It is going exactly as you would expect.

It is a lot to fact check already and by fact check I mean he has said a lot that needs context and also just some facts.

Greg Jericho has started:

The Liberal Party has announced it will dump the ALP’s vehicle emissions standards. Not surprisingly they’re doing this by saying it will make the prices of HiLux’s and Rangers more expensive  – because they are the 2 biggest selling cars purely because our tax system has been designed to allow people to pretend they are work vehicles even when they are just being used as the family car.

The problem is because of our lack of emissions standards Australia’s light duty vehicles are much less fuel efficient that those vehicles in other countries – such as the UK

Our research has found that Australia’s light duty vehicle fleet is among the least fuel efficient in the world, using 24% more fuel per kilometre travelled than the UK. If the UK’s modest standards could be met here, Australian drivers would save $13 billion a year in fuel costs and overall transport emissions would be 17% lower.

So yeah, the current fuel heavy vehicles would be less popular, but more efficient light commercial/duty vehicles would come into the market that would be cheaper to run! Without emissions standards, Australia will just be the dumping ground for the worst kinds of vehicles rather than the best.

And our lack of emissions standards, combined with tax measures designed to make utes less expensive have not been good for Australia transport emissions .

The emissions standards is a good step, but it can’t be all we do. It should be accompanied by a broader transport decarbonisation strategy, include targeted subsidies for electric vehicles, e-bikes and micromobility options, and above all remove incentives for fossil fuelled vehicles. (just remember the government gives $10.8bn a year in fuel tax credits)

And over on the Labor campaign, here are how things have looked so far today:

‘Missed it, by that much’

You should see the face he makes reading hansard

I have been very lax and not shown you any photos from today.

So let’s have a look at what is on offer:

Looks like the AAP photographer on the Dutton bus has had some fun today:

We imagine the advancers worked very hard to keep him away from the ‘space’ part of Headspace

Connor Pearce in the Canberra Times has a worrying article about the under-resourcing of the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) – which will conduct fewer performance audits in the coming years than it did under the Morrison Government:

“The Australian National Audit Office will not meet its target for the number of reports into misbehaving agencies it will publish this year as the independent oversight body struggles with a lack of funding.”

It’s a warning echoed by chair of the Public Accounts and Audit Committee, Labor Senator Linda Burney:

“The inability of the ANAO to deliver a full work program due to funding constraints is of serious concern to the committee, as it undermines the future of robust audit functions for the Commonwealth that can foster and drive efficiency and effectiveness throughout the public sector.”

The Auditor-General is responsible for making sure that taxpayer money is spent according to the rules and that the country is administered well. Past reports have shone a light on the “sports rorts” affair where grants were skewed towards marginal seats and the $30 million taxpayer dollars paid to a Liberal donor for land valued at one-tenth of that sum. Australia Institute researchers make use of Audit Office papers – like Rod Campbell and Maryanne Slattery’s work on “strategic water purchases”. https://australiainstitute.org.au/report/audit-of-strategic-water-purchases/

But over the years, the National Audit Office has been neglected. Back in 2011, the Auditor-General was resourced to conduct 55 performance audits a year. The number fell under the Coalition governments, and could get as low as 38 per year in the next term of government.

That’s despite most Australians seeing an *expanded* role for the Auditor-General: our polling research in 2022 found majority support for the Auditor-General to review government advertising to make sure it meets genuine information needs: https://australiainstitute.org.au/report/bad-impressions-scrutiny-of-government-advertising/

Penny Wong was asked a question during Anthony Albanese’s morning press conference this morning. Wong has been traveling with the main Labor campaign for the better part of this week. Mark Butler has also been there, as well as a variety of other Labor ministers and MPs doing the side campaign.

So far it seems that just Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie has been the only shadow minister Peter Dutton has taken with him, although he did do an event with David Littleproud on Monday.

Q: The Chinese Ambassador has urged Australia to work closely with China to counter the impacts of tariffs. So is teaming up with China economically to counter Trump’s tariffs on the cards?
 
Wong:

Look, Australia is a trading nation and we know, we live in a time, where there is a lot of change globally, including on trade, but more broadly. And what we have to do is to recognise the reality and make good decisions for Australia and they include making sure we diversify our trade. And you’ve seen over the three years of this Government, our work to diversify our trading markets, not only to remove $20 billion of trade impediments on the Chinese market, but to do more to exploit the economic opportunities, to take the economic opportunities of Southeast Asia, of India, of a free trade agreement with the UAE. So, what I would say is we know as a Government, we live in times of great change, including on the economic front, and I’m sure we’ll talk about that shortly. But one of the things we have to do very clearly is to focus on Australia’s strengths, on diversifying where we export and where we trade to. And we will do that.

Now just on that, China, South Korea and Japan have come together in a statement saying they have concensus on trade. And as has been pointed out on social media – do you know how bad you have to be to get China, South Korea and Japan to come together in agreement?

Well there is a short break until Angus Taylor takes to the National Press Club, so take a break and then join us for some light belief, as the man who wants to be the next opposition leader (according to his colleagues) tries to explain economic policy.

The call to sack 41,000 public servants is almost always being pitched as cutting public servants in Canberra but a look at the number of Commonwealth public servants from June 2022 to June 2024 in the most recent public sector employment numbers form the Bureau of Statistics shows that around half of the increase in public servants since the last election have been outside of Canberra.

And if all the 41,000 to be cut were only those in Canberra that would mean the there would be fewer public servants in Canberra than was the case during the last LNP government and much fewer when you take into account the size of Australia population. Is Peter Dutton now saying that the public service was bloated under Scott Morrison??

Sacking “Canberra public servants” might appeal to the talk back radio hosts, but at some point, Peter Dutton will need to say who is being cut, and where and then explain what it will mean for services.

Let’s take a look at another of the Coalition’s policies: the gas reserve.

The ABC’s Sally Sara asked Ted O’Brien this morning on RN Breakfast:

Can you clarify how gas companies will be forced to reserve supply for the domestic market. What’s the stick here? What’s the penalty if they choose not to do that?

O’Brien:

Well, look. Our number one priority is to increase supply of gas. That’s the number one thing. We need to unlock more gas, get gas out of the ground. Number two, we need to prioritise gas for the Australian people. And number three, we need to get it to where it’s needed. So, we have a full suite of policies to deliver on those outcomes and to make sure it’s delivered in Australia at a cheaper price, which means we need to decouple it from the international market. Then how we do that, well in the short term, how we do it is we work with the big gas companies, especially those which are exporting to ensure that they can allocate more Australian gas to the Australian market. So we’re wanting to see up to additional 20% put into the market. And we believe that can be done while also honouring the volumes and economics of the deals in place with our key trading partners.

A few things

1. O’Brien is admitting that we do not have a gas shortage. We don’t need more gas, because we can have a domestic gas reservation even with the current contracts in place.
2. He has no idea how this will actually lead to cheaper gas, because as we have pointed out our gas retail sector is dominated by the Big 3 of AGL, Origin and EnergyAustralia and they already charge households up to 3 times more for gas than they do businesses, all because they can. So if we want lower gas prices, we will also need stronger regulation of the gas retail market.
3. That 20% figure he is using emerged from the gas companies talking about how their ‘uncontracted gas’ which just backs up number one – they don’t need to break into export contracts to do this, as we have more than enough gas just sitting here. So we don’t need to open more gas fields. But while those gas prices are still exposed to the export market, you can not guarantee that energy prices will come down.

Today the Government has announced that it will recommend to the Fair Work Commission for an “economically sustainable real wage increase to Australia’s award workers.”

If you are unshocked by that announcement – congratulations, you still have retained your hold on reality.

All the government is saying is that they believe that the minimum wage (which is a whole $24.10 an hour) should rise by more than inflation – but not by so much that it would affect inflation.

This of course has been met with scare headlines from The Australian and the AFR of “Labor pushes for above-inflation wage rise despite RBA warning”.

They are trying to pretend that the RBA warned yesterday about a tight labour market still maybe putting pressure on inflation and well… please. The RBA has been saying that for three years and they have been wrong for three years.

Wages growth is coming down, inflation is under 3%.

Business groups argue this will set off a wages-price spiral and send businesses to the wall because… well they always do that.

In 2017 when inflation was just 1.5% and the RBA was actually worried that it was too low, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry recommended to the Fair Work Commission the Minimum wage rise by just 1.2%. So even when inflation was well below the RBA;’s target range, business groups still thought the minim wage needed to be increased by less than inflation because… well cruelty might be a factor, because economics surely is not.

If you are waiting for business groups to argue for a real wage increase for the poorest works, then you will be waiting for a very, very long time.

Thankfully the FWC has ignored them – the real wages of those on Minimum wages normally goes up each year – because people’s living standards should improve! Each year inflation rises and so the value of the minimum wage falls and each year the FWC increases the minimum wage y a bit more than inflation to recover that lost value.  

The problem is the past 4 years have seen the rise of the minimum wage fall behind where it was in the decade up to the pandemic.

So an increase in the minim wage above inflation is not scary – it is normal.

And the good news for The AFR and The Australian and business groups is they can stop worrying. Our research has shown that there is absolutely no connection between increases in the Minimum wage and inflation. Why? Because they account for a very small amount of the total wages of all Australian workers – they are the poorest paid, after all.

Peter Dutton says he will cut the Australian Public Service by the same amount it has grown under the Labor Government – 41,000 employees. He and Bridget McKenzie say they will work out which jobs need to be cut when they are in government.

But where is the evidence there are too many public servants?

Our research shows:

• The Australian Public Service is not large in historical terms nor in international comparison
• Keeping public service employment numbers low is not efficient. Experience shows service delivery suffers and/or money is spent on contractors, consultants and labour hire workers to meet demand. 
• When the Albanese government took office, there was recognised under-investment in the public service. More staff were needed.
• Underinvestment in the Australian Public Service was due to previous governments keeping public service numbers artificially low by placing a cap on staffing.

The Services Australia annual report for 2023–2024 includes the following summary of improved service delivery outcomes following the recruitment of 5,000 ongoing staff in the latter part of 2023 and in January 2024.

In July 2024 staff were:

• answering Centrelink calls six minutes faster than in January 2024

• answering Medicare customer calls nine minutes faster than in January 2024

• processing Paid Parental Leave claims in four days, down from 25 days

• processing Job Seeker claims in six days, down from 22 days

•  processing Medicare Online Account claims in two days, down from 11 days.

So who is doing this work? Yes, public servants.

Saying you will cut 41,000 jobs and it will have no impact does not stand up to scrutiny – and when we look at what happening when the Morrison government replaced public servants with consultants the line does not stand up to reality.