The morning after budget it’s always fun to look at the front pages of the newspapers. And while no one actually reads them anymore, they are good for giving an insight in to just how unhinged parts of the media are.
The response to the overdue structural changes to the housing tax concessions announced in Tuesday’s federal budget seems a real-world red/blue button question. The number of people jumping to ‘I’m screwed’ because they’ll have to pay slightly more tax on any potential sale, based on any gain – the profit – they made on their purchase, is as individualistic as you can get.
Changes to eligibility requirements will see 160,000 participants cut from the scheme over the next four years, as the government looks to cap annual growth at 8 per cent by 2028. Disability advocates are describing the decision as as ‘revolting’, ‘frightening’ and ‘deeply troubling’.
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Medical researchers and advocates have welcomed the government’s commitment to increasing funding for critical research projects, but warn that the sector remains under significant financial pressure. Independent MP Dr Monique Ryan described it as a “really big win” for the sector, which has been campaigning hard for the increased investment.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers has announced what he described as “the most significant tax reform package in more than a quarter of a century”, but the failure to include a gas export tax has been heavily criticised.
The Government has now released its formal response to the Australian parliament’s inquiry into online gambling and gambling advertising. The response was tabled in Parliament at about 4pm on the Tuesday afternoon that most of Parliamentary press pack were locked in a room without their phones or laptops so that they could read an advanced copy of the budget.
The United Nations has issued a rare warning to Australia over the treatment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in the justice system, saying it held “grave concerns” about systemic racial discrimination and over-incarceration. The Human Rights Law Centre (HRLC) said that the findings should serve as a wake-up call to governments.
Former oil and gas executives are urging the Albanese government not to use the Middle East crisis as justification for expanding fossil fuel production, warning Australia risks locking itself into an “outdated” energy system as the rest of the world accelerates towards electrification.
There was little in the Budget for Australia’s under-resourced integrity agencies, who by the government’s own assessment are not meeting their targets.
Every Australian has a right to access government information. Requests for access are increasingly delayed, but journalists and members of the public are still using freedom of information law to keep the government on its toes.
It isn’t always easy to keep up with what’s happening in the US. “Shorter America” is a series where Dr Emma Shortis loops you in on what’s going on in America and shares news and analysis that you can trust.
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Speaking at The Australia Institute’s post-budget Politics in the Pub event in Canberra, Chief Economist Greg Jericho and Senior Economist Matt Grudnoff described the government’s changes to negative gearing and the capital gains tax discount as among the most ambitious housing reforms in decades.
Australia’s arts and culture cannot be produced overseas, and cannot be moved offshore. It can only be made here. So, amidst a struggling sector, what has the government announced to make sure it still is? In short, not much.
Australia’s win against tobacco shows that we can solve big public health problems. But there are other health epidemics that we’re way behind on. When it comes to obesity – a major risk factor in many health problems – Australia is in the top five nations.
Australia’s first climate case to reach the High Court will be heard next week, in a landmark legal battle that could reshape how fossil fuel projects are approved nationwide. MACH Energy is challenging last year’s NSW Court of Appeal ruling that sided with an Upper Hunter community group.
Protesters highlighted the significant risks posed to Scott Reef and marine ecosystems, as Woodside comes under pressure over the Browse project’s emissions and costs, as well as its appearance at a Senate inquiry into gas taxation.
Far from chaos or quagmire, the result of power-sharing in the ACT has been a reforming Parliament that has served as a “laboratory of democracy” for other Australian jurisdictions to learn from and take inspiration.
