On February 1, on The Conversation’s podcast, Anthony Albanese not only declared that Labor would retain majority government, but held out the prospect it could win the Victorian Liberal seats of Menzies and Deakin. This was when the polls were still bad for Labor and the Coalition was confident of gaining a swathe of seats… Read more »
The Albanese government’s fourth budget is a pitch for the votes of a sour and alienated electorate, framed against a background of extraordinary international uncertainty. US President Donald Trump isn’t mentioned by name. But he is the colossus in the background of this budget and indeed the imminent election campaign. While the opinion polls and… Read more »
The Albanese government will introduce legislation this term to enforce a minimum age for children to access social media. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will make the formal announcement on Tuesday. This follows a discussion at last Friday’s national cabinet meeting, at which all states and territories, as well as the Commonwealth, committed to tackling what… Read more »
The minister for government services, Bill Shorten, will unveil a new initiative that would allow people to have more control over the personal information they share. The scheme, called the Trust Exchange (TEx), would allow people to verify their identities and credentials based on official information already held by the federal government. The plan is… Read more »
The third Chalmers’ budget will deliver a surplus of $9.3 billion for this financial year – the second successive surplus of the Albanese government. This will be the first time there have been back-to-back surpluses in nearly two decades. But the forecast surplus is less than the $22.1 billion last financial year. Tuesday’s budget will… Read more »
In the free-for-all between the Australian government and Big Tech boss Elon Musk last week, the government had to be on a winner. Most people would have little sympathy with Musk’s vociferous opposition to being told to take down from X (previously Twitter) the video of the stabbing of bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel at a… Read more »
The federal government is further stepping up its efforts to improve Australia’s protection against increasing cyber threats, with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Monday announcing the establishment of a Coordinator for Cyber Security. The aim is to “ensure a centrally coordinated approach” to the government’s cyber security responsibilities. This would include coordinating and “triaging” action… Read more »
The government has stepped up pressure on Optus to immediately hand over the information it has on people whose data was breached by the hacking of the telecommunications giant. Optus has also been told bluntly that it is inadequate just to use email to inform more than 10,000 people whose data was uploaded by the… Read more »
The rout of Scott Morrison goes beyond the defeat of his government. It has left behind a Liberal party that is now a flightless bird. The parliamentary party has had one wing torn asunder, and its path to recovery will be difficult and painful. It has lost a clutch of moderates, and with them the… Read more »
It’s a paradox. The Morrison government, in deep trouble, has produced a budget that’s shamelessly designed to try to buy votes. But Labor, censorious in its rhetoric, has found itself having to embrace the budget’s central measures. Anthony Albanese neatly summed up the situation in his Thursday night budget reply. “This government might as well… Read more »
When Josh Frydenberg says his key cost-of-living budget measures are “temporary” and “targeted”, he’s precisely right, though the reasons are more opportunistic than he’d spruik publicly. He says it’s all about giving help when it’s needed while not baking in long-term spending. But actually, and equally, the measures are aimed squarely at the imminent election,… Read more »
The Morrison government’s election budget halves petrol excise for six months and gives handouts to taxpayers, pensioners and welfare recipients in a cash splash aimed at clawing back votes. Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, who unveiled the giveaway budget in Parliament House on Tuesday night, has been able to juggle big spending with a reduced deficit thanks… Read more »
Scott Morrison will continue to tip out large dollops of money when he addresses the National Press Club on Tuesday, with his theme “building national resilience”. He will announce the government will fund a $2.2 billion Research Commercialisation Action Plan, which includes about $2 billion in new money The centrepiece is a 10-year $1.6 billion… Read more »
The Morrison government is setting up a parliamentary inquiry to put big tech companies “under the microscope” over dangers posed to people’s wellbeing by toxic material on their sites. In its latest strike against big tech, Scott Morrison said the move built on the weekend announcement that the government would legislate “to unmask anonymous online… Read more »
After demonising Labor’s policy on electric cars before the 2019 election, the federal government has put electric vehicles at the centre of a new “Future Fuels and Vehicles Strategy” to be released by Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Tuesday. The policy puts another A$178 million into the government’s future fuels fund, bringing it to $250… Read more »
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