This week was the start of the 46th Parliament. So members were sworn in en masse and legislation being pushed through, but first, the new Governor-General, General David Hurley, was sworn in – Hurley’s first words as Governor-General were in the language of the Ngunnawal people, whose land encompasses Canberra.
Once all the politicians were sworn in, the government got to work on getting their legislation passed through the House of Representatives and the Senate. The government’s primary focus this week has been the tax cuts that it promised in both the Budget back in April and during the election campaign. With a majority in the lower house, the tax cuts passed easily. However once in the Senate, the government still had to negotiate with the crossbench, and it seems that the government has found a bloc of senators to make deals with that doesn’t involve Pauline Hanson and her One Nation Party. Instead, for this legislation, the government has Cory Bernardi, who thinks tax cuts are awesome, two Centre Alliance Senators – who have been promised changes to the pricing and exports of natural gas – and Jacqui Lambie (yep, she’s back) who has been promised that certain subsided housing debts will be waived.
Labor did, in the end, support the tax cuts too, but they really only support the first round of cuts for low and middle-income earners. They’re not too excited about the changes coming in 2022 which will decrease the tax rate for those on incomes between $46,000 and $200,000 to 30 cents in the dollar. However, there’s a suggestion that should they win the 2022 election they might repeal that second round of tax cuts.
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) cut interest rates to a record low of 1% this week, and economists expect there to be at least one more rate cut by the end of the year – not so great for those investing and saving, but pretty awesome for those who are borrowing. Part of the reason that the Reserve Bank continues to drop the interest rate is that they are concerned about the economy. The RBA wants to see unemployment rates drop to 4.5% (but actual higher-paying jobs, not minimum-wage service jobs), and more infrastructure investment. As it turns out, New South Wales is setting the example, with the government investing in public transport infrastructure, creating jobs and boosting the NSW economy.
The federal government seems reluctant to do this, and it seems to be because they desperately want to deliver a surplus this financial year. Economist Tim Harcourt, a Fellow at UNSW and an advisor to the South Australia Government, has suggested the economy could be negatively affected by the government’s “surplus fetish” – saying on ABC News that it is actually perfectly normal and okay for there to be a budget deficit when the economy is slowing down. This “surplus fetish” (which is now my new favourite phrase), is also the reason that the aforementioned second round of tax cuts isn’t happening until 2022.
This week also saw terror arrests in Western Sydney, which foiled a plot to attack “Sydney landmarks” – as they caught their suspects before they decided on a concrete target. This now makes 16 plots that the AFP and their state counterparts have foiled. The thing that surprised me this week about the whole thing is that the Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton decided to tell Australians “that the threat is not diminished” and not going away. Why not applaud the AFP and the other agencies that have worked hard to prevent these potential attacks?
Finally this week, Australian Alek Sigley, who was living in North Korea, was released from detention in the DPRK and reunited with his family, leading the government and the opposition to tell Australians going to North Korea is not necessarily a good idea; and the indigenous site of Budj Bim has been recognised as a World Heritage Site.
Tweet of the Week
Things I’ve Been Looking at Online
RBA Governor Philip Lowe wants the government to stimulate the economy – ABC Online
Hong Kong’s future generation was always going to rebel against China – ABC Online
Kara L 