Latest news with #OppositionParties
CBC
6 days ago
- General
- CBC
Breaking down the Ford government's controversial Bill 5
The Ford government has been receiving criticism from Ontario's opposition parties, as well as environmental and Indigenous leaders on their controversial Bill 5. CBC's Mike Crawley breaks down what you need to know about the legislation.
Irish Times
27-05-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
The Irish Times view on the latest moves on housing: recognise there are no quick fixes
It comes as no surprise that the Economic and Social Research Institute is predicting that the number of home completions this year will rise only modestly to 34,000, from just over 30,300 last year. The Minister for Housing, James Browne, was forced to concede yesterday that reaching the target of 41,000 for this year would be very challenging. And to meet the Government target of 303,000 houses between 2025 and 2030, further sharp increases would be needed in subsequent years. The Government will be all too aware of the 'Groundhog Day' nature of the housing debate , with targets consistently being missed. The Opposition parties are trying to take advantage by organising a day of protest next month – it remains to be seen what proposals they will put forward. The Government is exposed here because of the failure of the previous administration and the denial of reality in the general election campaign, when outgoing ministers insisted that close to 40,000 homes would be built last year. In addressing all this, the Government needs to accept that there are no quick fixes. Tinkering around with policy is at best pointless and at worst counter-productive. Longer-term solutions are the ones that count and the Government needs to get on with these if it is to see any meaningful results during its term. READ MORE In this context, the move by the housing minister to extend the terms for which planning permissions apply in some cases seems sensible. At the moment developers can 'time out' if hit with lengthy judicial review proceedings and have to reapply. Offering planning permissions extensions in some cases should help in terms of encouraging development and could be particularly helpful for apartment projects. It will provide some more certainty in the process. Opposition complaints that it will encourage land hoarding need to be taken into account. The Residential Zoned Land Tax, due to encourage landowners to develop housing on land zoned for this purpose, is finally being introduced, even if it may need to be better focused to achieve the desired result. Both carrot and stick, in other words, are needed. Penalties, as well as incentives, need to be kept under review. There are other problems in planning and viability which also need to be addressed, as well as the contentious issue of rent pressure zones. In tackling these, the Government needs to continue to build certainty for developers, as well as protecting renters and giving hope to potential buyers. It is not an easy balance to strike. State intervention, through a host of routes, is already enormous, but if the core issues of planning, utility provision and viability are not solved, then spending will not achieve the desired results. The Government will not want to go back to basics, but really it has no choice.
Bloomberg
25-05-2025
- Politics
- Bloomberg
Australia's Opposition Parties on Track to Return to Coalition
Australia's two center-right opposition parties appear to be on track to return to the Coalition, a longstanding alliance between the pair that suffered a surprise split last week in the wake of a disastrous election showing. David Littleproud, leader of the National Party that was the junior partner in the Coalition, said Sunday that he had received assurances from the Liberal Party that it's now prepared to accept four policy areas the Nationals had insisted on and which had prompted Tuesday's breakup.
RNZ News
21-05-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
One sleep away from Budget Day 2025
The Budget's been picked up from the printers and the Finance Minister's promising no rainbows, no unicorns, and no BS. There's just one sleep to go until New Zealand finds out who's getting what - and where that money is going to come from. With a low operating allowance, the money is going to have to come from somewhere, with opposition parties poised and ready to scrutinise every line. Political reporter Giles Dexter has more.
Japan Times
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Japan Times
Hung parliament keeps Lower House Legislative Bureau busy
The Legislative Bureau of the Lower House has been working in overdrive in recent months, with Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba leading a minority government, which results in more work needed to arrange for the debate and amendment of bills submitted by his administration. The ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its junior coalition partner, Komeito, lost their combined majority in last year's general election, resulting in an increase in negotiations with opposition parties on legislation, with the bureau playing a behind-the-scenes role. With an Upper House election set for this summer, political parties are actively pushing their respective policies, stretching the resources of the bureau, which also advises lawmakers on legal issues. Unlike the Cabinet Legislation Bureau, which examines government-sponsored bills and interprets laws and regulations on behalf of the government, the Lower House's Legislative Bureau is placed under the speaker of the chamber and is mainly tasked with assisting Lower House lawmakers in drafting bills and supporting deliberations on them. About 70 of the 88 members of the bureau are involved in such tasks. Another key role that the bureau plays is attending discussions between the ruling and opposition parties, and assist in the revision of bills. In the first half of the current ordinary session of the Diet, Japan's parliament, the ruling and opposition parties engaged in a big battle over the government's budget for fiscal 2025. Aiming to get the budget passed before the start of the fiscal year on April 1, the LDP and Komeito entered into difficult talks with the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDP), Nippon Ishin no Kai and the Democratic Party for the People (DPP). During these negotiations, the bureau played its role of offering advice from a fair and neutral standpoint. In March, the Lower House passed the budget after revisions were made incorporating Nippon Ishin's calls for making high school tuition free and the DPP's request for a reconsideration of the current income tax threshold from ¥1.03 million ($7,068) per year. These were the first parliamentary revisions made to an initial government budget in 29 years. Even with that debate over, the bureau still has little breathing room. The LDP's loss of of its dominance in parliament has led to an increase in the number of lawmaker-initiated bills, which involve the bureau from the planning stage. As the LDP started drafting a bill to revise the system of political donations by corporations and organizations, a major focus of the current session of parliament, the CDP and Nippon Ishin also began working on a similar bill of their own while Komeito and the DPP kick-started their own proposal on the matter. Adjustments were also made during deliberations on an active cyberdefense bill and another bill on amending the criminal procedure law to allow for the digitalization of criminal investigation procedures. While one opposition party member has described the bureau as "indispensable," a member of the bureau has come out to highlight the difficulties it is facing, saying "overtime hours are increasing" and "we also have to work at weekends to get our jobs done." Recognizing the bureau's overwhelming workload, the ruling and opposition parties agreed in late April to give it sufficient time to respond to requests for assistance. Among measures being considered to alleviate the bureau's workload are the use of artificial intelligence and an increase in the number of employees. Still, the bureau is expected to continue facing the consequences of a fractured Diet for the foreseeable future. With only about a month until the current session of parliament ends on June 22, the bureau may be inundated with requests for assistance from both ruling and opposition parties on the issue of whether Japan should allow married couples to retain their respective surnames, another contentious point that has come up for debate in recent months.
