Latest news with #JimChalmers'
AU Financial Review
a day ago
- Business
- AU Financial Review
AI fear and loathing must not rule in Canberra
Harnessing the power of artificial intelligence to help reverse Australia's productivity slump is shaping as one of the key flashpoints between business groups and the union movement at Jim Chalmers' economic reform roundtable. The treasurer says the meeting's purpose is to build consensus about ways to fix Australia's economic malaise. The Australian Financial Review Government Services Summit on Tuesday canvassed the critical issue of how the nation chooses to regulate AI.
West Australian
6 days ago
- Business
- West Australian
Rebecca Tomkinson: WA miners get productivity and the State deserves a seat at Chalmers roundtable
For every 308 people on this planet, just one is Australian. There simply aren't that many of us. Which makes it all the more remarkable that the 0.3 per cent of humanity lucky enough to call this country home operate the world's 13th biggest economy. Generating that kind of output, and the prosperity that flows from it, would not be possible without the minerals and energy that account for two thirds of all Australian exports. The Australian success story is grounded firmly in two things: access to international customers and cost-competitive products to sell them. And it's grounded firmly in WA. Which is why it is so important WA is strongly represented at Treasurer Jim Chalmers' economic reform roundtable. Of the 24 invitations issued to date, just one has been delivered this side of the Nullarbor. The balance seems questionable when you consider that without the commodities produced in WA, Australia's productivity woes would have forced a reckoning years ago. Instead, the resources sector has papered over the cracks, helping disguise the economic drag of an outdated and ill-equipped tax and regulatory system. The irony is that our miners and energy producers have only been able to perform this act of sorcery through a laser-like focus on maximising productivity in their own operations. Capital deepening — improving the equipment and technology available to workers — has been an essential driver of those gains. But it hasn't come cheap. Tens of billions of dollars have been invested in ports, rail, roads, machinery and automation to improve efficiency and drive down costs. Securing that level of investment doesn't happen by accident. It requires a sustained focus on delivering fundamentals that attract businesses with no shortage of global options for their capital. There is an important lesson here. The crux of the challenge facing the national budget is this: our tax base is narrowing as the proportion of working Australians shrinks, while demands on government spending for health, aged care, infrastructure and defence continue to rise. Shifting to a more equitable and sustainable tax system is a significant piece of the puzzle — and at this point it is worth highlighting the Prime Minister categorically ruled out any new resources taxes during a visit to WA ahead of the recent election. But just as important as tax reform is improving the productive output of every Australian worker. That doesn't mean forcing everyone to work around the clock. Far from it. It means equipping the workforce with the technology, training and tools they need to get more done in the same amount of time — and then sharing the spoils with them. It means identifying Australia's most productive sectors (that's easy, they're the ones paying the highest wages) and supporting them to thrive through a generational energy transition. And it means fostering the conditions needed for those sectors to unleash a new wave of productivity-enhancing investment. For the resources industry, those conditions are sadly heading in the wrong direction. Energy costs, historically an Australian advantage, have skyrocketed at the precise time access to cheap electrons has become perhaps the most important factor in global industrial competitiveness. One of the primary obstacles to building out the transmission lines and low-emission generation required to bring energy costs back down is a complex and protracted assessment system that leaves projects in limbo for years. Approvals can be both efficient and rigorous. Cutting unnecessary waiting times, which are hurting investment in both resources and energy, must be a national priority. Equally important is incentivising businesses, through grants and tax rebates, to explore and prove up the new processes and technologies — such as green metals and low-carbon fuels — that will be critical to decarbonisation. Damaging recent industrial relations reforms will harm rather than promote productivity. Carve-outs for the resources sector, in line with the original intent of the workplace changes, would restore some much-needed confidence. Artificial intelligence has the potential to supercharge output across the entire economy. It's vital that potential is given space to flourish and not suffocated by yet more rules and regulations. Many of these suggestions aren't new. But Australia doesn't need more productivity sermons. It needs action. If we want our economy to keep punching above its weight, we must unshackle the sectors that already do. That means looking west. The WA resource sector isn't just a passenger in the Australian economy. It's the engine room. Ensuring WA's voice is heard in economic reform discussions can't be a courtesy. It's a necessity. Rebecca Tomkinson is Chief Executive Officer of the Chamber of Minerals and Energy of WA
The Guardian
6 days ago
- Business
- The Guardian
Raise jobseeker to 90% of age pension and pay for it by curbing super tax concessions, Vinnies says
A welfare reform package that includes raising jobseeker to 90% of the age pension would lift 590,000 Australians out of poverty, with the $11bn price tag paid for by curbing super tax concessions in a way that still leaves the vast majority of savers better off. A new Australian National University paper for the St Vincent de Paul Society, titled A Fairer Tax and Welfare System for Australia, examines a range of options that 'are targeted to benefit persons who have the greatest financial need and would be paid for by those most able to accommodate a modest additional contribution'. In addition to the rise in the main unemployment benefit, the 'major' reform package also includes increases to commonwealth rent assistance and payments to families and single parents. The analysis lands less than a month out from Jim Chalmers' economic reform roundtable, which will bring together representatives from government, business and unions in an attempt to achieve a consensus around concrete measures to lift the country's abysmal productivity performance. But with an estimated one in 10 Australians, or nearly 3 million people, living in households experiencing poverty, the charitable organisation's report highlights the urgent need to make the country more equitable as well as more efficient. Mark Gaetani, Vinnies' national president, said he was hopeful the reforms put forward in the report would be seriously considered at Labor's summit. 'Yes, the government does need to address productivity. But there are two sides to the coin, and the options we put forward will make a really significant difference to those who are doing it really tough and who we see coming through our doors every day,' Gaetani said. 'What we are putting forward is budget neutral. We are simply asking those well off in the community to forgo in the vicinity of $3,000-3,500 a year to offset the cost of assisting those 3 million Australians who live under the poverty line'. Sign up: AU Breaking News email Ben Phillips, an associate professor at the ANU who co-wrote the report with Richard Webster, said increasing the jobseeker benefit for singles and couples was a 'no-brainer'. 'People don't talk about the age pension as a king's ransom, and lifting jobseeker to 90% of that just takes it back to 1990s levels,' Phillips said, noting that it was in line with the recommendation by the government's Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee. The ANU sets the poverty line at $486 a week, or half the median household disposable income of after housing costs. In comparison, the full jobseeker rate for an individual is $390 a week, or about 75% of the $525 rate for a single age pensioner. Lifting it to 90% would involve a weekly rise of about $80. More than half of people on jobseeker or youth allowance are in households experiencing poverty, and the report noted that the balance between avoiding disincentives to work and providing an adequate safety net had become skewed too far in one direction. 'The pendulum needs to swing back towards adequacy,' it said. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion The ANU's poverty rates are adjusted to exclude those with low income but with high wealth, such as some retirees. Single parents are much more likely to experience severe financial disadvantage, with poverty rates among this group reaching an estimated one in three. The proposed reform would lift youth allowance and the partnered parenting payment by the same proportional amount as jobseeker, and increase the single parenting payment to equal the age pension. The report said the jobseeker rate and related payments should also be increased each year in line with wages, rather than inflation. The family tax benefit part A should be raised to the same as for older eligible children, and the link between wage growth and family payments should also be re-established, it said. With one in five renters estimated to be in poverty, or twice the national average, suggested changes to the welfare system included a 15% increase in commonwealth rent assistance, as well as an additional $100 supplementary payment to those receiving the disability support pension in recognition that an estimated 37% of people on working age pensions are below the poverty line. The measures in the reform proposal would be paid for by replacing the flat 15% tax on super contributions and earnings with a rate set at the saver's marginal tax rate minus 20 percentage points. The reform to superannuation concessions that Phillips modelled would leave 90% of savers no worse off, and in some cases better off, he said. 'The people who it [the super tax change] would impact negatively are those whose income is above the $190,000 level, where the marginal rate is 45 cents in the dollar.'
West Australian
7 days ago
- Business
- West Australian
Robert Carruthers: WA merits a spot at Jim Chalmers economic reform roundtable
There's just over a month until Treasurer Jim Chalmers' highly anticipated economic reform roundtable. The guest list is still being finalised, and the agenda has evolved to tackle ever-growing 'pillars' of reform. Whatever the roundtable's name or shape, the problem statement is clear: Australia's prosperity is under the gun, and we need to become far more match-fit. That's precisely why more key players from WA's dominant resources sector should receive a call-up. Australia's largest exporters are clearly critical to Australia's prosperity. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has spoken of his Government's mandate to make lasting change. Indeed, alongside his Treasurer, there's the opportunity to become generational reformers in the mould of past Labor luminaries. But here's the rub: consensus-seeking cannot be the singular objective. We're right to be wary of well-choreographed, Canberra-centric thinking and an invite list that is too narrow. Without strong representation and leadership, we risk ending up with a well-rounded table but a flat agenda. WA has produced world-beaters across medicine, tech, and sport — and last week, a boy from the Wheatbelt ascended to the top job at Rio Tinto, one of the world's largest diversified mining companies. Yet of the 24 formal invites issued, to date only one has been summoned from WA. There is no doubt former WA treasurer Ben Wyatt will be a strong voice and wears many hats, including board roles with major resources companies. Still, a solitary voice is not sufficient from a State that contributes more than half of Australia's export earnings. Resources Minister Madeleine King deserves credit for convening sector leaders in a series of mini roundtables in Perth last week, with identified priorities to feed into the broader Canberra roundtable. It's a measure of the respect that Minister King has earned for her ongoing engagement and support for the sector. It just makes sense to extend more invitations to WA's industry leaders to accompany her in making the 3000km journey east. Successive governments have shied away from tackling broad-based tax reform. The net result is an overly complex system reliant on a proportionally narrowing base, akin to a death by thousand cuts labyrinth. The Albanese Government was elected with a mandate for lower taxes (with the notable exception of superannuation tax). Yet, concerningly, the Treasurer has taken to flying kites in recent weeks to test support for introducing new taxes. Any move to increase resources-based taxes should be called out for what it is: a shakedown on WA. The allure of low-hanging revenue measures must not substitute for meaningful rationalisation of the tax system across all levels of government. As former WA premier Colin Barnett argued, not even the GST distribution should be off-limits in the quest for meaningful reform. Ask global resources companies who have recently invested in North or South America what welcome mat measures were rolled out to secure their investment in those jurisdictions. You can bet it was streamlined and designed to incentivise investment and job creation — not a confusing queue of overlapping requirements. WA's mining leaders can share firsthand what Australia is getting right, and what we're getting dangerously wrong. Any serious economic reform agenda must tackle the red tape holding back major projects across the nation. This is fundamental not just for WA resources projects, but for the infrastructure and energy transition projects that are vital for future generations. It's noteworthy that Dr Ken Henry, architect of the last major template for tax reform, is now championing environmental regulatory reform as the single greatest opportunity to lift productivity and protect Australia's environment. It's a conundrum I'm equally passionate about. For two decades, there's been broad agreement on the need to reform the EPBC system which is contorted, cautious, and far from certain. New Environment Minister Murray Watt has taken an encouragingly proactive and pragmatic approach, openly acknowledging that not everyone can be happy with every aspect in the pursuit of meaningful reform. The proposed framework for streamlined environmental regulatory approvals — with standards set nationally and ideally implemented by the States under a single pathway — should have top billing at the roundtable. No conversation on productivity is complete without addressing industrial relations. It's the elephant in the room. The IR system had sizeable chunks re-jigged during the first term Albanese Government, but these reforms broke the link to productivity and international competitiveness. The roundtable presents an opportunity to hardwire productivity back into Australia's IR landscape. Past Labor governments have succeeded in striking accords between employers, employees, and unions to share responsibility for both delivering efficiency and sharing the benefits. Cyclical industries like the resources sectors need the flexibility to adapt to changing conditions. There are good global examples, including in US heavy industries, where these kinds of flexible workplace agreements have become a foundation for shared resilience and job security. We simply must get these settings right to secure Australia's competitiveness. It is puzzling that Australia's largest export industry did not make the first cut of invitations to the roundtable. The Prime Minister outwardly acknowledged the sector's central importance when he invited senior iron ore executives on his recent high-level state visit to China. WA's wealth-generating industry deserves more than a sideline role in shaping national economic reform. If the NSW Treasurer can secure a seat at the roundtable, surely our world-leading mining CEOs and WA's Premier warrant their place too. Robert Carruthers is Principal at CSA Ltd
Sydney Morning Herald
22-07-2025
- Business
- Sydney Morning Herald
Rolling the dice on tax reform? Be prepared to bet the house
If it's true that two out of five Australians are willing to 'make a personal sacrifice to improve the nation's standing', Treasurer Jim Chalmers' intended taxation summit must address the capital tax-free status of the family home (' Voters wary of reform surprise from Albanese ', July 22). Because all other asset classes including shares, cash at bank and rental housing are all relentlessly taxed, the obvious investment choice becomes the family home, which drives prices up. Worse, because of the crippling level of mortgage repayments, it denies people the freedom to otherwise invest in productive, income-producing parts of the economy. If you want cheaper housing and more investment, the odious reality is that you probably need to tax family homes. Russell Murphy, Bayview I am not sure what is more disappointing: an electorate seemingly suspicious of major reform or a government with such a large majority in the lower house avoiding that much-needed structural reform. This is a generational opportunity that we all need to embrace to set the country up for future generations. We need to stop pandering to Baby Boomers, those with large property portfolios and the tax-shy rich, and just get on with it. Tim Overland, Castle Hill Alan Morris' letter was worryingly true – negative gearing and capital gains discounting are costing the government a staggering amount of revenue (Letters, July 22). And it's only set to increase unless reform is legislated from the top down. What better way for our treasurer to make a difference in the long term than to rein in tax concessions while encouraging investors to look away from residential property towards more productive areas that need capital injections for jobs and growth. Negative gearing should be encouraged on all income-producing assets except residential property, and with the fine-tuning of capital gains tax to help, more people will become homeowners as investors won't be tax-privileged and will have to compete on a level playing field with owner-occupiers. Productivity might be this government's new direction, but we need more than a 'round-table' talkfest if results are to be achieved. John Kingsmill, Fairlight Complex? Not half Fay Semple (Letters, July 22) asks for someone to set her straight on tax being charged on only 50 per cent of capital gains, so I will try to do so. Most forms of income – salaries, wages or business profits – typically accrue over one year and so are taxed in full at the end of that year. Capital gains usually accrue over many years, often decades. Prices generally increase a lot over that period. So if an owner sells a property or shares after holding them for many years and is then taxed on the full amount of that gain, there is no chance they would then have the funds to buy a similar property or shares. So when capital gains tax began the original purchase price was adjusted by the change (increase) in the consumer price index, so only the 'real' gain was taxed. That was later deemed too complicated so the much simpler, but much less accurate 50 per cent discount was introduced. I hope that helps explain why the 50 per cent discount exists. David Fraser, Ballina Antisemitism antidote Thank you, Alynn Pratt, for eloquently expressing the link between anti-Israel sentiments and perceived antisemitism at home (Letters, July 22). I am sure most Australians would denounce the ruthless actions of Israel, its prime minister and the IDF over the past 18 months. I believe the best way to discourage antisemitic activities in Australia would be for Australian Jews to unequivocally denounce the actions of the Israeli government and military, as many Israelis themselves are doing. Dale Bailey, St Leonards If Australia's Jewish people would disassociate themselves from the worst things happening in Gaza, other Australians may indeed, as Alynn Pratt urges, disentangle Australian Jews from Israel in their minds. It must be difficult after the acts of Hamas monsters on October 7, but to acknowledge that the response should stop now would align with the decency and judiciousness of all the Jewish people I have ever known. Jennifer Briggs, Kilaben Bay Genocide, persecution, starvation, ethnic cleansing, lebensraum – these are words and concepts that conjure up memories of horrific crimes against humanity. Are they overused tropes from the past, or valid descriptions of the dark place into which Netanyahu has led the people of Israel? His dismissal of all such claims as Hamas propaganda is a poor attempt to justify the killings. Saying 'Israel has implemented more precautions to prevent civilian harm than any military in history' is simply untrue. Gaza has been systematically dismantled, tens of thousands of innocents have lost their lives and the daily killing of Palestinians and the occupation of their land has been normalised. Condemning these actions is not enough. The world community needs to use every means at its disposal (short of warfare) to free the Palestinian people from this despot. Furthermore, no nation should call Israel an ally while Netanyahu remains in charge. I live in hope that some day the people of Israel will rise up and make Netanyahu answerable for his crimes. Geoffrey Dyer, Bundanoon Blooming disaster The federal government still avoids the D-word when describing South Australia's algal bloom (' No disaster-level relief for algae bloom ', July 22). Why? The marine heatwave has lasted nine months. Beaches are buried under hundreds of tonnes of dead marine life – more than 400 species – but most of the devastation is underwater, across an area twice the size of the ACT. The International Disaster Database (EM-DAT) defines a natural disaster as 'a situation or event which overwhelms local capacity, necessitating national or international assistance, and likely to cause serious harm to safety, health, or livelihoods.' To qualify, at least one of four criteria must be met: 10 or more people killed, 100 or more people affected, a state of emergency declared, or a call for international help. Clearly, at least the second applies here. But EM-DAT's definition is too human-centric. Like our outdated nature and duty-of-care laws, it ignores the scale of harm to ecosystems. Climate change threatens all life, and the law must catch up. Whatever the International Court of Justice rules in the Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change case on Wednesday, climate legal leadership is urgently needed. Ray Peck, Hawthorn (Vic) The contribution of $14 million to clean up the disastrous algae bloom devastating the South Australian coast is equivalent to the selling price of a house in an affluent part of Sydney. Labor MP Mark Butler stated he had never seen a bloom of this scale and duration. Federal Environment Minister Murray Watt needs to reassess his decision to not declare this a natural disaster. John Cotterill, Kingsford Why punish Boele? Liberal candidate Gisele Kapterian is aggrieved that she did not win the seat of Bradfield. She has decided to contest the result in the Court of Disputed Returns (' Libs say 151 ballots should overturn Bradfield result ', July 22). She will only do so because she has been indemnified by the Liberal Party. The fault, if there is one, lies with the Australian Electoral Office. Why then, does Kapterian feel it appropriate that Nicolette Boele (who is not alleged to have done anything wrong) should pay towards her legal costs if the decision goes against the AEO? Just another example of the Liberal Party's clearly discredited sense of entitlement. Nicolas Harrison, Evans Head Gisele Kapterian wants the High Court to overturn her election loss. Our system allows for this. But why on earth should winner Nicolette Boele have to pay for Kapterian's challenge should Kapterian win? She didn't make the decisions on which votes were accepted. Is this another Liberal Party strategy to attack independents by threatening them financially if they don't roll over when failed Liberal candidates demand it's their right to rule? Derek Elmes, Faulconbridge No books for boys If boys and young men aren't reading, maybe it is because there's nothing for them to read (' Young men have stopped reading books – and these are the reasons why ', July 22). At school, we boys were given authors such as Alistair MacLean, Jules Verne, Gerard Durrell, Paul Brickhill, HG Wells, RL Stevenson, Sir Walter Scott, Joseph Conrad and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to read. Such authors have been purged from reading lists by a largely female corps of English teachers and replaced with poorly written tripe. Teenage boys aren't interested in books like Hitler's Daughter. Furthermore, given that boys find reading more difficult because (a) they have no male role models left and (b) their literacy skills develop more slowly, it should be of no surprise to anyone that they do not read. Programs like DEAR (Drop Everything And Read) are great, but dwindling. Ryszard Linkiewicz, Woolooware Multicultural riches Australia is by and large a fine example of a multicultural melting pot, and it is pleasing to note that we are soon to celebrate the settling of one million refugees since World War II. As pointed out in your editorial (' Australia has been enriched by refugees ', July 22), what has allowed us to live together for the most part, harmoniously and peacefully, is the prevalence of shared values, especially human values. Curious to know just what these values might be, I reached out to Siri, only to be required by a website I was assigned to verify that I was, in fact, human. This sadly set me wondering if, in the not-too-distant future, artificial intelligence may render the human values that give us meaning dispensable – and just a mere tick of a box. Mary Carde, Parrearra (Qld) For crying out loud, we're all immigrants and refugees. This country, which we stole, has offered refuge from the partisan madness of the old world, and together we've done quite a good job in building a working model for a peaceful world – that is, a tolerant, multicultural democracy that celebrates diversity. Now, if we could just pay long-overdue respect to the original Australians we might have something to crow about. Phil Bradshaw, Naremburn There can be no doubt that Australia has been enriched by refugees. Those who work in education can attest to the attributes that many refugees bring to a classroom, especially their gifts in speaking and understanding languages other than English. As a nation, Australia needs to understand and better utilise these gifts. One policy area for the treasurer's forthcoming growth summit, as it explores productivity, is to consider how better to utilise and harvest our immense bilingual riches. Rod Leonarder, Roseville Croc or crock? For Captain Hook, the tick-tocking of the clock was a forewarning of the approaching crocodile, a symbol of his fateful predicament. Soon, if not already, crocodiles will become regular visitors to the holiday town of Noosa (' Jury still out on Noosa's claimed crocodile sightings ', July 22). As for Hook, the crocodile for us is also analogous of a forewarning – time ticking away while climate change does its worst. The warming ocean currents have already ominously manifested themselves. The demise of intricate marine communities along the South Australian shores; the vast tracts of reef from NSW to Tasmania decimated by long-spined sea urchins encouraged southward in ever-warming currents; the whale migrations with truncated northern destinations, evidence of shrinking food reserves in warming southern oceans. Tick-tock, tick-tock. Steve Dillon, Thirroul Margot Saville's claim that the Noosa crocodile is just a 'lizard' may have a grain of truth to it ('I've seen one up close, so Noosa's reptile may be a croc', July 22). In fishing parlance, a 'lizard' is a flathead, a common species in the Noosa River. Perhaps the croc is just that – a wildly overgrown flathead in the manner of Razorback, the huge wild pig that tore its way into Australian cinematic glory back in the mid-1980s. If such were true, Noosa could immediately benefit by the construction of the Big Flathead, a great addition to the local tourist industry, and of course the movie would follow – a riot of chewed-up tinnies (and fishermen). Only in Queensland. Peter Cooper-Southam, Frenchs Forest Choice in care Wendy Syfert talks of her 'guilt, grief and anger' at having to return to work for financial reasons (' Focus on profit demeans childcare ', July 22). She describes 'prising her crying baby from her chest each day' when leaving the five-month old in care. What was this distress about: a child's broken attachment needs (critical at six months of age), objections to the quality and consistency of care, fear of strangers, missing her mummy? Was the mother not typical of many parents who in today's society are not allowed to care for their babies and toddlers? Prime minister, it's time to put children's needs first and give families real choice about childcare. Stop subsidising for-profit centres and give mothers and fathers adequate paid parental leave. Susan Tregeagle, Yarralumla To ensure that early childcare is safe, caring and reliable, the federal government will need to spend a huge sum of money. Another option, which I'm sure would be welcomed by many parents and children, would to pay the basic wage to the caring parent until the child is two years old. The partner would be required to allocate half their superannuation to the carer for those two years. If they do the sums, the government may come out ahead. Denise McElhone, St Ives Research confirms the lifelong benefits of at-home parenting (Letters, July 22). Norway has modernised this traditional approach with the addition of generous taxpayer-funded paid parental leave, and their approach provides our government with a successful working model ('Treasurer in race to form agenda ahead of summit', July 22). In Norway parents are entitled to a combined total of 49 weeks of paid parental leave at 100 per cent salary replacement or a longer period at 80 per cent, which can be shared between parents. The potential long-term benefits are enormous in terms of mental health outcomes for children and the wider community. Australia could readily adopt this generous model to resolve many of the problems with the for-profit childcare sector. The program has been funded largely by Norway's high fossil fuel taxes. Maybe we can do the same here. Or maybe we can fund paid parental leave from one of the other 'hollow logs' available to the Albanese government, such as the $10 billion to $15 billion revenue lost annually to negative gearing and capital gains tax on investment properties, a major reform that might resolve two of our biggest social problems – runaway house prices and a childcare system that's been exposed as not fit for purpose. Rob Firth, Red Hill (ACT) Fair play With our PM purporting to be a big tennis fan, I wonder if he mentioned to Xi Jinping the inexplicable disappearance of Chinese tennis champ Peng Shuai after she accused a high-ranking Chinese official of sexual assault. Rosemary O'Brien, Ashfield
