Mon 21 Jul
It's the first week of the new parliament. All the day's events, with fact checks, live.
And on that note, we are going to close the blog for the day – there is so much news all the time and we don’t want to overload you, and it is going to be a big week. So we will close off early ahead of the main show starting tomorrow.
We will be back bright and early tomorrow morning to start the new parliamentary year – until then, please take care of you . Ax
Anthony Albanese finishes with this:
This is our task. The short-term – making a positive difference to people’s lives. But always with our eye on the horizon.
Where are the big opportunities going forward?
Where are the rewards that come from gender equality, from the net zero transition, from making sure that we grow new industries and that we make things here in Australia, including the potential for green steel and other products together?
This is the task which we have. We should go about it with determination, with humility, making sure – if people have got a good idea – we’re up for engagement positively and constructively.
But I am absolutely committed to making sure that we seize the opportunity that we’ve been given to be able to create that fairer economy, that stronger economy – stronger because it is fairer, stronger because it is fairer is a core belief that we in this room have as Labor Party members.
And we must also – and I’ll conclude with this – we must also remember those people who won’t get to sit in this room, but who proud that we’re sitting in this room. The people who gave up their time, their commitment, their dollars, they sold the raffle tickets, who brought us here as well to a position which we should cherish and honour by delivering for them.
The new caucus is sitting – it’s the biggest caucus many of us will have ever seen.
Albanese says that Labor has spent more time in the opposition corridor historically, than the government side, but that if people focus on what is important, there is no reason why they can’t all be returned at the next election.
Albanese:
More often than not, Labor has been at the other end of the corridor. Which is why we should never, ever, ever take it for granted. The fact that not a single member of the Labor Caucus in the last parliament has not been returned here is due to the hard effort of you individually – the people who knocked on doors, made phone calls, made sacrifices. It also is a product of the collective will of this group.
The discipline.
The sense of purpose that was there in the government in our first term – one which we must maintain.
And if we maintain that sense of discipline, sense of purpose, clear idea about why we are here – to represent people in our electorate, but also represent the national interest in promoting the Labor values of fairness, of aspiration, and opportunity for all – there is no reason why every single one of you can’t just be returned to the next parliament but can’t be added to as well.
But we know that, each and every day, we must work hard to we repay the faith that has been shown in us. And I know from campaigning with every one of you that that is the determination which is there.
Anthony Albanese is about to address the Labor caucus.
It is not the first time since the election – there was a celebratory gathering shortly after – but it is the first one ahead of a parliament sitting.
Get your bingo card ready – mandate, humbleness, focus, no hubris
The run up to Jim Chalmers productivity roundtable has got all the vested interest groups scared, and today’s group is the housing industry.
The Housing Industry Association has just put out a release not just arguing against any changes to taxation on housing but arguing against even talking about changes to taxation.
Why? Well because they say “talk of more taxes” will “impair market confidence”.
Oh no, anything but that!! Yes, the market confidence fairy is so important for ensuring housing supply!
The HIA media release comes after a report put out today by the McKell Institute arguing for changes to how capital gains is taxed.
As you might know if you buy an investment property and then sell it more than 12 months later , you get a 50% tax discount. So if you made a $100,000 profit, you only pay tax on $50,000. This has distorted the hell out of the housing market and worked with negative gearing to turn the housing market into a casino where you almost can’t lose.
The McKell Institute has suggested changes which it says will be revenue neutral (ie won’t reduce or increase the amount of tax).
It argues three things:
OK this is fine. I would go to 25%, but sure. This means you could still buy an apartment and get a CGT discount, but just 35% not 50%. What they are doing is getting rid of the CGT discount for established houses – so you could not buy an old house and then sell it later and get any discount. Seems good.
OK, why keep the 50% distortion in place? A new detached house is one that is a stand alone. (ie a :”house”) and has been built but no one has lived in yet. Not sure how they can say this will improve supply given this discount is already in place – I suspect they are putting a lot of store in people shifting from buying established houses to new houses.
Wait, what??!! They want to increase the tax discount from 50% to 70%?!
Holy wow. This is essentially a big boon for property developers, because your “mum and dad” investors are sure as heck not building new apartment complexes.
Cripes.
Here’s a tip – how about stop distorting the housing market with massive discounts that will transfer wealth to those who can afford to invest in property and build apartments and instead have the government borrow and build the houses and apartments and rent/sell them to the public?
Anyway, it says something that even changes to the CGT discount which would see property developers get a 70% discount on building apartment get criticised by the housing industry.
The local bourse* has been unable to push further into record territory, with most sectors losing ground at the start of a busy week for markets.
Near noon on Monday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index had given up three-quarters of Friday’s gains, dropping 86.1 points, or 0.98 per cent, to 8,671.1, while the broader All Ordinaries was down 82.4 points, or 0.94 per cent, to 8,921.8.
Investors’ attention would be fully captured by stocks this week as US company reporting season hit full stride and a number of important Australian companies addressed shareholders, Moomoo market strategist Michael McCarthy said.
It might be a hectic week for markets, he added, with a number of US Federal Reserve board members speaking publicly, the release of New Zealand inflation data as well as a gauge of Australian and US business activity known as the purchasing manager index.
At midday, nine of the ASX’s 11 sectors were in the red, with energy and materials up marginally.
The financial sector was the biggest loser, dropping 1.8 per cent.
ANZ had fallen 2.3 per cent, Westpac was down 3.1 per cent, CBA had retreated 2.0 per cent and NAB had fallen 2.2 per cent.
But AMP was up 8.8 per cent to a five-month high of $1.67 after the financial services company said it had recorded its first quarter of positive cashflows into its superannuation business since the second quarter of 2017, when it was scrutinised by the financial services royal commission.
“This reflects our continued efforts to build a compelling member proposition which is delivering outstanding investment returns, service and education,” said CEO Alexis George.
In the heavyweight mining sector, Rio Tinto was up 1.5 per cent, Fortescue had added 1.2 per cent and BHP had edged 0.1 per cent higher.
South32 was up 3.6 per cent following its quarterly operating report.
The Australian dollar was buying 65.04 US cents, from 65.02 US cents at 5pm on Friday.
*Bourse is usually a term for a stock market in a non-English speaking country, and usually applies to the French stock market, but when used as ‘local bourse’ is used to describe the domestic stock market. People who write about the stock market like to mix up the terms.
A large number of starving people in the Gaza Strip have been killed by Israeli fire while waiting for UN aid trucks, the Rome-based World Food Programme says.
Shortly after crossing through the northern Zikim crossing into Gaza, a 25-truck convoy from the World Food Programme (WFP) encountered large crowds of civilians waiting to access food supplies, the UN agency said on social media platform X.
“As the convoy approached, the surrounding crowd came under fire from Israeli tanks, snipers and other gunfire.”
The incident, on Sunday morning local time, resulted in the loss of “countless lives” with many more suffering critical injuries, the WFP said.
“These people were simply trying to access food to feed themselves and their families on the brink of starvation. This terrible incident underscores the increasingly dangerous conditions under which humanitarian operations are forced to be conducted in Gaza.”
Local health authorities reported 67 Palestinians were killed, while Palestinian news agency WAFA reported 58 dead and at least 60 injured.
The Israeli military said warning shots had been fired amid “an imminent threat” and expressed doubts about the reported casualty figures.
The details of the incident are currently being investigated, the military said, but added an initial review indicated that the reported casualty figures do not match the information provided by the army. (Amy edit: The IOF often disputes information which is later independently verified to have been correct, or if anything, understated)
The information could not be independently verified at first. (Amy edit: there are multiple first person accounts, including footage on social media from Palestinian reporters)
WAFA, citing medical sources, reported that 132 people had been killed in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, including 94 aid seekers.
The UN and aid organisations report catastrophic conditions in the Gaza Strip, whose almost two million residents are almost entirely dependent on aid to survive. (Amy edit: Israel controls what goes into the strip and has banned food, medical supplies, fuel, power, baby formula, and other life essentials. This deliberate starvation has been compounded by the little Israel would allow into the strip even before the events of October 7.)
Gaza residents have been subjected to almost 22 months of fighting between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas.
According to UN figures, hundreds have died in the vicinity of aid distribution points and around aid convoys since the end of May.
WAFA put the death toll from Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip since October 2023 at at least 58,895, with more than 140,980 injured. The agency cites Palestinian medical sources for its figures.
The Israeli army is expanding its operations in the city of Deir al-Balah in the centre of the Gaza Strip, according to a statement from an army spokesman, who called on residents to leave the area in a post in Arabic on X.
The Israeli military continues “to operate with intensity to eliminate terrorists and to dismantle terrorist infrastructure in the area and is expanding its activities into new areas,” the army said in a statement.
“For your safety, immediately evacuate southward toward Al-Mawasi.”
Al-Mawasi in the south-west of the embattled area was designated by Israel as a “humanitarian zone” earlier in the war.
However, the Israeli military has since also attacked there multiple times. The army said targets included facilities of Hamas.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs warned the mass displacement order had dealt “yet another devastating blow” to the Gaza Strip.
Initial estimates indicated that between 50,000 and 80,000 people were in the area at the time the order was issued, including some 30,000 people sheltering in 57 displacement sites, the UN office said.
The newly designated area included several humanitarian warehouses, four primary health clinics, four medical points, and critical water infrastructure, it said.
“Any damage to this infrastructure will have life-threatening consequences.”
One of the biggest issues civil society has in fighting back against growing authoritarianism, centrism and corporate politics is that no one wants to be impolite.
Respectability politics has led us to a point where tone is more important than action. Ketan Joshi shows some of the problem here, in this post.
There are still a lot of groups and people in the civil society space who are warning that the Labor government can’t be pushed too hard, or the result will be a Coalition government. There is no evidence of that – in fact, history, evidence and the numbers tell us we actually have six years of Labor, with no guarantee the Liberal party will even survive. Centre-right politics will, of course, but not necessarily this incarnation of it.
So if Labor doesn’t actually do anything with its power now, then when will it is the question people should be asking themselves.
Glenn Connley
For those asking, this week is going to be mostly ceremony and welcomes.
Tomorrow is a bit of a write off – there is all the pomp that has to take place to open a new parliament, plus first speeches with Ali France (who toppled Peter Dutton) and Sarah Witty (who took Greens leader Adam Bandt’s seat of Melbourne) among those given the first slots.
Labor has already said it will put through its legislation to lower the HECS repayments for existing students – which is good for those with a HECS debt, but is also a bit of a distraction from Labor could be doing – which is lowering the cost of degrees, particularly Arts degrees, after the Coalition turbo charged the price.
Then it is penalty rates and the new childcare protection laws.
But don’t expect a lot of work to be done over the next couple of years. It’s all about how it looks.