Can Labor go near negative gearing and CGT?
ROUNDTABLE 3: TAX DRIFT
Today is the final day of the Economic Reform Roundtable, and despite its inability to take a properly staged picture, the government will be hoping to end the three-day summit on a positive note.
As per the event’s agenda, today’s theme is “Budget sustainability and tax reform”, with Treasurer Jim Chalmers once more opening proceedings.
Following him will be Treasury secretary Jenny Wilkinson and her presentation titled “Role of budget sustainability”. The main sessions after that will focus on “Efficient and high-quality government services, spending and care” and “A better tax system”, with Dr Aruna Sathanapally, CEO of the Grattan Institute, also giving a presentation on the latter theme.
As you can see, tax reform will be rather front and centre of proceedings today. And as you will no doubt recall, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has already said there won’t be any major new tax reforms from his government this term. Very productive.
The AAP, like other publications, leads on the final day of the roundtable (well, ovaltable) this morning and says despite the fact the government went into the May election pledging not to change negative gearing and the capital gains benefit, attendees today are still expected to make a case for the reforms.
“Unions are set to argue for a full suite of tax measures, including limiting negative gearing to one investment property, with existing laws allowed to stay in place for the next five years. A minimum tax rate of 25% for people earning more than $1 million per year has been pitched by union attendees,” the newswire reports.
The Australian Financial Review reports Chalmers earlier this week told those at the roundtable he would consider adjusting the superannuation fund performance test to remove barriers for long-term investments in clean energy and housing.
The paper adds: “A spokesman for Chalmers said on Wednesday the government had been consulting with industry and the broader community on the performance test and was open to good ideas about what, if anything, Labor can do to make it more useful.”
Guardian Australia again sums up proceedings from the day before with five main takeaways. The site said they included the debate over AI, with business leaders and experts talking up its potential and the ACTU backing a worker-centric approach to rolling it out.
Reforming environmental regulations and making it easier to build homes continued to attract a consensus, the write-up says, while the government expressed confidence in making progress on budget sustainability, including with the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).
With regards to artificial intelligence, the AFR leads this morning on the Commonwealth Bank reversing a decision to cut a number of jobs replaced by AI and says the bank conceded at the Fair Work Commission it still needs humans to meet its workloads. CBA chief executive Matt Comyn told the paper the staff impacted are now being invited to stay in the roles or accept voluntary redundancy.
On housing, the ABC quotes Chalmers as summing up yesterday as: “Day two of the reform roundtable was really dominated by how we can boost housing supply, how we can responsibly reduce and improve regulation and speed up approvals.
“I’m really encouraged by the consensus in the room for economic reform in these areas, and we’re enthusiastic about some of the policies that participants put on the table.”
The Australian cites Environment Minister Murray Watt as claiming there was support from business, environment and community representatives “for serious reform to deliver stronger environmental protections, faster and simpler project approvals and greater transparency in environmental regulations”.
After today, we’ll soon hear what everyone really thought of the much-hyped event and whether any lasting changes will actually occur.
NDIS REFORMS AND TASSIE CHAOS
The likes of The Conversation, the AFR and The Australian have led overnight on announcements made by Health Minister Mark Butler yesterday regarding the future of the NDIS.
The AFR focuses on Butler saying the scheme needed to have its spending trimmed by billions of dollars. The paper writes: “The Albanese government has made its most significant gesture yet towards budget repair with a pledge to cut the growth rate of the NDIS, and a revamped proposal to remove children with mild autism and other developmental conditions from the scheme.”
The ABC reports that Butler told the National Press Club the Albanese government will invest $2 billion in a new program called Thriving Kids, which will sit outside the NDIS, aimed at supporting children with mild to moderate developmental delays and autism.
“Diverting this group of kids over time from the NDIS is an important element of making the scheme sustainable and returning it to its original intent. Access and eligibility changes will be made to do that once [it] is fully rolled out,” he said. “Children who are enrolled in the NDIS now or become enrolled before that time will remain on the scheme subject to its usual arrangements.”
Butler said he wanted the new program up and running by July next year. He also said more reforms to the NDIS would be implemented once the government’s growth target of 8% per annum was hit, the ABC adds. A new growth target of around 5% or 6% could then be set.
The Australian describes yesterday’s announcement as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese using “his once-in-a-generation victory to rein in the federal budget’s most serious threat”.
The Nine papers spoke to parents concerned at the changes announced on Wednesday, with Katie Koullas, who runs autism charity Yellow Ladybugs, saying: “Suggesting these children are ‘not the right fit’ for the NDIS sends the message that their struggles are less real, less worthy, and less urgent. That is simply unacceptable … If this transition is rushed or poorly designed, it will strip children of essential supports and leave them at risk.”
You’d think with all the above going on there wouldn’t be space for any more major domestic drama yesterday — to which Tasmania once more declared: hold my beer.
Yesterday we got a new leader of the Tasmanian Labor Party after Josh Willie was elected unopposed to replace Dean Winter, Guardian Australia reports.
Winter, you’ll recall, brought a no-confidence motion against Liberal Premier Jeremy Rockliff — which resulted in a snap election and absolutely nothing else. He then repeated the trick this week, which again achieved nothing. And so now Willie is in his place.
The Australian keeps us gripped to the chaos though, reporting: “It is unclear whether Labor under Mr Willie will seek to reopen negotiations with the crossbench in an attempt to belatedly steal government from the Liberals, who have only 14 seats out of 35 in the state assembly.”
ON A LIGHTER NOTE…
The staff at London Zoo are spending this week weighing and measuring over 10,000 animals as part of an annual check-up.
The BBC says the information gathered during the weigh-in event will be shared with institutions around the world and can be helpful in comparisons with endangered or threatened species.
The broadcaster has important video of the zookeepers trying to measure the various animals (the penguins are a personal favourite).
Such is the BBC’s dedication to the annual event it even ran a live blog of the animals being weighed — a fine use of taxpayers’ money.
Say What?
Strength is not measured by how many people you can blow up or how many children you can leave hungry.
Tony Burke
The Home Affairs minister, speaking to the ABC on Wednesday morning, hit back at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s criticism of Anthony Albanese. The prime minister himself yesterday said he did not “take it personally”, adding: “I treat leaders of other countries with respect, and I engage with them in a diplomatic way.”
CRIKEY RECAP
Netanyahu’s persistent interference in Australian politics requires more than a rebuke
While the decline in relations with Netanyahu might work to Albanese’s benefit, the Coalition — like the pro-Israel lobby — remains wedded to the idea that full-throated endorsement of everything Netanyahu does will somehow resonate electorally. The Coalition has long been keen to deport anyone deemed guilty of antisemitism, but expresses concern each time Labor refuses entry to people peddling hatred of Palestinians. Ritualistically, the Coalition demands a full explanation for why a visa has been refused, when the reasons are easily googled in the list of vile statements those banned have made.
With a new low in Australia-Israel relations, the Coalition might have to decide whether it continues to place the interests of Benjamin Netanyahu above those of Australians. News Corp can afford to keep doing that, but for a political party that desperately needs to reconnect with mainstream Australia, being a lobbyist for a genocidal regime might not be ideal.
Everything Trump has ever done is a distraction, of course
The US president fêting Russia’s war criminal President Vladimir Putin and publicly musing about handing over chunks of Ukraine’s territory to the country that invaded it three years ago was actually only significant in one way: distraction.
Trump’s ability to manipulate the narrative is legendary, but luckily, Democrats are not going to be fooled this time.
But the trouble with the vigilant approach is that it can be difficult to work out what they think the US president is actually doing.
Meet the Australians behind Nigel Farage’s Reform UK
With the Tories currently flailing, many Tory MPs and donors are jumping to Farage’s more attractive ship. A former cabinet minister and party chairman are among a spate of defectors to Reform, with more rumoured to be on the way.
In any given group of British residents, there are bound to be a couple of Australians. So sure enough, there are some caught up in the great Conservative-Reform migration. Indeed, some of Reform’s biggest donors are Aussies.
READ ALL ABOUT IT
Israel to call up 60,000 reservists ahead of Gaza City invasion (The Financial Times) ($)
Kremlin plays down Zelenskyy talks as Trump warns Putin may not want to make deal (BBC)
Trump is pressuring yet another top Fed official to resign (CNN)
The Democratic Party faces a voter registration crisis (The New York Times) ($)
ABC staff face sack under strict new social media guidelines (The Australian) ($)
THE COMMENTARIAT
Did Netanyahu’s verbal attack strike home? Just look at who defended Albanese — James Massola (The Age): Netanyahu’s coalition government is propped up by a handful of far-right politicians, such as Rothman, who have been quite clear about their opposition to the establishment of a Palestinian state.
If his government were to fall, Netanyahu could face a damning investigation into the intelligence failures that led to the October 2023 attacks. He is also subject to an International Criminal Court arrest warrant. Netanyahu’s comments should be viewed through this lens.
Although his criticism of Albanese was intended to weaken and isolate the Australian prime minister, Netanyahu has achieved the opposite — and further weakened support for Israel in this country, much as the images of starvation and suffering in Gaza have done.
AI is a mass-delusion event — Charlie Warzel (The Atlantic): The interview triggered a feeling that has become exceedingly familiar over the past three years. It is the sinking feeling of a societal race toward a future that feels bloodless, hastily conceived, and shruggingly accepted. Are we really doing this? Who thought this was a good idea?
In this sense, the Acosta interview is just a product of what feels like a collective delusion. This strange brew of shock, confusion, and ambivalence, I’ve realised, is the defining emotion of the generative-AI era. Three years into the hype, it seems that one of AI’s enduring cultural impacts is to make people feel like they’re losing it.
