Political leaders return to parliamentary battlefield
The 48th parliament officially opened with a day of pageantry, which included a traditional church service and smoking ceremony before politicians were sworn in.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Opposition Leader Sussan Ley will square off in parliament as rival party leaders for the first time on Wednesday.
Education Minister Jason Clare will deliver on Labor's election promise by introducing legislation to the lower house to slash university debt for three million Australians by 20 per cent.
The coalition is expected to support the move which will wipe $16 billion off student debt but is waiting to see the fine print.
People with an average HELP debt of $27,600 will have $5520 wiped from their loans.
The government has also said it will this week introduce childcare reform aimed at improving safety measures.
Labor returns to parliament with a lion's share of 94 seats, to the coalition's 43 in the lower house.
Melbourne MP Sarah Witty, who defeated former Greens leader Adam Bandt at the election, gave a heartfelt first speech to parliament on Tuesday evening.
She tearfully spoke of enduring "heartache after heartache" for more than a decade after experiencing pregnancy loss.
"We grieve deeply," she said.
"I opened myself to a new path. I stepped into the world of foster care, not out of ease, but out of a deep need to turn my pain into something positive."
Ms Witty said her experience taking care of children in need would shape her approach as an elected parliamentarian.
Griffith MP Renee Coffey, who wrested back Kevin Rudd's old seat for Labor from the Greens, spoke of the kindness former rival Max Chandler-Mather had shown her following a confronting interaction with a voter.
"On election day, I was stunned when a voter told me he couldn't possibly vote for me because I have MS and he couldn't be represented in parliament by someone who could be in a wheelchair," she said.
"It knocked the wind out of me. In a strange turn of fate, it was the then-member for Griffith, Max Chandler-Mather, who saw me step away from that interaction.
"And the kind words of support he offered me, I will never forget."
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The Advertiser
2 hours ago
- The Advertiser
Risk of higher US tariffs looms despite beef deal
Australia's move to lift restrictions on US beef is unlikely to shift the dial on tariff negotiations, as the nation's products face the possibility of even steeper duties. The Albanese government will allow access to US beef that has been raised in Canada or Mexico but processed in America, following a safety review. Australia is subject to a baseline 10 per cent tariff applied by the Trump administration and has been keeping an eye on the trade negotiations of other countries. AMP chief economist Shane Oliver said Donald Trump's flagged higher tariffs might include the nation's exports. "The risk for Australia is that we may be lucky to hang on to 10 per cent, which could actually turn out to be higher," he told AAP. "This (beef decision) might help us hang on to 10 per cent or avoid a worse outcome, but I don't think there's any guarantees of that." American beef was banned from Australia almost two decades ago following an outbreak of mad cow disease. Mr Trump has pressured the government to ease restrictions as Labor argues for an exemption from the tariffs as part of the US president's deepening trade war. Former ambassador to the US Arthur Sinodinos said while biosecurity investigations can take a while to finalise, it was a "sensible outcome". "The challenge here is it doesn't look like we're putting together a package deal," he said. "It'd be better if there was a package approach to this if we're seeking to gather an overall trade outcome with the US." Australian Farm Institute executive director Katie McRobert said the cattle industry has been "extremely nervous" about biosecurity traceability from different parts of the north and South America regions. "We wouldn't expect a significant impact on Australian producers from the potential to import American beef ... because we already produce far more beef in Australia than we can possibly eat," she said. Trade Minister Don Farrell said he didn't have any meetings scheduled with American counterparts after last meeting US trade representative Jamieson Greer on the sidelines of an OECD ministerial meeting in Paris in June. Senator Farrell said Mr Greer didn't raise beef concerns at that meeting. "We believe that America should lift those tariffs on Australia, there's no justification whatsoever for the United States to apply tariffs to Australia," he told reporters in Canberra on Thursday. "We have a free trade agreement, that agreement makes it very clear that it's a tariff free arrangement." Senator Farrell also denied the move was to create a bargaining chip. The Philippines and Japan recently struck agreements with the US to lower their tariff rates, but both are still above the 10 per cent baseline. Australia's move to lift restrictions on US beef is unlikely to shift the dial on tariff negotiations, as the nation's products face the possibility of even steeper duties. The Albanese government will allow access to US beef that has been raised in Canada or Mexico but processed in America, following a safety review. Australia is subject to a baseline 10 per cent tariff applied by the Trump administration and has been keeping an eye on the trade negotiations of other countries. AMP chief economist Shane Oliver said Donald Trump's flagged higher tariffs might include the nation's exports. "The risk for Australia is that we may be lucky to hang on to 10 per cent, which could actually turn out to be higher," he told AAP. "This (beef decision) might help us hang on to 10 per cent or avoid a worse outcome, but I don't think there's any guarantees of that." American beef was banned from Australia almost two decades ago following an outbreak of mad cow disease. Mr Trump has pressured the government to ease restrictions as Labor argues for an exemption from the tariffs as part of the US president's deepening trade war. Former ambassador to the US Arthur Sinodinos said while biosecurity investigations can take a while to finalise, it was a "sensible outcome". "The challenge here is it doesn't look like we're putting together a package deal," he said. "It'd be better if there was a package approach to this if we're seeking to gather an overall trade outcome with the US." Australian Farm Institute executive director Katie McRobert said the cattle industry has been "extremely nervous" about biosecurity traceability from different parts of the north and South America regions. "We wouldn't expect a significant impact on Australian producers from the potential to import American beef ... because we already produce far more beef in Australia than we can possibly eat," she said. Trade Minister Don Farrell said he didn't have any meetings scheduled with American counterparts after last meeting US trade representative Jamieson Greer on the sidelines of an OECD ministerial meeting in Paris in June. Senator Farrell said Mr Greer didn't raise beef concerns at that meeting. "We believe that America should lift those tariffs on Australia, there's no justification whatsoever for the United States to apply tariffs to Australia," he told reporters in Canberra on Thursday. "We have a free trade agreement, that agreement makes it very clear that it's a tariff free arrangement." Senator Farrell also denied the move was to create a bargaining chip. The Philippines and Japan recently struck agreements with the US to lower their tariff rates, but both are still above the 10 per cent baseline. Australia's move to lift restrictions on US beef is unlikely to shift the dial on tariff negotiations, as the nation's products face the possibility of even steeper duties. The Albanese government will allow access to US beef that has been raised in Canada or Mexico but processed in America, following a safety review. Australia is subject to a baseline 10 per cent tariff applied by the Trump administration and has been keeping an eye on the trade negotiations of other countries. AMP chief economist Shane Oliver said Donald Trump's flagged higher tariffs might include the nation's exports. "The risk for Australia is that we may be lucky to hang on to 10 per cent, which could actually turn out to be higher," he told AAP. "This (beef decision) might help us hang on to 10 per cent or avoid a worse outcome, but I don't think there's any guarantees of that." American beef was banned from Australia almost two decades ago following an outbreak of mad cow disease. Mr Trump has pressured the government to ease restrictions as Labor argues for an exemption from the tariffs as part of the US president's deepening trade war. Former ambassador to the US Arthur Sinodinos said while biosecurity investigations can take a while to finalise, it was a "sensible outcome". "The challenge here is it doesn't look like we're putting together a package deal," he said. "It'd be better if there was a package approach to this if we're seeking to gather an overall trade outcome with the US." Australian Farm Institute executive director Katie McRobert said the cattle industry has been "extremely nervous" about biosecurity traceability from different parts of the north and South America regions. "We wouldn't expect a significant impact on Australian producers from the potential to import American beef ... because we already produce far more beef in Australia than we can possibly eat," she said. Trade Minister Don Farrell said he didn't have any meetings scheduled with American counterparts after last meeting US trade representative Jamieson Greer on the sidelines of an OECD ministerial meeting in Paris in June. Senator Farrell said Mr Greer didn't raise beef concerns at that meeting. "We believe that America should lift those tariffs on Australia, there's no justification whatsoever for the United States to apply tariffs to Australia," he told reporters in Canberra on Thursday. "We have a free trade agreement, that agreement makes it very clear that it's a tariff free arrangement." Senator Farrell also denied the move was to create a bargaining chip. The Philippines and Japan recently struck agreements with the US to lower their tariff rates, but both are still above the 10 per cent baseline. Australia's move to lift restrictions on US beef is unlikely to shift the dial on tariff negotiations, as the nation's products face the possibility of even steeper duties. The Albanese government will allow access to US beef that has been raised in Canada or Mexico but processed in America, following a safety review. Australia is subject to a baseline 10 per cent tariff applied by the Trump administration and has been keeping an eye on the trade negotiations of other countries. AMP chief economist Shane Oliver said Donald Trump's flagged higher tariffs might include the nation's exports. "The risk for Australia is that we may be lucky to hang on to 10 per cent, which could actually turn out to be higher," he told AAP. "This (beef decision) might help us hang on to 10 per cent or avoid a worse outcome, but I don't think there's any guarantees of that." American beef was banned from Australia almost two decades ago following an outbreak of mad cow disease. Mr Trump has pressured the government to ease restrictions as Labor argues for an exemption from the tariffs as part of the US president's deepening trade war. Former ambassador to the US Arthur Sinodinos said while biosecurity investigations can take a while to finalise, it was a "sensible outcome". "The challenge here is it doesn't look like we're putting together a package deal," he said. "It'd be better if there was a package approach to this if we're seeking to gather an overall trade outcome with the US." Australian Farm Institute executive director Katie McRobert said the cattle industry has been "extremely nervous" about biosecurity traceability from different parts of the north and South America regions. "We wouldn't expect a significant impact on Australian producers from the potential to import American beef ... because we already produce far more beef in Australia than we can possibly eat," she said. Trade Minister Don Farrell said he didn't have any meetings scheduled with American counterparts after last meeting US trade representative Jamieson Greer on the sidelines of an OECD ministerial meeting in Paris in June. Senator Farrell said Mr Greer didn't raise beef concerns at that meeting. "We believe that America should lift those tariffs on Australia, there's no justification whatsoever for the United States to apply tariffs to Australia," he told reporters in Canberra on Thursday. "We have a free trade agreement, that agreement makes it very clear that it's a tariff free arrangement." Senator Farrell also denied the move was to create a bargaining chip. The Philippines and Japan recently struck agreements with the US to lower their tariff rates, but both are still above the 10 per cent baseline.
The Advertiser
2 hours ago
- The Advertiser
'Trade-offs' on cards to get productivity back on track
Australians are being warned to prepare for trade-offs in areas such as housing if the nation's productivity push is to be successful. Productivity Commission chair Danielle Wood is calling on Australia to adopt a "growth mindset" to prioritise economic outcomes and boost living standards. That means changing corporate taxes to promote investment, simplifying regulations, speeding up housing and energy approvals and ensuring AI adoption is not undermined by unnecessary regulation, among other suggestions. It comes as the commission prepares to release a series of reports detailing how Australia can get productivity moving again. "Australia should be a place where children born today can expect to live better and more prosperous lives than the generations who have come before them,'' Ms Wood said. "Productivity growth is essential to fulfilling that promise." But productivity growth has plummeted in recent years. How much Australia produces with the same amount of workers has grown at just under 0.4 per cent per year since 2015, compared with the 60-year average of 1.6 per cent. That's been caused in part by governments ignoring or minimising economic growth when making policy choices in recent years, according to a paper released by the commission. Policymakers have made it harder that it should be to start a business or build essential infrastructure such as housing or renewable energy because they have failed to weigh trade-offs effectively, been too risk-averse or "overly influenced by vocal stakeholder groups". Governments must balance competing objectives and make choices that improve Australians' overall wellbeing, even if those decisions might negatively affect other goals. "Bringing a growth mindset to policy decisions means elevating economic growth and its benefits,'' Ms Wood said. "That doesn't mean policymakers should ignore other objectives, but it does mean being clear-eyed about the trade-offs." The paper lays the groundwork for five forthcoming reports the commission is preparing to release before an economic roundtable convened by Treasurer Jim Chalmers. He said the report made clear the productivity problem had been around for decades and almost every comparable country had the same challenge. "The best way to strengthen our economy and make it more productive is to work through the issues in a methodical and considered way in collaboration with business, unions and the broader community," Dr Chalmers said. In its submission to the roundtable, a joint group of industry associations including the Business Council of Australia and the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry outlined four priority areas for reform. They include reforming research and development funding models to boost innovation; cutting the regulatory burden by 25 per cent by 2030; co-ordinating and unifying planning processes to speed up project approvals; and committing to comprehensive tax reform. "We need to cut unhelpful red tape, streamline planning, fix the tax system and improve incentives for investment," Business Council chief executive Bran Black said. "These policies can deliver benefits for economic activity across the whole country and importantly ensure future generations aren't worse off." Australians are being warned to prepare for trade-offs in areas such as housing if the nation's productivity push is to be successful. Productivity Commission chair Danielle Wood is calling on Australia to adopt a "growth mindset" to prioritise economic outcomes and boost living standards. That means changing corporate taxes to promote investment, simplifying regulations, speeding up housing and energy approvals and ensuring AI adoption is not undermined by unnecessary regulation, among other suggestions. It comes as the commission prepares to release a series of reports detailing how Australia can get productivity moving again. "Australia should be a place where children born today can expect to live better and more prosperous lives than the generations who have come before them,'' Ms Wood said. "Productivity growth is essential to fulfilling that promise." But productivity growth has plummeted in recent years. How much Australia produces with the same amount of workers has grown at just under 0.4 per cent per year since 2015, compared with the 60-year average of 1.6 per cent. That's been caused in part by governments ignoring or minimising economic growth when making policy choices in recent years, according to a paper released by the commission. Policymakers have made it harder that it should be to start a business or build essential infrastructure such as housing or renewable energy because they have failed to weigh trade-offs effectively, been too risk-averse or "overly influenced by vocal stakeholder groups". Governments must balance competing objectives and make choices that improve Australians' overall wellbeing, even if those decisions might negatively affect other goals. "Bringing a growth mindset to policy decisions means elevating economic growth and its benefits,'' Ms Wood said. "That doesn't mean policymakers should ignore other objectives, but it does mean being clear-eyed about the trade-offs." The paper lays the groundwork for five forthcoming reports the commission is preparing to release before an economic roundtable convened by Treasurer Jim Chalmers. He said the report made clear the productivity problem had been around for decades and almost every comparable country had the same challenge. "The best way to strengthen our economy and make it more productive is to work through the issues in a methodical and considered way in collaboration with business, unions and the broader community," Dr Chalmers said. In its submission to the roundtable, a joint group of industry associations including the Business Council of Australia and the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry outlined four priority areas for reform. They include reforming research and development funding models to boost innovation; cutting the regulatory burden by 25 per cent by 2030; co-ordinating and unifying planning processes to speed up project approvals; and committing to comprehensive tax reform. "We need to cut unhelpful red tape, streamline planning, fix the tax system and improve incentives for investment," Business Council chief executive Bran Black said. "These policies can deliver benefits for economic activity across the whole country and importantly ensure future generations aren't worse off." Australians are being warned to prepare for trade-offs in areas such as housing if the nation's productivity push is to be successful. Productivity Commission chair Danielle Wood is calling on Australia to adopt a "growth mindset" to prioritise economic outcomes and boost living standards. That means changing corporate taxes to promote investment, simplifying regulations, speeding up housing and energy approvals and ensuring AI adoption is not undermined by unnecessary regulation, among other suggestions. It comes as the commission prepares to release a series of reports detailing how Australia can get productivity moving again. "Australia should be a place where children born today can expect to live better and more prosperous lives than the generations who have come before them,'' Ms Wood said. "Productivity growth is essential to fulfilling that promise." But productivity growth has plummeted in recent years. How much Australia produces with the same amount of workers has grown at just under 0.4 per cent per year since 2015, compared with the 60-year average of 1.6 per cent. That's been caused in part by governments ignoring or minimising economic growth when making policy choices in recent years, according to a paper released by the commission. Policymakers have made it harder that it should be to start a business or build essential infrastructure such as housing or renewable energy because they have failed to weigh trade-offs effectively, been too risk-averse or "overly influenced by vocal stakeholder groups". Governments must balance competing objectives and make choices that improve Australians' overall wellbeing, even if those decisions might negatively affect other goals. "Bringing a growth mindset to policy decisions means elevating economic growth and its benefits,'' Ms Wood said. "That doesn't mean policymakers should ignore other objectives, but it does mean being clear-eyed about the trade-offs." The paper lays the groundwork for five forthcoming reports the commission is preparing to release before an economic roundtable convened by Treasurer Jim Chalmers. He said the report made clear the productivity problem had been around for decades and almost every comparable country had the same challenge. "The best way to strengthen our economy and make it more productive is to work through the issues in a methodical and considered way in collaboration with business, unions and the broader community," Dr Chalmers said. In its submission to the roundtable, a joint group of industry associations including the Business Council of Australia and the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry outlined four priority areas for reform. They include reforming research and development funding models to boost innovation; cutting the regulatory burden by 25 per cent by 2030; co-ordinating and unifying planning processes to speed up project approvals; and committing to comprehensive tax reform. "We need to cut unhelpful red tape, streamline planning, fix the tax system and improve incentives for investment," Business Council chief executive Bran Black said. "These policies can deliver benefits for economic activity across the whole country and importantly ensure future generations aren't worse off." Australians are being warned to prepare for trade-offs in areas such as housing if the nation's productivity push is to be successful. Productivity Commission chair Danielle Wood is calling on Australia to adopt a "growth mindset" to prioritise economic outcomes and boost living standards. That means changing corporate taxes to promote investment, simplifying regulations, speeding up housing and energy approvals and ensuring AI adoption is not undermined by unnecessary regulation, among other suggestions. It comes as the commission prepares to release a series of reports detailing how Australia can get productivity moving again. "Australia should be a place where children born today can expect to live better and more prosperous lives than the generations who have come before them,'' Ms Wood said. "Productivity growth is essential to fulfilling that promise." But productivity growth has plummeted in recent years. How much Australia produces with the same amount of workers has grown at just under 0.4 per cent per year since 2015, compared with the 60-year average of 1.6 per cent. That's been caused in part by governments ignoring or minimising economic growth when making policy choices in recent years, according to a paper released by the commission. Policymakers have made it harder that it should be to start a business or build essential infrastructure such as housing or renewable energy because they have failed to weigh trade-offs effectively, been too risk-averse or "overly influenced by vocal stakeholder groups". Governments must balance competing objectives and make choices that improve Australians' overall wellbeing, even if those decisions might negatively affect other goals. "Bringing a growth mindset to policy decisions means elevating economic growth and its benefits,'' Ms Wood said. "That doesn't mean policymakers should ignore other objectives, but it does mean being clear-eyed about the trade-offs." The paper lays the groundwork for five forthcoming reports the commission is preparing to release before an economic roundtable convened by Treasurer Jim Chalmers. He said the report made clear the productivity problem had been around for decades and almost every comparable country had the same challenge. "The best way to strengthen our economy and make it more productive is to work through the issues in a methodical and considered way in collaboration with business, unions and the broader community," Dr Chalmers said. In its submission to the roundtable, a joint group of industry associations including the Business Council of Australia and the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry outlined four priority areas for reform. They include reforming research and development funding models to boost innovation; cutting the regulatory burden by 25 per cent by 2030; co-ordinating and unifying planning processes to speed up project approvals; and committing to comprehensive tax reform. "We need to cut unhelpful red tape, streamline planning, fix the tax system and improve incentives for investment," Business Council chief executive Bran Black said. "These policies can deliver benefits for economic activity across the whole country and importantly ensure future generations aren't worse off."
Sydney Morning Herald
2 hours ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
Economic summit in danger of becoming a bureaucratic gabfest
The Albanese government's upcoming economic reform roundtable should seize the opportunity to reset Australia's future agenda. Instead, it looks in danger of turning into a bureaucrats' jamboree with the usual suspects pontificating on a system they are by and large responsible for creating. We know that tax will be the big ticket item at the August 19-21 summit and the heavily curated roundtable invitees certainly know their taxes, budgets and politics. And economic resilience, productivity and budgets are on the agenda. But Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's refusal to consider changing the GST is already tying one of the government's hands behind its back and the exclusion of those major players in taxation and deregulation, states and territories, is a further handicap. As the Herald 's senior economic correspondent Shane Wright has pointed out, it is not tax that will lift living standards and Australia's ability to pay for goods and services – it will be technology. The telephone, the internal combustion engine and the lightbulb were three of the most transformative pieces of technology. Now 150 or so years later AI is poised to change lives. Yet, there are no scientists or creative minds invited to the roundtable. Rather, Wright says participants are policy wonks reared in a culture that believes problems deserve a 'policy' solution when the real and most far-reaching solutions come from people who think differently. Adding some variety to the mix, the Productivity Commission is expected to release a series of reports on productivity that will provide data and ideas to the summit outside tax issues. And business has established an umbrella organisation to put forward recommendations, including on investment, innovation, reducing red tape, planning and approval processes, tax, education and employment. While incoming Coalition governments stay well clear of such talkfest, this is the fourth stab Labor has had at post election summits. The first, Bob Hawke's April 1983 economic summit, discussed economic strategy, the approach to unemployment and inflation, and a prices and incomes accord and was deemed an extraordinary success. Twenty-five years later, prime minister Kevin Rudd's talkfest, when 1000 of Australia's better thinkers gathered to ponder the future, is generally considered to have amounted to little and is mainly remembered for Rudd's awkward love-in with actors Cate Blanchett and Hugh Jackman. That said, good ideas came out of both the Hawke and Rudd summits, but more went missing in action at the hands of compliance. The challenge facing next month's roundtable is to ensure that the reforms are not lost in bureaucracy. After a tepid first term record on policy innovation, including a 2022 jobs and skills summit that stampeded business with its union-friendly re-regulation of the workplace system, we would have thought the Albanese government could afford to have been more adventurous with its roundtable summit. Labor is unlikely to enjoy such a massive mandate again. In such circumstances, timidity is not an option and the Albanese government cannot hide behind bureaucracy but should use the summit to promulgate wide-ranging and much needed reforms.
