Latest news with #MartinOllman
Perth Now
4 days ago
- Business
- Perth Now
Price of common Aussie staples to soar
Milk and butter prices are predicted to surge, with floods destroying dairy farms in NSW and the driest conditions on record crippling those in Victoria and South Australia. Many NSW farmers are embarking on gruelling post-flood clean-up efforts, returning to their properties to find their cattle dead or missing, fences and infrastructure destroyed, and machinery submerged in flood waters that will likely need to be replaced. Dams and paddocks are also dry in Victoria and South Australia, with fodder prices reaching nearly double their usual amount. 'I think the whole eastern seaboard is going to feel the shortage of milk and dairy products one way or the other,' EastAUSMilk president Joe Bradley told The Age. 'There's no ifs or buts … it's a disaster. Prices have to rise.' Map of Australia highlighting dairy shortages across the nation. NewsWire Credit: NewsWire The hardships in the dairy industry are tipped to send the prices of items like milk and butter soaring, according to industry experts. NewsWire / Martin Ollman Credit: News Corp Australia EastAusmilk chief executive Eric Danzi warned this may be the first time many Australians see the devastation of the floods would be when they go to their local supermarket. 'There is going to be a real shortage of milk and products,' he told 2GB. 'How that plays through to consumers I don't know. 'Between the floods now, ex- Cyclone Alfred and the drought in South Australia as well as Victoria you're going to have a massive reduction in milk production across Australia.' Leaders of the Australian dairy industry have called on governments to take immediate action. 'More than 40 per cent of Australia's dairy farmers are in drought, many of them battling the driest conditions on record, including in South Australia, South West Victoria, and extending into Gippsland, Northern Victoria and southern NSW,' a statement from industry body Australian Dairy Farmers said. EastAusmilk chief executive Eric Danzi has warned the issues being faced by diary farmers may be passed onto Aussies at the checkout. NewsWire / Martin Ollman Credit: News Corp Australia 'Meanwhile, dairy farmers in NSW are cleaning up after a 1-in-500 year flood. 'We've issued an urgent plea to state and federal governments for meaningful support for dairy farmers.' Among the requests is for the NSW government to roll out Category D and C disaster grants. Currently, personal hardship assistance grants of $180 per individual or $900 per family are available, along with $1m community recovery grants for affected local councils. NSW Nationals leader Dugald Saunders said that these are not going far enough to support flood-impacted residents. 'When you've got people who have lost literally everything – whether it's their home in town or their home out of town, and their hundred cattle or two hundred cattle, or all their fences or all of their fodder crops … 180 bucks or 900 bucks isn't going to help,' he told 2GB. 'Category D means everything is on the table. There are primary producer grants, there are small business grants, there are more household grants available, there are more council grants available.' Over the past two weeks, a majority of Victoria received 20 per cent or less of the average typical rainfall expected in May, and the latest reporting from the Bureau of Meteorology indicated these conditions are likely to continue into June. The Victorian Government on Friday announced it will deliver a new and expanded Drought Package due to the worsening conditions – supported by an additional $37.7 million in funding. New analysis by the Treasury estimated that the immediate loss of economic activity from natural disasters so far in 2025 will be $2.2 billion.
Perth Now
4 days ago
- Business
- Perth Now
‘Too lazy': Labor blasted over ‘rigged' system
Aussies keen to see their student loan debts cut by 20 per cent as promised by Labor in the federal election may not be so happy when they check their accounts. Since Sunday, students with HELP or HECS loans would have seen their debts increase by 3.2 per cent as indexation kicked in. Indexation serves to adjust student loans according to inflation – but the timing at which they are applied has been heavily criticised for years. 'HELP debts aren't actually very helpful,' independent Tasmanian senator Tammy Tyrell said. 'Today, students are watching their debts go up, with the money they've paid through the year nowhere in sight. Senator Tammy Tyrrell has called for the government to address HECS/HELP indexation. NewsWire / Martin Ollman Credit: News Corp Australia 'Banks reduce your loan before charging interest. Credit unions do too. Just not the government who pretend someone's repayments don't exist. It's costing students thousands of dollars all because Labor is too lazy to fix its accounting. 'Labor's HELP debt changes are one-off sugar hits. If they're genuine about making a difference for students, they could fix this rigged system when parliament returns. Just count someone's payments before interest is charged. 'It doesn't make sense to me that someone's debt is indexed before taking into account the thousands of dollars they've paid throughout the year,' she said. It does not take into account debt that has been paid off throughout the year, Senator Tyrrell said. NCA NewsWire /Brendan Beckett Credit: News Corp Australia 'Imagine if banks did that with your home loan – took your money, charged you interest but the repayments don't come off the outstanding balance. I reckon people would be pretty upset about that, so why do we expect students to put up with it? 'A student's HECS-HELP debt should be indexed after the yearly repayments are taken off. 'No matter what the indexation rate is, it's not a fair system when you're indexing badly. We need to change the timing, not the rate.' Education Minister Jason Clare said Labor's policy to reduce HECS debts by 20 per cent would be backdated to June 1 before indexation was applied. Education Minister Jason Clare says legislation will be backdated so debt is actually cut by the promised 20 per cent. NewsWire / Martin Ollman Credit: News Corp Australia 'It will be the first Bill that we introduce into the parliament when parliament sits for the first time in the last week of July,' Mr Clare told ABC radio. 'What that legislation will do is cut everyone's debt by 20 per cent and backdate that cut. And that's important because every 1st of June in every year HECS debts or student debts get indexed. 'That 20 per cent cut will come into effect before that indexation effectively happens to make sure that we honour the promise we made and we cut everyone's debt by 20 per cent. The Australian Universities Accord Final Report 2024 determined that the indexation should be applied later in the year after compulsory repayments made during the previous financial year were deducted from a student's balance.
Perth Now
4 days ago
- Business
- Perth Now
Real number of Aussies hit by super tax
Politicians have clashed over the number of Australians that will be caught up in Labor's proposed super tax. Labor MP and Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Matt Thistlethwaite was pressed over the Albanese government's proposal to roll back concessions on ultra-high super balances and tax unrealised gains that would penalise younger generations in the future. The plan, one of the government's key economic policies, will hit those with more than $3m in their superannuation accounts with an extra 15 per cent tax – initially forecast to be about 80,000 people by 2025-26 – on top of the 15 per cent all super fund members are taxed on their earnings. That number has now jumped to up to 1.2 million Australians, significantly more than the original figure. '1.2 million Australians in the long run – that's not the small amount you've all been saying,' Sky News' Pete Stefanovic questioned Mr Thistlethwaite on Monday morning. Matt Thistlethwaite said the proposal was to ensure 'fairness and equity' in the Australian taxation system. NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman Credit: News Corp Australia 'Well, this is a policy … that's aimed at ensuring that we got fairness and equity in our taxation system,' Mr Thistlewaite began, before being cut off swiftly by Stefanovic: 'How's that fair if the PM gets a pass?' The proposal has come under fire for the inclusion of 'special rules' that would exempt Anthony Albanese until after the Prime Minister retires. Mr Thistlewaite continued: 'Everyone who's on a defined benefit scheme will be treated the same. That's the basis of it. 'Regardless of your occupation, where you live, (everyone) will all pay the same … at the moment, some people can divert money from income to avoid paying income taxation into superannuation to get a concessional rate. 'Now the average teacher, the average childcare worker or emergency services worker can't do that, so we just want to make sure that the system is fair and equitable, and everyone pays their fair share of tax.' The $3m figure will not be indexed, leaving about 1.2 million people within 30 years liable for the tax, Assistant Treasurer Daniel Mulino revealed last month. Liberal senator Hollie Hughes accused the government of not considering the 'unintended consequences'. Liberal senator Hollie Hughes accused the government of not considering 'unintended consequences'. NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman Credit: News Corp Australia 'I had dinner with a small-business owner last week whose office building is part of a superannuation plan, and her message to me was incredibly clear that if this goes ahead she does not know what she can do because this is something that the business is invested in, she's invested in,' Senator Hughes said. 'It's her business, and now, because of the increase in property prices she doesn't know if she can afford to pay a tax on an unrealised gain.' She said the tax would come 'knocking on the doors' of everyday Australians, especially small business owners and farmers. Questioned again about the confirmed number of Australians to be impacted by the tax, Mr Thistlethwaite said: 'Initially, it's a very small it's a very small number of Australians, less than 0.5 per cent of the population. Treasurer Jim Chalmers was accused of writing 'special rules' that exempt Prime Minister Anthony Albanese from Labor's super tax. NewsWire / Martin Ollman Credit: News Corp Australia 'I think we got to realise we're only talking about (balances) above $3m, and we're talking about something that hasn't been legislated yet, but at the moment people have the choice. 'They can pay their income tax or they can divert it into superannuation to get a concession.' He said the Labor government would 'work' with the opposition if it were prepared to be 'fair and reasonable'. The tax is proposed to take effect from the start of the next financial year, July 1.
Perth Now
4 days ago
- Business
- Perth Now
PM dodges $3m super tax question
Anthony Albanese has sidestepped a question on whether he and politicians with more than $3m in their super balances will be required to immediately pay Labor's proposed tax. This follows comments from Employment and Industrial Relations Minister Amanda Rishworth stating that there will be provisions that mean people on defined superannuation funds won't have to immediately pay tax even if their balance is above $3m. Labor's proposed plan is tipped to generate $2.7bn annually and hit superannuation balances over $3m with a 30 per cent tax, a doubling of the current rate. As it stands, about 0.5 per cent or 800,000 Australians will be affected by the policy. However unlike Australians on ordinary and self-managed super funds, long-serving politicians on defined benefit pensions like Penny Wong, Sussan Ley, Tanya Plibersek and the Prime Minister who entered parliament in 2004 will be able to defer paying the tax until after they retire. While Labor is proposing to hit superannuation accounts with balances over $3m with a 30 per cent tax, politicians on the defined benefit scheme will likely not be liable to pay until they retire. NewsWire/ Martin Ollman Credit: News Corp Australia Speaking to Sky, Ms Rishworth was repeatedly asked whether Australians on defined benefit would be required to pay their tax while still working, or whether they'd only be liable once they retire. While she didn't directly answer the questions, she said that 'the same provisions that have been used to treat, defined benefits schemes in the past under the Coalition and under previous governments have been applied,' and that the accounts are 'treated differently'. 'What I'm saying is we have applied the exact same rules as in the past that had been how you treat defined benefit schemes to this provision as well,' she said. 'It's entirely consistent and long standing and applies across the board to defined benefit schemes which the Commonwealth has constitutional power over.' Amanda Rishworth said defined benefit pensions were 'treated differently'. NewsWire/ Martin Ollman Credit: News Corp Australia When asked later, Mr Albanese also deflected a question on whether he would be subjected to the tax immediately, telling a journalist: 'Look it applies to us as it applies across the board, but the legislation, of course, has yet to be carried by the parliament'. The Coalition's finance spokesman James Paterson, who has objected to the tax as it hits unrealised gains, said the government needs to be more 'open and transparent' on the plan. He specifically called on Mr Albanese to explain the 'different treatment between different categories of retiree,' questioning whether he influenced the policy. 'Every other taxpayer, if they exceed the threshold, has to pay it in their working life but people like Anthony, on a defined benefit pension, only have to pay it after they retire,' he said. 'Now I think there is a very important question that arises out of this. Jim Chalmers has written rules which are favourable to his boss. Did Jim Chalmers ever discuss this with Anthony Albanese? Was it ever discussed in Cabinet or the Expenditure Review Committee of Cabinet? 'Did the Prime Minister exempt himself from that discussion? Did he remove himself from the room because of the significant personal conflict of interest that he has?'
Perth Now
28-05-2025
- Politics
- Perth Now
Major blow to ancient Aboriginal rock art
Australia's bid to get the Burrup Peninsula on the World Heritage List has been knocked back by UNESCO, a draft decision has revealed. The peninsula in Western Australia's north is home to between one and two million pieces of Aboriginal rock art believed to be up to 50,000 years old. The draft decision released overnight said 'degrading acidic emissions' were 'impacting upon the petroglyphs'. The Burrup Peninsula is next to the Karratha Gas Plant. Supplied Credit: News Corp Australia It said UNESCO referred the application back to Australia to 'prevent any further industrial development adjacent to, and within, the Murujuga Cultural Landscape' and 'develop an appropriate decommissioning and rehabilitation plan for existing industrial activities'. The peninsula is next to Karratha, which is home to the North West Shelf's gas plant – one of the world's largest liquid natural gas facilities and the biggest in Australia. Environment Minister Murray Watt is poised to make a decision on extending the Woodside Energy-operated site this week after months of delay. Environment Minister Murray Watt is tipped to approve extending the Karratha Gas Plant. NewsWire / Martin Ollman Credit: News Corp Australia It will be Senator Watt's first major decision in his new portfolio. He has been tipped to approve the extension despite protests from Indigenous campaigners and conservationists and vowed to deliver a decision by the May 31 deadline. Anthony Albanese earlier this week defended the North West Shelf project, saying it was essential to keeping lights on while Australia transitions to renewables. 'You can't have renewables unless you have firming capacity, simple as that,' the Prime Minister said. 'You don't change a transition through warm thoughts, you do it through a concrete proposal, which is the expansion of renewables, up to 82 per cent of the grid. 'But the way that occurs is it needs firming capacity to occur.'
