Australian Politics

Hold on a sec, weren't we all told that privatisation would lead to cheaper electricity prices?

Weren't we told that repealing the carbon tax would lead to cheaper electricity prices?

Weren't we told that sticking with (more expensive) coal and gas power over (cheaper) renewables and storage would lead to cheaper electricity prices?

From the ABC:

"At the heart of the price gouging inquiry, initiated by the ACTU and led by Allan Fels, is determining in a high inflation environment what's general inflation and what else might be influencing pricing behaviour, the main offending price gouging industries, how they do it and how it impacts everyday Australians.

"Part of the problem is Australia is awash with oligopolies, which means there isn't as much price competition as there might otherwise be, which helps explain why real wage growth has been low and why the real prices of so many goods are so high.

"And while most of the media attention has been on Coles and Woolworths, the report will include other sectors accused of customer gouging and breaching trust such as energy, airlines and banks.

"Sydney University professor Lynne Chester, from the school of social and political sciences, supplied the inquiry with a detailed submission ... [which] said electricity prices have been escalating since 2005, largely due to increases in the charges paid for the generation of electricity. She said the charge for electricity makes up a significant component of the electricity price paid for by consumers.

"A key issue was that the regulation was designed for a competitive market, assuming competition would deliver lower prices, but the market was never competitive due to the presence of big powerful generator companies that have been merging with retail companies to create giants such as AGL, Origin and Energy Australia."

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-02-05/price-gouging-grocery-prices-energy-bills-airfares-inquiry-actu/103420574

#auspol #australia #economics #energy #privatisation #electricity #ClimateChange @australianpolitics #politics #business

• The government's tax cuts will pass parliament with the support of the Coalition
• The federal opposition will attempt to amend the bill but will not stand in the way if that fails
• The prime minister dared the Coalition to oppose the bill ahead of its introduction

Looks like we are finally working towards a fuel efficiency standard.

Will be interesting to see what the final details are, especially the year at which manufacturers have to hit zero emissions, and if it's going to be a linear change to get there or otherwise.

No doubt legacy parts of the industry will be busy lobbying for their own interests instead of the planet's.

The origin of at least $57m – amounting to about a quarter of all funding to major political parties – is unknown, according to an analysis by Guardian Australia.

The analysis of annual political returns, released by the Australian Electoral Commission on Thursday, show between 21% and 27% of donations and other receipts to Labor, the Coalition and the Greens were from unnamed sources.

For the longer term, the Stage 3 decision has burst a dam, unleashing a much wider tax debate.

The pressure is coming from two directions – from those whipping up scares of what the government might do and those who want the government to undertake a range of ambitious reforms.

It was a political rivalry so utterly self-destructive that one cabinet minister compared it to being "strapped to a suicide bomber".

"The Turnbull-Abbott tussle was very torrid, not just for the Liberal Party internally, but for the government more generally for years and years and years," says former Coalition minister Bridget McKenzie. "You knew something horrific and catastrophic was going to happen."

In interviews for the ABC political docuseries Nemesis, dozens of former Coalition ministers and MPs have spoken of the toxic rivalry between Liberal giants Tony Abbott and Malcolm Turnbull, and how their relentless internecine conflict crippled both men's governments and helped destroy each other's political careers.

Over months of filming and 60 on-camera interviews for the ABC's landmark political docuseries Nemesis, the free character assessments between former Coalition colleagues fly thick and fast. But as well as the blue language and invective, there are also moments of remorse and regret.

Watch the first episode of the ABC's political docuseries Nemesis on Monday at 8pm on ABC TV and iview.

Some choice quotes:

What [Barnaby Joyce] says next, referring to Turnbull, stuns me. Let's just say it's a four-letter word, connected to another four-letter word.

In one interview, Turnbull is called a "turd" by one of his former supporters.

For his part, the former prime minister recounts being told to "f*** off" by his predecessor Tony Abbott.

The last Coalition prime minister Scott Morrison is labelled "smug" and an "arrogant arsehole" during an interview with one of his former backbenchers.

ANU economist Ben Phillips ran the government's proposed stage 3 tweaks through his PolicyMod simulator to weigh up the winners and losers.

He finds about 6.2 million households will benefit from the Albanese government's changes, while just 1.1 million households will lose out compared to the tax laws passed under the Coalition.

The government's gamble is that nearly six-to-one winners to losers presents pretty good odds for the widespread financial benefits to outweigh the cost of a broken promise.

The government will halve the stage 3 tax cuts for the highest earners and use the money to deliver an $804 tax cut across the board.

The prime minister will tell press club the reversal was motivated by changing economic circumstances.

Conservative politicians are dominating Facebook advertising about changing the date of Australia Day, analysis shows.

After Woolworths announced last week that it would no longer stock Australia Day merchandise due to declining demand, the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, condemned the move as an “outrage” born from the retailer’s “woke agenda” and said most Australians likely thought the same.

Now several conservative politicians are paying for advertisements on social media platforms lobbying against changing the date.

• Cabinet documents from 2003 have been unsealed [by the National Archives of Australia, after the documents' confidentiality period expired].
• The documents reveal some of the high-level discussions of the government, including on the Iraq War.
• Much of the deliberations on the war have been kept secret, despite the then-defence minister supporting their release.

Some context:

https://michaelwest.com.au/whistleblower-david-mcbride-pleads-guilty/

https://www.afr.com/policy/foreign-affairs/the-leadership-rewarded-and-encouraged-dishonesty-20231106-p5ehuu

https://consortiumnews.com/2023/11/17/left-with-no-defense-mcbride-plea

We asked them:

• Do you believe the government you currently serve is doing enough to combat domestic violence? (For government MPs)

• What would you like to see the Albanese government do about this issue? (For opposition MPs)

• What active steps have you taken in your communities to help address women dying at the hands of their partners?

• What kind of cultural change do you think would help make a difference in your communities?

Just 20 out of the 92 MPs responded by the original publication time and only ten had answered the questions asked.

Once followed up, 25 responded and 21 answered questions.

Key points:

• The case centred on legislation brought in after a series of climate-related protests in 2022
• They introduced penalties of up to $22,000 and two years in prison for damaging or disrupting major facilities
• Justice Michael Walton found part of the laws "burdens the implied freedom of political communication"

Want to protect free speech in Australia?

Either advocate for a constitutional Bill of Rights, or STFU.

#auspol #politics @australianpolitics #australia