Victorian members to push Labor over AUKUS deal
It will be the first major Labor conference since the re-election of Anthony Albanese in May and will add to pressure on the government over AUKUS, as it waits on the outcome of a US review.
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The Australian
30 minutes ago
- The Australian
China hopes for 'reciprocity' at trade talks with US in Stockholm
Chinese and US economic officials met for talks in Stockholm on Monday, with Beijing saying it wanted to see "reciprocity" in its trade with the United States. The Swedish prime minister's office confirmed the talks, which are expected to last two days, were under way. The talks came a day after US President Donald Trump reached a deal that will see imports from the European Union taxed at 15 percent and the clock ticking down for many countries to reach deals or face high US tariffs. Beijing said on Monday it hoped the two sides could hold talks in the spirit of "mutual respect and reciprocity". Foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said Beijing sought to "enhance consensus through dialogue and communication, reduce misunderstandings, strengthen cooperation and promote the stable, healthy and sustainable development of China-US relations". For dozens of trading partners, failing to strike an agreement in the coming days means they could face significant tariff hikes on exports to the United States come Friday, August 1. The steeper rates, threatened against partners like Brazil and India, would raise the duties their products face from a "baseline" of 10 percent now to levels up to 50 percent. Tariffs imposed by the Trump administration have already effectively raised duties on US imports to levels not seen since the 1930s, according to data from The Budget Lab research centre at Yale University. For now, all eyes are on discussions between Washington and Beijing as a delegation including US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent meets a Chinese team led by Vice Premier He Lifeng in Sweden. In Stockholm, Chinese and US flags were raised in front of Rosenbad, the seat of the Swedish government. While both countries in April imposed tariffs on each other's products that reached triple-digit levels, US duties this year have temporarily been lowered to 30 percent and China's countermeasures slashed to 10 percent. But the 90-day truce, instituted after talks in Geneva in May, is set to expire on August 12. Since the Geneva meeting, the two sides have convened in London to iron out disagreements. - China progress? - "There seems to have been a fairly significant shift in (US) administration thinking on China since particularly the London talks," said Emily Benson, head of strategy at Minerva Technology Futures. "The mood now is much more focused on what's possible to achieve, on warming relations where possible and restraining any factors that could increase tensions," she told AFP. Talks with China have not produced a deal but Benson said both countries have made progress, with certain rare earth and semiconductor flows restarting. "Secretary Bessent has also signalled that he thinks a concrete outcome will be to delay the 90-day tariff pause," she said. "That's also promising, because it indicates that something potentially more substantive is on the horizon." The South China Morning Post, citing sources on both sides, reported Sunday that Washington and Beijing are expected to extend their tariff pause by another 90 days. Trump has announced pacts so far with the European Union, Britain, Vietnam, Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines, although details have been sparse. An extension of the US-China deal to keep tariffs at reduced levels "would show that both sides see value in continuing talks", said Thibault Denamiel, a fellow at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies. US-China Business Council president Sean Stein said the market was not anticipating a detailed readout from Stockholm: "What's more important is the atmosphere coming out." "The business community is optimistic that the two presidents will meet later this year, hopefully in Beijing," he told AFP. "It's clear that on both sides, the final decision-maker is going to be the president." For others, the prospect of higher US tariffs and few details from fresh trade deals mark "a far cry from the ideal scenario", said Denamiel. But they show some progress, particularly with partners Washington has signalled are on its priority list like the EU, Japan, the Philippines and South Korea. The EU unveiled a pact with Washington on Sunday while Seoul is rushing to strike an agreement, after Japan and the Philippines already reached the outlines of deals. Breakthroughs have been patchy since Washington promised a flurry of agreements after unveiling, and then swiftly postponing, tariff hikes targeting dozens of economies in April. burs-rl/cw
The Australian
32 minutes ago
- The Australian
ASX banks, telcos lead market higher after Trump's EU deal
Australia's sharemarket snapped a brief two day losing streak on Monday after US President Donald Trump announced his latest trade deal and the major banks bounced back from their recent falls. The benchmark ASX 200 index closed up 30.8 points or 0.36 per cent at 8697.7 after hitting an intraday high of 8704.9, while the broader All Ordinaries finished in the green up 29.20 points or 0.33 per cent to 8,963.50. The Australian dollar slipped from a nine-month high on Friday buying 65.51 US cents at the time of writing. On an overall positive day, eight of the 11 sectors finished in the green, led by the telecommunications sector, the big four banks and healthcare stocks. The ASX had a good day after Donald Trump announced a trade deal with the EU. Picture: Gaye Gerard / NewsWire Shares in Telstra gained 0.81 per cent to $4.95, REA Group jumped 1.34 per cent to $236.09 and CAR group added 1.72 per cent to $37.89. Market heavyweight CBA gained 1.17 per cent to $174.90 offsetting half the falls in recent days, while NAB gained 0.67 per cent to $37.76, Westpac added 0.54 per cent to $33.21 and ANZ group closed 0.30 per cent higher at $30.31. Healthcare darling CSL gained 1 per cent to $270.59, Sigma Healthcare added 1.41 per cent to $2.88 and ResMed finished 0.97 per cent higher to $41.70. The markets jumped after US President Donald Trump announced a deal with the EU to end four months of negotiations between the two economic powerhouses. Following the discussions, the EU will face a 15 per cent tariff from the US, which is down from the 25 per cent the President announced in April. European Commission chief Ursula von de Leyen described it as 'a big deal, a huge deal, bringing: stability and predictability' to the two trading partners. IG market analyst Tony Sycamore said global markets around the world jumped on these trade deals. European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and US President Donald Trump announced the deal on Sunday. Picture: Brendan Smialowski / AFP) 'In terms of the trade deals with Japan and Europe, the tariff rate that will be implemented came in lower than initially threatened and the market is looking very positively on it,' Mr Sycamore said. Uranium shares were one of the rare misses during Monday's trading, dragged down by news out of Boss Energy which flagged challenges out of its Honeymoon uranium project. Boss Energy shares plummeted 43.97 per cent to $1.90, Deep Yellow fell 8.34 per cent to $1.65 and Paladin Energy dropped 4.43 per cent to $6.91. 'That is the uranium sector in a nutshell,' he said. 'It is one where you have to be prepared for extraordinary volatility. 'This was a disappointing performance day and a disappointing report by Boss Energy.' In company news, Helloworld Travel shares soared 14.14 per cent to $1.69 after the business upgraded its guidance to somewhere between $58-$62m. Stealth Group's shares also soared 11.02 per cent to $0.70 after announcing a 50 per cent jump in pre-orders on the back of the soon to be released iPhone 17. Bubs Australia shares jumped 2.94 per cent to $0.18 after the infant formula maker announced Joe Cootes as its new chief executive, effective immediately. Read related topics: ASXDonald Trump
The Australian
32 minutes ago
- The Australian
Tasmania must get rid of Hare-Clark electoral system
It's time the Apple Isle grasps the nettle with electoral overhaul With Saturday's election of yet another lame-duck minority government in Tasmania, the time is ripe for the state to abandon the obsolete Hare-Clark electoral system, which has long deprived it of confident, enterprising governments. Hare-Clark worked tolerably well in Tasmania after the rise of the two-party system. Since 1972, when the Bethune government was pointlessly brought down by a disaffected coalition partner, Tasmania has had a succession of Labor and Liberal administrations that have governed with razor-thin majorities or with pistols held to their heads by crossbench partners. Hare-Clark has become a gateway to disaster, ultimately placing the power of the state in the hands of perhaps 10 per cent or even less of the electorate. Across the past 50 years we have witnessed chronic neglect of the great responsibilities of government, a marked deterioration in the standards of parliament. It would greatly serve the interests of both major parties if they were to collaborate on major and historic electoral reform in Tasmania. Single-member electorates and preferential voting would provide governments of either stripe with the security of numbers to confidently get on with the job. John Francis, Lauderdale, Tas What's in a name? The productivity reform roundtable has now become the economic reform roundtable, which means the easiest way to progress productivity reform, through changes to industrial relations laws and regulations, will be stifled by the union representation on the committee assembled. This leaves us with taxation reform being the main agenda item, and even then it appears that any discussion on the GST, a consumption tax and not a tax on savings, will be out of favour with the Prime Minister, who has stated he only approves of a progressive taxation system. While the proposed committee reviewing the need for productivity improvements appears to be a good starting point, it is likely there will be too many conflicts of interest to achieve any notable ways forward. Without meaningful productivity gains, small businesses will continue to fail and the increase in unemployment will become locked in. David Gray, Peppermint Grove, WA Xi's charm offensive It would seem that Anthony Albanese has fallen for the Chinese charm offensive. Our Prime Minister seems be in no hurry to meet President Donald Trump, nor Trump with Albanese. Meanwhile AUKUS, a compact uniting our traditional like-minded friends, is withering on the vine of ambivalence while awaiting needed nurture and reappraisal. Amid this ambiguity, lack of leadership is leaving us in a parlous position. Australia continues to change dramatically with thousands of new arrivals seeking pastures greener than the troubled homelands they have come from, but so often coming with the unresolved baggage from that past with its consequences. Stephanie Summers, Turramurra, NSW Blind bureaucracy The latest revelations of child abuse in the childcare sector highlight again the need for national co-ordination of offenders. It also points again to the disadvantages of having states and territories with different laws and regulations. The absurdity of unnecessary differences between jurisdictions was highlighted to me in an experience of obtaining a Working With Children Check. As a resident of NSW, I held such a check for the state for coaching junior cricket teams. When I needed a check to work at a youth organisation event in Victoria, I attempted to apply for it online and found the Victorian government website would not accept my identity documents because of a system glitch. To complete the application process I had to drive five hours from the southern highlands of NSW to a Victorian Post Office at Wodonga to lodge the application. One wonders how working with children in Victoria differs from working with children in NSW, and why there are not national regulations or at least uniform legislation across the jurisdictions. Mike Walker, Bowral, NSW Call this progressive? Tina Kordrostami's resignation from the Greens is telling. That someone who fled the Iranian regime now feels silenced by a so-called progressive party should concern all of us. Her experience points to a deeper problem. The Greens speak the language of justice and inclusion, but too often their positions seem driven more by extreme ideology than by a commitment to universal human rights. Their refusal to condemn terrorist groups – while relentlessly targeting Israel – suggests something far more opportunistic than principled. Kordrostami's call for a third path, one that rejects extremism on all sides, deserves to be taken seriously. John Kempler, Rose Bay, NSW
