Adam Langenberg's head takes a stroll through pre-election history
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News.com.au
16 minutes ago
- News.com.au
Police seek to block pro-Palestine march on Sydney Harbour Bridge in NSW Supreme Court
Police will seek to stop a pro-Palestine march across Sydney Harbour Bridge in the Supreme Court on Friday despite activists swearing the protest will go ahead. Palestine Action Group organiser Josh Lees will be dragged before the state's highest court on Friday in a bid by the NSW Police to stop Sunday's march. Activists filed a Form 1 with police last week but are facing legal action after officers revealed on Wednesday they would be opposing the march. Organisers say the march would be 'global news' and seeks to raise awareness to widespread starvation in Gaza amid continued attacks by Israel. The event drew swift criticism from Labor Premier Chris Minns, who said Sydney might 'descend into chaos' if it is allowed to go ahead. Mr Minns described the march as a 'logistic and communications Everest', and he said he would not allow it to go ahead. Those sentiments were mirrored by Opposition Leader Mark Speakman, who on Thursday said 'the protest should not occur on the bridge'. 'Once you open the gate … every person who wants to protest will say, 'well, it was good enough for the Palestine protesters'.' Opposition to the march has sparked backlash from within the Labor ranks, with MLC Stephen Lawrence airing his concerns in a late-night statement. 'I am concerned the Premier has, in effect, made a purported decision himself to try and prevent this protest,' Mr Lawrence said. 'This will taint proper consideration of the matter by police, and that violence may ensue as a consequence.' A second Labor MP, Anthony D'Adam, also accused Mr Minns of being 'more concerned about traffic flow than the plight of starving children in Gaza'. The protest comes almost two years into Israel's war on the Gaza Strip following Hamas' October 7, 2023 attack. Tens of thousands of civilians have been killed by Israeli forces since the start of the war, with many more now facing starvation. This week, Canada joined France and the UK in indicating plans to recognise Palestinian statehood in retaliation to the aid crisis in Gaza. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has stepped up his criticism of Israel but has fallen short of recognising the state of Palestine. Protesters have rallied across Australia's major cities near weekly since Israel's invasion of the Gaza Strip. Acting Deputy Commissioner Peter McKenna on Tuesday said police would be lodging an application with the Supreme Court to deem the bridge protest unlawful. In NSW, police can support a Form 1 application for a protest, which affords protesters protection from anti-assembly laws, or oppose it in court. Mr McKenna said the decision to oppose the protest was made independently of Mr Minns, citing risks that emergency services may be blocked. Organisers have regularly cited recent closures of the bridge, including for the filming of a Ryan Gosling movie and for the 2023 World Pride march. Sunday's march has received the backing of more than 300 unions and civil society groups. More than 50 of those signed a letter to Mr Minns on Thursday, urging him to 'facilitate the exercise of the democratic right of protest'. 'Seeking to shut down this rally would be a serious departure from the NSW state and police's responsibility to uphold the democratic right of protest,' the letter said. 'We urge your government to facilitate the exercise of democratic freedoms in collaboration with community groups and support the holding of this protest.' Human Rights Watch, the Redfern Legal Centre, the NSW Nurses and Midwives Association, and Asylum Seeker Centre are among the groups to sign the letter.
ABC News
an hour ago
- ABC News
Conservationists say they have been shut out of plans for Queensland state forests as government consults industry
Conservationists say they have been shut out of planning for the future of Queensland state forests, as the government develops a 25-year plan for the timber industry. The LNP made a pre-election pledge to deliver a Queensland Future Timber Plan (QFTP) in its first year in government, which will be up in October. Premier David Crisafulli has promised to give the forestry industry consistency in order to build one million homes by 2044. The Timber Supply Chain Ministerial Roundtable made up of forestry, housing and agricultural industry bodies met for the first time in May. In contrast, the previous government's advisory panel had scientists, First Nations leaders and conservationists, in addition to industry representatives. Andrew Picone from Pew Charitable Trusts, who was a member of that group, said conservationists were miffed by their exclusion. "At the moment the decision is being made between the timber industry and Queensland government, and we don't feel that is the right approach, it's certainly not transparent," he said. "We're talking about three million hectares of public native forests." Minister for Primary Industries Tony Perrett said QFTP was "future-proofing the forest sector after the former Labor government plan was never delivered". 'This industry roundtable is contributing to a draft of the Queensland Future Timber Plan which will be released for wide-ranging and open public consultation," he said. Mr Picone said Queensland had a history of collaboration between conservationists and the forestry industry. The South-East Queensland Forestry Agreement, made in 1999 by the Beatty Labor government, is an example of that collaboration, with all sides agreeing native hardwood forestry would end in most state forests south of Gladstone by the end of 2024. That agreement was altered in 2019 by Annastacia Palaszczuk to only cease native hardwood logging in forests south of Noosa in 2024, and to extend logging north to Gladstone until at least 2026. Mr Picone said he worried the new government's process left the door open to further water down the 1999 agreement. "The Queensland government isn't ruling out opening up areas we thought they were finished with — opening them back up to logging. So we're quite concerned about that," he said. The chief executive of Queensland's oldest conservation group, National Parks Association Queensland, Chris Thomas, said "changing positions and backflips" by consecutive state governments had "created animosity" between conservationists and the logging industry. "I think the relationship is getting harder and more adversarial the longer this goes on," he said. The state's peak body for forestry and logging, Timber Queensland, which is part of the government's roundtable, declined to comment, instead pointing to a press release from May. The release said the QFTP would "remove barriers and pave the way for sustained growth" of the industry. "We look forward to working on a bold plan that delivers policy certainty to increase sustainable production while at the same time safeguarding the environment," chief executive Mick Stephens said at the time. "The assumption that harvesting timber from native forests is necessarily harmful to biodiversity is not correct." Mr Picone said 50,000 hectares of state forest, south of Noosa, where logging ceased in 2024 is "in limbo" while the government makes a decision on its future. The Pew Charitable Trust and other groups are calling for those forests to receive various levels of protected land status to ensure logging cannot resume there in the future. "If it's not going to be part of the logging schedule — which it shouldn't be, it's close to population bases, there are a lot of recreational uses for these areas — then we think there ought to be a public process to determine the best use for those areas," he said.
ABC News
an hour ago
- ABC News
Lower company tax rate, Productivity Commission advises treasurer ahead of roundtable
Small companies would pay less tax but the largest could pay more under a new reform proposal from the independent agency tasked with helping to shape Labor's economic reform agenda. In the first of several reports requested by Treasurer Jim Chalmers and slated for release in the lead-up to this month's reform roundtable, the Productivity Commission has called for a 20 per cent tax rate on profits for companies with revenue of up to $1 billion. That would represent a significant cut for all but the largest companies from the current rate, which is 25 per cent for companies with turnover under $50 million and 30 per cent for all others. At the same time, the commission has called for a new 5 per cent tax on net cashflow rather than profits, which could see some large companies pay a higher rate but would provide immediate tax relief for smaller companies seeking to build their capital. The overall package would be revenue-neutral but would boost investment by $7.4 billion, economic output by $14.6 billion, and productivity by 0.4 per cent, according to modelling undertaken by the commission. The proposal is one of several to reform company tax ahead of a roundtable, which Mr Chalmers has signalled he will use to seek new economic reforms to build on Labor's political agenda. Prioritising "consensus" among unions, business, and economists, the three-day roundtable will start with a focus on Australia's "resilience" amid global uncertainty, and will then consider productivity and regulation, followed by the budget and tax. The tax session will be the last and the longest, a scheduling decision that will fuel further speculation that the treasurer has an appetite to champion controversial tax reforms. Titled "a better tax system", it will begin with a presentation by Grattan Institute CEO Aruna Sathanapally, who said last week Australia needed higher taxes. "If we want to find a magic way to have Australia-level service expectations and remain being a low-taxing country, I'd love to know what it looks like," she told a pre-roundtable conference convened by independent MP Allegra Spender. "But my starting proposition is we're going to have to think about higher taxes or we're going to have to think about taking chunks out of our service expectations." Mr Chalmers has said he wants any reform proposals brought to the roundtable to be budget neutral or budget positive — that is, to raise money overall. While that could be achieved by holding taxes steady and reducing spending, which is also on the roundtable agenda, the treasurer has left the door open to tax reform and said he wants all options on the table. On Thursday, Shadow Treasurer Ted O'Brien, who will also attend the roundtable, said the Coalition would not support any package that raised taxes overall. Coalition sources have consistently emphasised this does not mean it would automatically oppose any single tax increase in isolation, leaving the door open to support for a package that raised some taxes but lowered others in equal measure. Mr O'Brien accused Mr Chalmers of "looking for more taxes to feed his spending spree" and said he would scrutinise roundtable proposals "on the principle that they be at most budget neutral; in other words, higher taxes will not be accepted". Under the Productivity Commission proposal, large companies that earn their profits from "rents", making profits using land and capital they already own, could pay more tax with a 5 per cent imposition on their cashflows on top of the existing profit tax. On the other hand, businesses seeking to acquire new capital could deduct that cost and lower their tax bill immediately, as opposed to the current system, where they can only deduct the cost over time using a deduction for depreciation. The commission says this would support innovation and investment because it would particularly benefit new businesses seeking to displace incumbents, as they tend to spend more on capital. It would also give companies some insurance against the risk of unsuccessful investments. The Productivity Commission's recommendations are regarded as influential ahead of the roundtable, where chair Danielle Wood is one of four presenters alongside Ms Sathanapally, RBA governor Michele Bullock, and Treasury secretary Jenny Wilkinson. Mr Chalmers did not indicate a view on the company tax proposal but said he welcomed its release. "We've already got a substantial productivity agenda underway, but we're ambitious to do more where we can … The PC's work is an important input into our economic reform roundtable," he said. The commission's report also recommended measures to shift the culture of government regulators to better consider the impact of regulations on business. Mr Chalmers said "reducing regulatory burden" was an "important part of our productivity effort and we're working with regulators on potential reforms to be considered as part of the roundtable process".
