Speeding up housing the primary concern of Chalmers’ roundtable
ROUNDTABLE PICTURE BECOMING CLEARER
Following endless kite-flying exercises, announcements that everything is on the table (followed by announcements that actually maybe not), claims the prime minister and treasurer had to have private talks to make sure they were on the same page after the cascade of submissions, and many other incredibly dramatic scenes, the government’s roundtable is finally coming into view.
The Economic Reform Roundtable, which the government says “aims to build consensus on ways to improve productivity, enhance economic resilience and strengthen budget sustainability”, starts on Tuesday and has found itself at the top of many publications overnight.
The ABC leads this morning on a leaked Treasury document that apparently reveals recommended outcomes from the productivity roundtable. The broadcaster says the pre-written list prepared for cabinet shows advice from Treasury “to pause the National Construction Code … measures to speed up housing approvals, including a national artificial intelligence plan to cut environmental red tape, and reforms to clear a backlog of 30,000 housing approvals currently being assessed under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity (EPBC) Act”.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers said in response that “it should come as no surprise” Treasury was providing advice on issues raised with the government.
The Nine newspapers reported hours prior to the ABC’s leaked document that Housing Minister Clare O’Neil would try to use the summit “to turbocharge construction” and clear the backlog of homes awaiting building approval.
The report from Paul Sakkal and Shane Wright this morning states “slashing red tape in the construction sector is firming as one of the few areas in which policy could immediately follow the summit as the government shuns more contentious ideas around tax reform”.
Amid what will presumably be a lot of blue sky thinking and things to be worked towards “in the future”, the government is clearly looking for tangible results from its Canberra gathering. On housing, cutting duplicate state and federal housing approval processes, amending environmental laws and changing standards for developments are said to be among the primary considerations, the Nine report says, echoing the leaked Treasury document.
O’Neil is quoted by the papers as saying: “I spoke to a builder yesterday who said to me, ‘Clare, the really hard part about housing used to be building the house. Now it’s about approvals and bureaucracy.’
“I’ve had a really good look at what they are confronting and I’m absolutely convinced they are facing a thicket of ridiculous regulation. I am hopeful that we’re going to get some really meaningful reform on housing productivity out of the roundtable.”
The Australian Financial Review has also led on the economic roundtable and the government working on a plan to phase in a road user charge. The scheme would reportedly start with a trial of heavy electric vehicles before being applied to all cars.
The Australian says trials have been conducted by Transport Minister Catherine King’s department with “telematics data collected informing plans for a broader-based system charging electric vehicle drivers who don’t pay fuel excise”.
Chalmers has said on the plans: “As fewer people drive petrol cars and more people drive EVs, the tax base will change, and government will need to respond to that, and that’s why we’re going through these issues in the usual consultative and considered way.”
The broadsheet, the AFR and others also picked up on Prime Minister Anthony Albanese describing himself as “infrastructure minister guy” and saying yesterday: “We need money to ensure that roads are adequate, and that is a long-held belief.” The PM added the issue of a road user charge was being “discussed by treasurers as well as by government leaders”.
The AFR cites “industry sources familiar with deliberations” as saying those driving lighter electric and other low-emissions vehicles would initially be spared the charge.
The Australian highlights the Australian Automobile Association released EV sales figures yesterday that show electric vehicles achieved record sales in the three months to June 30, a rise of 63% compared with the March quarter. Guardian Australia says the figures show EVs accounted for nearly one in 10 new car sales in the June quarter.
Today, we will get the latest unemployment figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics after the surprise rise in the June stats. In its write-up ahead of the incoming data this morning, the AAP quotes Deloitte Access Economics partner David Rumbens who, as well as speaking to the economic landscape, had advice for the government on its roundtable.
Rumbens, the AAP writes, “urged the government to target high-impact, long-term reforms in its upcoming economic roundtable, including an overhaul of the tax system and reduced regulation, to help get productivity moving again”. As mentioned previously, the government is clearly hoping next week for short-term announcements, medium-term ambitions, and long-term potential reforms that it might, maybe, promise to take to the next election. But remember, nothing too dramatic now.
On that theme (and hardly surprising, to be fair), the PM was having none of the ACTU’s suggestion of a four-day working week. As the AFR points out, Albanese stated: “certainly, the government has no plans [to make it policy]”. He then quipped: “I wouldn’t mind a six-day-and-23-hour work week, myself, rather than 24/7.”
TRUMP TRIES TO EASE CONCERNS OVER UKRAINE
US President Donald Trump has spoken with European leaders ahead of his face-to-face meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday.
Trump and Putin are set to discuss ending the war in Ukraine amid significant unease from Kyiv and Europe over decisions that could be made by the two erratic leaders without them.
The BBC reports Trump told the leaders of the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Finland, Poland, NATO chief Mark Rutte and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen that his goal for this week’s summit was to obtain a ceasefire between Moscow and Kyiv.
According to French President Emmanuel Macron, who posted on X in the last few hours, Trump had agreed in the meeting that “nothing about Ukraine should be decided without the Ukrainians”, “a ceasefire is the essential prerequisite for any negotiations”, and “these negotiations must lead to a solid and lasting peace, with security guarantees, ensuring Ukraine’s sovereignty and the stability of our continent”.
Speaking to reporters in Washington, Trump said he would push for a second meeting with Putin if Friday’s goes well, The Guardian reports.
“If the first one goes OK, we’ll have a quick second one. I would like to do it almost immediately, and we’ll have a quick second meeting between President Putin and [Ukraine’s] President [Volodymyr] Zelenskyy and myself, if they’d like to have me there,” the 79-year-old said.
Trump was asked if Moscow would face any consequences if it did not agree to stop the war in Ukraine following Friday’s meeting, to which the US president replied, “Yes, they will… very severe consequences.”
The BBC says the calls today have been part of a last-ditch attempt by European nations, sidelined from the Alaska summit, to keep Ukraine’s interests and the continent’s security at the forefront of Trump’s mind.
Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk said of the meeting: “It’s most important thing that Europe convinces Donald Trump that one can’t trust Russia”, while German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said the Europeans had “made it clear that Ukraine must be at the table as soon as follow-up meetings take place”.
Meanwhile, The Times of London reports it has been told “Russia and the United States have discussed a model for ending the war in Ukraine that mirrors Israel’s occupation of the West Bank.”
The newspaper claims it has been told the idea was raised in discussions between US envoy Steve Witkoff and his Russian counterparts, and Witkoff is understood to support the idea.
Anna Kelly, the deputy White House press secretary, said of the report: “This is total fake news and sloppy reporting by The Times, who clearly has terrible sources. Nothing of the sort was discussed with anyone at any point.”
ON A LIGHTER NOTE…
Starbucks has asked people in South Korea to stop bringing office equipment like printers and multiple desktop computers into its cafes.
A spokesperson for the coffee chain said: “While laptops and smaller personal devices are welcome, customers are asked to refrain from bringing desktop computers, printers, or other bulky items that may limit seating and impact the shared space.”
The BBC reports some customers have even brought partitions to mark their space in their Starbucks of choice as the work-from-home/your local cafe trend escalates.
Which, look, I’ll concede bringing an office partition into a cafe might be taking things a little too far, but also… I don’t hate the idea.
Anyway, the BBC says a fierce debate has broken out in South Korea over those who choose to work and study for hours in cafes while taking up significant space and only purchasing the occasional drink.
As we all know, that debate is a universal one these days.
Say What?
As soon as the foreign secretary was made aware of the administrative error, he successfully purchased the relevant rod fishing licences.
UK Foreign Office
David Lammy, the UK foreign secretary, went fishing with US Vice President JD Vance last week in what he hoped would be a nice photo op. Unfortunately, it turns out Lammy didn’t have the appropriate fishing licence and so has turned himself in to the environmental watchdog and is liable for a fine, The Sun reports. There was no word on whether Vance, who lives on a different continent, had the appropriate licence.
CRIKEY RECAP
The challenge of halting an ally-turned-monster looms larger still for Albanese and Wong
The protection — not to mention funding and arms sales — that enables Netanyahu to continue on his way derives from the United States. And yet the international statements Australia has signed up to frequently feature some expression of support, or gratitude, for the efforts of the US in relation to Gaza.
Today’s statement declares “We are grateful to the US, Qatar and Egypt for their efforts in pushing for a ceasefire.” Wong and Albanese have also repeatedly portrayed the US as, in Wong’s words in an interview recently, “working to establish a ceasefire in Gaza. And we support the efforts of President Trump and his envoy to the Middle East in seeking a ceasefire.”
To put it in diplomatic terms, that’s a fiction. Trump, like Joe Biden before him, could secure a ceasefire forthwith by threatening to cut off Israel’s weapons and funding. Instead, both enabled, funded and protected Netanyahu, and Trump has given him carte blanche by openly encouraging the ethnic cleansing dreams of racist Israelis. Albanese, Wong, and other Western leaders maintain the fantasy that the United States is playing a positive role in the crisis. Instead, it is a malignant actor, encouraging and abetting genocide and ethnic cleansing. And pandering to Trump’s delusions that a Nobel Peace Prize is his for the taking isn’t going to change that.
Australia sends F-35 jet parts to Israel. Is it legal under international law?
And there it was: we’re not supplying the guns, just the parts. In the case of the F-35 fighter jets — self-described as “the most lethal fighter aircraft in the world” — that have been bombing Gaza (and Lebanon, Yemen, Syria, Iran) for nearly two years now, we supply mechanisms that are necessary for the bomb doors to open. Nonlethal, see?
That bit of sophistry is the government’s choice, doubled down on the weekend by Defence Minister Richard Marles, who reinforced that we don’t supply weapons to Israel but that components are “a separate issue”. We’re squarely in “guns don’t kill people” territory here.
Deceitful and amoral, one might think of our government’s actions. But are they also illegal?
Australia’s detention camps in Nauru have been plagued by public scandals, including repeated reports of corruption and last week’s revelation that multimillion-dollar government security contracts had been awarded to the controversial Safe Hands Group.
But we have also just quietly marked the latest entry in two interrelated and much longer chapters of Australian history: the first concerning the ongoing collective punishment of migrants and refugees subject to indefinite immigration detention, and the second being our government’s reliance on neo-colonial relationships in the Pacific to launder domestic political problems.
READ ALL ABOUT IT
Tech giants could be forced to reveal AI data (AFR) ($)
Australian authors challenge Productivity Commission’s proposed copyright law exemption for AI (ABC)
Bluey or MasterChef? New ABC boss wants global hits from the broadcaster (The Age) ($)
Labor says Hamas tries to ‘manipulate facts’ after terrorist group welcomes Australia’s Palestine recognition decision (Guardian Australia)
Trump’s affinity for Putin will be tested at high-risk summit in Alaska (The New York Times) ($)
Wildfires spread dangerously close to southern European capitals (The Financial Times)
THE COMMENTARIAT
Roundtable can’t be a talkfest with no concrete outcomes — The AFR View (AFR): As we report today, Albanese has joined with Chalmers in all but confirming that the government will phase in the introduction of a national road user charge for electric vehicles. This would be a worthwhile and overdue initiative. Yet given the nation’s economic predicament, the summit should aim to forge a consensus for a more ambitious agenda. In an advanced and educated democracy such as Australia, our elected leaders should welcome the opportunity to properly debate and implement bold policy solutions.
The disappointing reality, however, is that the government is almost certain to rule out undertaking any significant reform in the short term. The second-best outcome would be for the summit to identify key productivity-enhancing policies that Labor can seek a mandate for at the next election in 2028.
But surely the Albanese government can’t be serious about turning up at the table on Tuesday with no big ideas of its own to speak of, and no genuine plan for how to dig the country out of its economic hole and make Australians better off over the next three years.
Israel is wiping out Gaza’s journalists – and it’s no longer even hiding it — Jodie Ginsberg (The Guardian): Israel always boasted that it was the only country in the region to support press freedom. That boast rang hollow even before the current war. Now, it’s not even pretending. On Sunday, Israel openly and brazenly killed six journalists as they were sheltering in a tent that housed reporters and media workers.
Israel accuses one of those journalists – Al Jazeera’s Anas al-Sharif – of being a terrorist. It has not said what crime it believes the others have committed that would justify killing them. The laws of war are clear: journalists are civilians. To target them deliberately in war is to commit a war crime.
It is hardly surprising that Israel believes it can get away with murder. In the two decades preceding 7 October, Israeli forces killed 20 journalists. No one has ever been held accountable for any of those deaths, including that of the Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, whose killing in 2022 sent shock waves through the region. Abu Akleh, a dual US-Palestinian citizen, was a household name in the Middle East, just as al-Sharif became a familiar face for audiences for his coverage of Israel’s assault on Gaza.
