BUDGET TAX AID PUSHBACK; PM’S POLL VOW
Dutton slams industry tax incentives, vows to cut migration
Federal Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has foreshadowed that the Coalition will oppose a core plank of the Labor’s Future Made in Australia package unveiled in the 2024-25 Budget. In his address-in-reply to the Federal Budget, Mr Dutton said the Coalition did not endorse the $13.7 billion in production tax incentives for green hydrogen and processed critical minerals, announced in the budget speech. He said the $13.7 billion package was “corporate welfare” for projects that should stand up on their own without the need for taxpayers’ money. In a bid to cut inflationary and housing pressures, the Opposition Leader committed to cut by 25 per cent the level of permanent overseas migration in the first two years of a Coalition government.
NDIS ranked third in spending programs
Spending on the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) has risen to become the nation’s third-highest expense program, according to the 2024-25 Budget papers. Ranking behind revenue assistance to the states and territories ($94.4 billion) and Support for Seniors ($61.6 billion), the NDIS is forecast to cost $48.7 billion next financial year. By 2027-28, the NDIS is forecast to cost $60.7 billion. Commonwealth debt management, or debt commitments, are budgeted to cost $24.1 billion in 2024-25. Total spending on the Defence function (not just programs) will rise from $45.1 billion in 2023-24 to $47.9 billion next financial year, rising to $55.1 billion in 2027-28.
No post-Budget early election, says PM
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has scoffed at suggestions that the Federal Budget is a pre-cursor to an early Federal Election later this year. Interviewed on AdelaFide radio, the PM said the next election would be held when it was scheduled for next year. He repeated his belief that three-year terms for a federal government were too short; the Albanese Labor Government’s three-year term will conclude by the end of May 2025.
Legislation details integrity measures for international education
Education Minister Jason Clare has spelt out a range of integrity and quality measures in legislation aimed at improving services for overseas students. Introducing amending legislation in Federal Parliament, Mr Clare said the definition of education agents would be tightened, to clamp down on agents poaching newly-arrived students to shift into a cheaper course offered by a different provider. Under the legislation, providers will be prevented from setting up ‘ghost colleges’, which the Minister said were fronts that existed mainly to get students a visa so they could work without attending a class. In addition, providers that have not delivered a course to an international student over 12 consecutive months will have their registration automatically cancelled.
Unemployment rate edging up
Australia’s unemployment rate has risen to 4.1 per cent, aligning with Federal Budget forecasts that the jobless rate will reach 4.5 per cent during 2024-25. The Australian Bureau of Statistics said the level of unemployment, seasonally adjusted, rose from 3.9 per cent recorded in March. The rate of underemployment, or those seeking to work more hours, rose slightly to 6.6 per cent of the workforce. Unemployment rates varied across the nation, from Canberra (3.8 per cent) and Western Australia (3.9 per cent), to Victoria and South Australia, both 4.2 per cent.
Wage growth at 15-year highs
Annual wage growth in Australia has hit 4.1 per cent, rising 0.8 per cent seasonally-adjusted for the March quarter. ABS figures show that while the wage price index fell slightly on the December quarter, the level of annual wage growth remained the highest since early 2009. In the latest figures, the largest contributors to quarterly wage growth were education and training (0.8 per cent), and professional, scientific and technical services, and construction, (both 0.7 per cent quarterly growth). Latest Budget papers forecast annual wage growth of 3.25 per cent in 2024-25.