Surely the capping of the government passing new fossil fuel endeavors needs to reflect what it expects of others. After all the government isn’t excluded from setting an example we all must follow?
The safeguard mechanism would lead to the biggest 215 polluters being forced to cap their emissions, with companies that breach the limit required to buy carbon offsets or trade their emissions with other firms.
Legislation that would help evacuate refugees held offshore is urgently needed to erase the dark history of suffering and punishment by the Coalition Government, writes Jane Salmon.
Given the LNP’s approach “do nothing” privatise the market Chalmers can’t be all wrong if we judge the LNP did a fantastic job these past 10 years for the country. Nope Nope Nope brought them to government, through government and still echoes in opposition. Abbott never really left the LNP or the Monkey Pod Room. However isn’t Value Based Capitalism a partnership that has never really worked?
Thus, instead of the neo-liberal model that relies purely on market prices to determine the allocation of resources, with no interference by the state, Chalmers argues persuasively that his “values-based capitalism”, based on “well-designed and well-informed markets, can “facilitate flows of capital into priority areas, and ultimately make progress on our collective problems and purpose.”
It’s Time Again The new Labor Albanese Government with a two-house majority has an opportunity to pick up the mantle of Whitlam, Hawke and Keating and move Australian society back towards a more equitable and independent position. Let us NOT start another political party! There have been many such attempts before and these have obviously failed. Our best chance this time is to get behind the ALP itself.
The Albanese Government’s “Secure Jobs, Better Pay” industrial relations bill passed the House of Representatives last Thursday and now heads to the Senate.
Australia’s top economists have overwhelmingly endorsed intervention to restrain gas and electricity prices, with only three of the 47 leading economists surveyed believing the best thing the government can do is to leave things to the market.
After the Coalition stalled for almost a year, worsening our labour shortage, Dutton has the gall to complain about Labor’s Migration Program win, writes Dr Abul Rizvi.
The narrative needs to be that Australia is now aiming so much higher than the previous government ever imagined, that being locked into their mediocre, just-enough, low-tax policies is neither virtuous nor honourable, and in fact, a betrayal of the next generation.
And he needs to do it sooner rather than later, because an ineffective damp lettuce leaf is not going to be the Opposition Leader forever.
The common good, or empathy for it, should be at the centre of any political philosophy. However, it is more likely to be found on the left than the right. ( John Lord )
A new conservation plan designed to protect koalas is once again failing to save the species from extinction, writes Sue Arnold.
REGRETTABLY, Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek’s latest environmental policy announcement, The Threatened Species Action Plan, is short on details and fails to address the substantive issues driving Australia’s extinction crisis.
I was immediately taken aback when I read that the Opposition was negotiating “in good faith” with the Government for their support in introducing the National Anti Corruption Commission (NACC).
Good faith sounds more like bargaining for an exemption from the obvious. At first, I thought I was mistaken.
Labor will argue that an anti-corruption body that isn’t supported by the opposition risks charges of illegitimacy and abolition at the next change of government. Well and good — if the Coalition wants to go to the next election promising to abolish a federal ICAC, let them knock themselves out. Labor would do far better to be seen to negotiate with the teal independents and David Pocock, strengthening their case to voters at the next election to keep their seats. Tomorrow has become a significant test for Labor: once the legislation for a federal ICAC is unveiled, we can see whether Labor is serious about integrity, or has indeed been preparing a major party stitch-up.
Reports that Labor is in talks with Peter Dutton over the looming Federal Integrity Commission laws have spread alarm Anthony Albanese might walk back on his pledge for a credible anti-corruption body. Callum Foote reports on the timing, the critical detail, the delays and the latest scare.
The utterly inhumane, unconscionable treatment of asylum seekers and refugees is the most visible and horrific example of this, again, bipartisan cruelty. But people are so (rightfully) fixated on it that they tend to overlook the others. We should look at the others, though, because the partner visa is an exercise in cruelty all by itself.
Unless you’ve had the audacity to fall in love with a foreigner, you’ve probably not thought about this blatantly racist and classist bit of fuckery. But it is nasty, and this Labor government has no intention whatsoever to un-fuck it.
Slaughter on Batman Avenue: Victoria gets election result three months early – Michael West
If the Victorian election were a boxing match, the ref would have stopped the fight. Except that the election isn’t until November 26.
The fact that Melburnians suffered one of the world’s longest lockdowns under Covid won’t be enough to stop Premier Daniel Andrews gaining a third term.
Last weekend Andrews basked in the favourable publicity generated by his announcement of free university places for nursing students. As feelgood stories go, this was a ripper. Meanwhile The Weekend Australian proclaimed on its front page: ”The Andrews era to live on”. The paper’s Newspoll gave Labor a lead of 56-44 (two-party preferred) over the Coalition led by Matthew Guy.
The Liberals live in a world of pain caused by an internal scandal that has overshadowed Labor’s own internal scandals. Under Guy they ceded the plumb seat of Hawthorn in 2018, and now another stronghold, Kew, is likely to fall to a Teal independent.
Clearly Dutton is using the same tactics as Abbott did – total opposition – which is what got us into this ‘wasted decade’ in the first place.Despite the various ‘experts’ ruminations on when it was over, that’s probably why Albanese is still ‘enjoying a honeymoon’ three months after the election. There are promising signs the adults are in charge and have a long-term plan that doesn’t rely on marketing and coverups.
As we approach the 50th anniversary of the election of the Whitlam Government, Victor Kline asks, what would Gough do to solve the chronic deficiencies of our current society?
Is the ALP government really ABC friendly or just better than the last mob?
In an interview with Guardian Australia on the eve of the ABC’s 90th birthday, Rowland said the Coalition “completely lied” about not cutting ABC funding in 2013 and the broadcaster had been harmed as a result. But she stopped short of agreeing with Kevin Rudd that the ABC had been “tamed” by cuts and incessant attacks.
Just over a month ago, Josh Frydenberg was telling us just how good Australia’s fundamentals were looking. The LNP was the best economic manager. Well, that’s proved to be rubbish. However, now the LNP is already declaring the ALP’s honeymoon period over and blaming them for the immediate turnaround or revelations about the economy. The books are being audited and were found the story is in fact quite the opposite to what Morrison and Frydenberg had been selling but much closer to what the ALP have been saying all along. The facts aren’t what we have been told. The question now is who is going to pay?
Global economic indicators are flashing red with a real risk of stagflation, one of the world’s most senior economists has warned, and highly indebted Australians are among the most exposed to rising prices and slowing growth.
There are three things that Labor should reconsider.
1 they should increase income support payments.
2 they should scrap the stage 3 tax cuts. With inflation on the rise, we certainly don’t need to give rich people more money.
They should revisit the taxation reform Tax concessions on property investment have fuelled the housing crisis – start there.
3 Labor should do a complete review of defense spending. We are wasting hundreds of billions of dollars on last century’s weapons of war. Cyber security, robotics, and autonomous systems, communications, international regulatory bodies, foreign aid, trade, and diplomacy will be far more important than accumulating manned tanks and submarines.
Governments,, have to be flexible enough to respond to changing circumstances.
If only we had of voted Morrison in we’d have never known
“The economy was weaker in the March quarter than was forecast at election time.
“Growth at 0.8 per cent was…much weaker than what was expected for the corresponding period in the pre-election fiscal outlook”.
He added: “Consumption, dwelling investment, new business investment export and the nominal GDP were all weaker in the March quarter than was anticipated by our predecessors in the Budget and by the departments at PFO.”
“Although the national accounts are notoriously backward looking, if you think about what has happened in the economy since the end of March: inflation is higher, we have had an interest rate hike, petrol prices are up 12 per cent since the end of April, wholesale electricity prices are up 237 per cent since the end of March, and gas more than 300 per cent higher than the average of the last few years.”
Robust in parts, resilient in parts, but with rising inflation, chickens coming home to roost, and a perfect storm of energy rate spikes.
The Australian election saw historic defeats for the Right and its backers in the Murdoch media. But the Labor Party can’t change the country without fighting for a robust, progressive economic agenda.
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