Thank you to Glenn for picking up the blog for the dregs of question time there – it is same as it ever was at the moment, isn’t it?

We are going to close up the blog and get ready for the last big day tomorrow. We will no doubt be seeing the same debates, so please let me know if you have any questions – you can get me at amy.remeikis@australiainstitute.org.au and if I don’t have the answer, I will find someone who does. Or you can always leave a comment.

Thank you again to everyone who joined us today – we did it! We got through another day.

Oh – and the Greens have just managed to get an inquiry up through the senate to look into ‘information integrity’ when it comes to climate change. That will be looking at some of the coordinated disinformation campaigns which the UN have identified and how they are impacting Australia. Sound familiar?

Until tomorrow, as always, take care of you. Ax

Treasurer Jim Chalmers bolted from the House of Reps chamber to the ABC studio in the gallery.

He was asked if he’d consider changing the company tax rate to boost productivity.

Jim Chalmers:

I’m certainly up for considering changes that make us more attractive as an investment destination. I’m certainly interested in the more efficient attracting and deploying of capital in our economy. I think one of the reasons why we’ve had this productivity challenge for a couple of decades now is that we haven’t had what the economists call the appropriate amount of capital deepening. And we’re looking for ways to address that. There’s more than one way to do that, though. I know there will be views about the company rate, the headline company rate, but in the discussions I’ve been having with people who are either attending the round-table or interested in providing ideas to us, there are a whole range of ways to go about that, not just that one.

This is an area The Australia Institute has looked at a few times, concluding a corporate tax cut would boost corporate profits, but not productivity.

https://australiainstitute.org.au/post/cutting-company-tax-would-do-nothing-for-productivity-and-would-hurt-ordinary-australians/

Disgraced ex-NSW Liberal Minister Gareth Ward will spend his first night behind bars tonight.

He’d been on bail since he was last week found guilty of indecent assault and sexual intercourse without consent – involving two young, male victims in 2013 and 2015.

The prosecutor successfully argued in the District court today that Ward was likely to be jailed when he is eventually sentenced, so he should be taken into custody immediately.

Teddy bears were given to every member of Parliament yesterday, as a reminder of the hundreds of thousands of Australians children living in poverty.

In fact, the End Child Poverty campaign, part of the Valuing Children initiative, predicts that by the end of this year, there will be a million Australian children living in poverty.

A million.

Tony Pietropiccolo AM, Chair of the End Child Poverty Leadership Committee:

“We are calling on all members of this 48th Federal Parliament to come together and enact legislation to end child poverty by 2030.”

Campaigners say the legislation should include a child-centred definition of poverty with measurable targets and actions.

When children are denied the basic conditions for growth, it is not only their immediate comfort that suffers—it is their dreams for the future, their sense of belonging, and the strength of our entire society.

Shadow Treasurer Ted O’Brien has put out a statement on today’s CPI data.

He reckons interest rates (which started going up under the Morrison government) have been too high for too long. Duh!

He comes dangerously close to saying the RBA should cut interest rates at its August chin-wag.

Naturally, Ted thinks the period of high inflation (which began under the Morrison government) is all Labor’s fault.

Ted O’Brien:

A rate cut would be welcome relief to the average Australian mortgage holder who is currently paying an additional $1,900 in interest every month compared to when Labor came to office.

The price of everything has gone up under Labor and, despite today’s announcement, it is never
coming down. The ABS data simply indicates prices are now increasing at a slower rate.

Interest rates have been too high for too long in Australia as a direct consequence of Labor’s homegrown inflation, fuelled by an increase in Government spending from 24% to 27% of GDP, the
highest level outside of recession since 1986.

Comparable jurisdictions saw interest rates cut far sooner than in Australia, with Labor’s addiction to spending keeping rates higher for longer locally.

Nationals MP, Jamie Chaffey asked the PM if he would rule out getting rid of the fuel tax credits. Chaffey made it sound like this great necessity for farmers, but in reality it’s a rort for miners.

Our research has shown that the cost of the fuel tax credit, which notionally rebates the cost of fuel for those who don’t use roads, is growing each year and is now hitting $11bn

The OECD has called for the scheme to end because it just subsidies fossil fuels

The FTCS is the largest fossil fuel subsidy in Australia. In 2024-25 it is expected to cost the Australian Government $10.9 billion. Even worse the Budget Papers note that the expected increase in the fuel tax credit over the next 4 years “largely reflects an expected increase in the use of fuels that are eligible for the Fuel Tax Credit Scheme”.

In total, Australian state and federal governments provided $14.5 billion worth of subsidies to fossil fuel industries in 2023-24, a 31% increase on 2022-23.

The overwhelming beneficiary of the FTCS is Australia’s mining industry. The coal mining industry received refunds of over $1 billion through the FTCS in 2020-21. This means the FTCS not only subsidises consumption of fossil fuels but also provides subsidies to fossil-fuel producers.

Fossil-fuel subsidies undermine efforts to prevent the worst impacts of climate change.

Abolishing the FTCS would free up that money to be spent on domestic or international efforts to mitigate or adapt to climate change with no impact on the budget bottom line.

Another day, another QT in which the opposition carried on like the election never happened.

How can they have run out of ideas six days into the new Parliament?

Jamie Chaffey, the new Nats MP for Parkes, asks the Prime Minister about the much-needed (my words, not his) change to the fuel tax credit scheme … you know, that scheme under which taxpayers give billions to huge multi-national mining companies to put diesel in their trucks.

Jamie Chaffey:

Will the Prime Minister rule out any change tax credit system?

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese:

The only people arguing for high taxes those opposite.

When it comes to the diesel tax rebate, the fact is, it has been in place for some time. We have not changed anything. Those opposite are the only people who stood for higher taxes and the question is: will they do what they said they will do?

I am just going to hand you over to Glenn Connley for the next little bit while I go rant about politics for a short while. Have fun!

We have more questions from the Coalition on older policies, with the tag line ‘why does the prime minister say things he knows are untrue’.

Repetition works, but only if people are listening. And people would not be listening to this.

So the target then, is the press gallery – it’s a way of influencing coverage, tone and to try and get the line into as many news stories and packages, without context. That’s the game – win the line of the day.