warm feelings towards Israel have been really hit hard by what has occurred in Gaza over the last 22 months, no matter how terrible the original attack might have been. But the actions of the Israeli government, as opposed to the Israeli people, have really lowered the sympathy level, if you like, towards Israel. So I think that's a really big difference. And I think just sort of saying that this is all the Prime Minister's fault doesn't really tally. It's sort of a bit akin with the sorts of comments that, for example, Prime Minister Netanyahu makes about Gaza, which seem to be at such odds with what people are seeing with their own eyes on television every night. Sam Hawley: Well, the Home Affairs Minister, Tony Burke, he did go a lot further than the Prime Minister in response to Netanyahu's comments. Tony Burke, Home Affairs Minister: Strength is not measured by how many people you can blow up or how many children you can leave hungry. Strength is much better measured by exactly what Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has done, which is when there's a decision that we know Israel won't like, he goes straight to Benjamin Netanyahu. Sam Hawley: Interesting, the peak Jewish body, the Executive Council of the Australian Jewry and its head, Alex Ryvchin, he's actually expressed concern about the wording by Netanyahu and by Mr Burke. He really is saying, take the heat out of this. Alex Ryvchin, co-chief executive of the Executive Council of Australia Jewry: The Australian Jewish community is profoundly disturbed and concerned by the rapidly deteriorating state of relations between our government and the government of the state of Israel. There are serious issues to transact between the two governments, but none of this is served or advanced through this public exchange of insults that's taking place right now. Sam Hawley: That's important, isn't it? Laura Tingle: I think it's really important. And he's not the only leader of the Jewish community or the only Jewish association who has said these things. Now, Tony Burke was incredibly strong and you could hear the anger in his voice when he did the interview the other morning. But Australian Jewish figures are sort of very concerned about the backlash from Prime Minister Netanyahu's comments on their own community. So, you know, there's quite a deal of alarm about that. And in fact, somebody was telling me the other day that there had been some relief, even amongst sort of harder line people who've been very critical of the government, that the government had actually refused the visa of a far right member of the Knesset, Mr Rothman, from coming to Australia because they were concerned that it would once again just stir up anti-Semitic sentiment in Australia, which helps no one. So I think this was very significant. I mean, these groups, particularly the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, have been very critical of the government and of the Prime Minister for the last couple of years, saying that they haven't done enough to combat anti-Semitism. So they're not coming from a position where, you know, they're naturally aligned, shall we say, with the government. And the fact that they've come out and said these things, I think is telling, as is, Sam, the fact that the Israeli ambassador to Australia actually distanced himself from the Prime Minister's comments. It's pretty extraordinary. Sam Hawley: Yeah. So just on that issue of the visa refusal for this Israeli, I mean, he's a far right Israeli politician, Simcha Rothman. Would that have been a decision that would have angered Israel, do you think? Laura Tingle: Well, I think the timing's been interesting. I mean, if we just go back through the timeline a little bit, things have deteriorated, shall we say, since the government announced earlier this month that Australia would be recognising the state of Palestine when the UN General Assembly is on in New York later in September. Now, other countries had done that and Israel had been critical of those decisions, saying it played into the hands of Hamas. Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Prime Minister: To have European countries and Australia march into that, march into that rabbit hole and buy this canard is disappointing. And I think it's actually shameful. Laura Tingle: But this decision to cancel the visa seems to have tipped Mr Netanyahu over the edge into this really extreme language. But once again, I wonder the extent to which it's playing to a domestic audience using very sort of Trumpian language and the sorts of things that we see President Trump saying to his base about foreign policy issues as well. Sam Hawley: Well, Laura, Benjamin Netanyahu, he's now appeared in a Sky News interview in Australia where he's just doubled down on this criticism of Anthony Albanese. Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Prime Minister: But I think his record is forever tarnished by the weakness that he showed in the face of these Hamas terrorist monsters. You know, when the worst terrorist organisation on earth congratulate the Prime Minister of Australia, you know something is wrong. Sam Hawley: Interesting. All right. Well, Laura, let's then consider the history of our relationship with Israel. Of course, we've been closely associated with Israel since its founding after the Second World War. It's a really important relationship, isn't it, that Australia has? Laura Tingle: Well, it's an important relationship. And essentially, Australia played an absolutely crucial role in the founding of the state of Israel. We were the first country to vote in favour of the plan, even though the UK asked Commonwealth countries to abstain because, of course, this was about partitioning Palestine, which at that stage was a British colony. And we've continued to push the case for Israel in those international forums, defended Israel when it was seen to be under sort of unfair attack from other countries. So we've had a very strong relationship with Israel going right back to its absolutely formative days. Our view of Israel has gradually changed or our our sort of approach to Israel has gradually changed as it has made further and further incursions into land originally designated for the Palestinians. But the latter day rationale has always been, look, it's the democracy sitting in this sort of sea of non-democracies in the Middle East and the only functioning state and all those sorts of things. But I think the fact that the current government in Israel is so far to the right, plus all these charges in the International Criminal Court against both Prime Minister Netanyahu and other figures in the government, that the argument that it's a democracy we have to defend also looks a bit sad at the same time. Sam Hawley: What about then, Laura, social cohesion here? Netanyahu thinks Anthony Albanese has abandoned Australia's Jews. There has been concern about anti-Semitism in Australia. Could this be damaging? Laura Tingle: Well, I think as we've seen from comments from the Jewish community in Australia, they don't see it that way. You know, I think you mentioned the Executive Council of Australian Jewry's comments and they were saying that the suggestion that Mr Albanese has abandoned Australian Jews wasn't true, wasn't the sort of language they'd use, even though they've been critical of him and they don't think it helps. Alex Ryvchin, co-chief executive of the Executive Council of Australia Jewry: We've expressed concerns for nearly two years now about some of the government's rhetoric and policies and handling of the anti-Semitism crisis. We've had serious misgivings and we've made them known, but we've never felt abandoned. We've always felt like we can speak to government and speak to the public of this country and make our case and make our appeal for a more harmonious society. But we've never felt abandoned by this government, no. Laura Tingle: So will it come back? Will the relationship come back? The question is what happens, I think, in terms of the domestic politics of Israel and what happens post Netanyahu. So, I mean, these are really important questions, but there's no reason to think that if Israel shows a more democratic approach in its internal affairs and particularly if its actions in Gaza don't continue and the West Bank, for that matter, don't continue to create outrage around the world, you know, I don't think Australians have any... They don't have any gripe with Israeli people. Sam Hawley: Laura Tingle is the ABC's global affairs editor. This episode was produced by Sydney Pead, Grant Wolter and Cinnamon Nippard. Audio production by Sam Dunn. Our supervising producer is David Coady. I'm Sam Hawley. ABC News Daily will be back again on Monday. Thanks for listening.
News.com.au
4 hours ago
- News.com.au
Jim Chalmers' three-day roundtable builds consensus on road user charge, clearing housing approvals backlog
Progressing road user charging and clearing a backlog on homes awaiting environmental approvals are among the 10 immediate reform directions to result from a three-day roundtable aimed to boost Australia's ailing productivity levels. Speaking after talks ended on Thursday, Jim Chalmers said there was 'a lot of conceptual support for road user charging', however no final model had been settled. The next steps will involve presenting an options paper to state treasurers at a meeting in two weeks on September 5, which would be drafted by NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey, Infrastructure Minister Catherine King and other relevant ministers. 'The model is not determined, but the key considerations are what's in and out and whether that's sequenced or not and over how long a time period,' he said. 'Treasurer Mookhey was very informed and very constructive on this question and really right around the table people had a view that this is an idea whose time has come and so we will do that work.' The charge, which would likely capture EV drivers currently exempt from the fuel excise, would reform how the government collects revenue to fund road maintenance and infrastructure upgrades. Other short-term reform initiatives involve fast-tracking deadlocked reforms on the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act to speed up approvals for projects while protecting the environment, and further work to remove nuisance tariffs and regulation reductions. Speeding up housing approvals was another 'quick win' which achieved consensus following 29 hours of discussions, with Environmental Minister Murray Watt set to work with Housing Minister Clare O'Neil to speed through the 'backlog of environmental approvals for new homes, most likely in the tens of thousands'. Longer-term reform areas included investigating prefabricated and modular housing, plus more modern methods of construction to increasing housing supply. Mr Chalmers also highlighted three priority areas of tax reform, which dominated the last day of talks, and appeared to achieve little consensus beyond agreement on the need for reform. This included improving intergenerational equality, 'affordable, responsible' offsets to 'incentivise business investment', and a simpler and more sustainable system to fund services such as aged care and the NDIS. 'There are hundreds of different changes you can make to the tax system. Some of them obviously unpalatable to our government or to governments broadly,' he said. 'But what they wanted to do was to give us the guidance that they will help us in those three areas to do the work that we need to do to inform future budgets.' Speaking more broadly about the roundtable, which had been criticised as a 'talkfest' and a 'stitch up' by the opposition, Mr Chalmers said he 'finished the three days more optimistic than I was at the start'. He also praised participants for working through the issues in a 'methodical, considered, consultative way'. 'I'm genuine when I say at the end of that three days I looked around the table and I saw people of, you know, big achievers in their own areas representing workers, business CEOs, academics, economists, public servants and others,' he said. 'I drew great strength and confidence from their contributions because not because they had some kind of faux camaraderie, but because they take the challenge so seriously.'
