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Larissa Waters' plan for the Greens, Trump guessing game + lab-grown meat

Larissa Waters' plan for the Greens, Trump guessing game + lab-grown meat

What's next for the Greens? We sit down with the new leader Larissa Waters to ask about her plan, the lessons from the election, and whether the Greens block progress.
Plus, the Iran-Israel conflict is getting more deadly. Is Trump about to get America involved? As he says: "nobody knows".
Also, another festival is officially in voluntary administration: Victoria's Esoteric Festival.
And some lab-grown meat products have been approved for sale in Australia.
Listen now:
01:00 - "Nobody knows": Trump on whether the US will intervene in the Iran-Israel conflict
05:45 - Hack speaks to the new Greens leader Larissa Waters
20:10 - Another music festival folds
25:18 - Australia's first lab grown meat
Guests:
Larissa Waters, Greens leader
Larissa Waters, Greens leader
Dr Hope Johnson, socio-legal researcher, Queensland University of Technology
Get the whole story from Hack:

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Victorian Liberals spare John Pesutto from bankruptcy with $1.55 million loan
Victorian Liberals spare John Pesutto from bankruptcy with $1.55 million loan

SBS Australia

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Victorian Liberals spare John Pesutto from bankruptcy with $1.55 million loan

The Victorian Liberal Party has come to the financial rescue of its axed leader to spare him from bankruptcy and avoid a politically dangerous by-election. The state party's administrative committee met on Thursday night and agreed to lend former leader John Pesutto $1.55 million to settle his debt to first-term Liberal MP Moira Deeming. The party will pay the money directly to Deeming and Pesutto will be required to repay the loan at market-rate interest. In a letter to party members, Victorian Liberal president Philip Davis said the outcome would ensure there was no by-election in Pesutto's marginal seat of Hawthorn. Pesutto was ordered to pay $2.3 million in legal costs to Deeming after the Federal Court found he defamed her by implying she was associated with neo-Nazis. Pesutto, who has already coughed up $315,000 in damages, had raised only about $750,000 through wealthy backers and a GoFundMe campaign. An offer to defer some of the legal bill in exchange for Deeming's guaranteed pre-selection and Pesutto swearing off trying to return as leader for three years was rebuffed. Deeming, who was expelled from the party room before being welcomed back in December, was sceptical it would end the infighting that has engulfed the party since March 2023. "I assume that they will continue with their quest to try to annihilate me," the upper house MP said on Thursday morning. Deeming said the party can "do what they like" but she would take any support of Pesutto as a "direct rebukement (sic)" of the court judgement. State Opposition leader Brad Battin has not escaped internal criticism of his handling of the saga despite inheriting it when he replaced Pesutto as leader in December. He attended the meeting but would not reveal how he intended to vote.

David Crisafulli orders Verian, The Lab Insight and Strategy, Fifty-Five Five polling
David Crisafulli orders Verian, The Lab Insight and Strategy, Fifty-Five Five polling

The Australian

timean hour ago

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David Crisafulli orders Verian, The Lab Insight and Strategy, Fifty-Five Five polling

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‘Really high income burden': Calls to slash income taxes
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News.com.au

time2 hours ago

  • News.com.au

‘Really high income burden': Calls to slash income taxes

Australia is being warned to modernise its tax system or risk having a severe problem down the track, with high income taxes being replaced by taxation on consumption. Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers used his speech at the National Press Club on Wednesday to flag that the government was looking to make 'bold' reforms beyond its proposal to roll back concessions on ultra-high super accounts. But when questioned if these 'bold' changes included moving on the GST rate, Mr Chalmers declared he couldn't 'rule in or out' any changes, although he said he was personally against the idea. CPA Australia chief of policy Elinor Kasapidis told NewsWire while she welcomed the conversation started by Mr Chalmers, she believed Australia should lift the GST. 'It's what you call an indirect tax and it is efficient to collect as it is on consumption,' she said. 'What it also means is putting your money into investments that can grow and develop more profits, generating more income for individuals and businesses as well as helping to drive the economy. 'If you can drive the economy, you increase GDP, your tax take is naturally going to increase and that can help the budget.' Ms Kasapidis said this should be done in two ways – by broadening the base for the GST as well as lifting the rate. The GST has been stuck at 10 per cent for 23 years. The current GST system is complex with a number of exemptions including on including most basic foods, some education courses, some medical health and care products, water services, precious metals, exports, farmland and international mail. 'We have a lot of GST-free goods and exemptions which makes things tricky and complicated and then you need to look at raising the rate,' she said. 'Of course you also have to look at who would be impacted, such as lower income households and pensioners, to make sure they are compensated during the transition.' BDO tax partner Michael Anderson agrees telling NewsWire Australia needs to reduce its reliance on income taxes by broadening the tax base and working with the states to eliminate ineffective taxes. 'While this involves balancing multiple competing interests, the objective would be to increase the income/profit of individuals and corporates alike, which in turn could be spent on productivity-lifting investment,' Mr Anderson said. 'If individuals choose to spend an increase in after-tax income, it would be recaptured through a broader GST base.' Ms Kasapidis warned the current tax collection model was inefficient and relied too heavily on income taxes for both individuals and businesses. 'If you look at the OECD statistics it shows we have a really high burden on income tax which means workers and businesses contribute a lot of the base compared to other countries,' she said. 'If you look at other jurisdictions all around the world, they have a flat GST rate. 'So you apply it to everything. 'But what that means of course on the income tax side you might have some changes including tax cuts so that is balanced out.' CPA Australia stopped short of calling for a specific hike to the GST but instead called for a conversation around a fair rate. The International Monetary Fund has previously suggested Australia should expand consumption taxes such as the GST to help repair a blowout in the deficit, that's not an idea the Treasurer has backed. Ms Kasapidis said acting on changing the tax system now, while Australia is in an 'okay economic position' can help avoid shocks of the future. 'What we don't want to get to a point in 20 or even 50 years when we have a crisis and have to make sharp cuts, so let's have this conversation now,' she said. 'If you can get a tax system that is balanced, sustainable and proportionate it will help the government with its revenue planning. 'If you can make it efficient you can unlock productivity and get economic growth so you have that benefit. Mr Anderson said a number of measures could be implemented including:

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