| Qantas boss Alan Joyce steps down, leaves headache for the government The Albanese Government started the week with a very unwelcome Newspoll, revealing both the government and the Prime Minister had lost support in the wake of the official referendum campaign launch. While the government made every attempt to keep the focus on their legislative agenda, the ongoing Qatar Airways drama dominated Question Time across all four sitting days, and the focus on Qantas’ involvement contributed to the early departure of long-time Qantas CEO Alan Joyce on Tuesday. The introduction of the government’s next tranche of industrial relations reforms also sparked fierce debate and backlash from the business lobby. Catch up on all the week’s headlines and more, below. |
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| Government grilled over Qatar decision As we highlighted last week, the federal government recently rejected an application from Qatar Airways to increase flights into Australia on the grounds of it not being in Australia’s national interest. However there has been speculation the real reason was to minimise competition for Qantas, therefore enabling them to keep their prices high. Despite the Transport Minister and Prime Minister arguing to the contrary, this was pretty much confirmed by a junior minister a few weeks ago. Not satisfied with the government’s response, the Opposition and key members of the Crossbench joined forces to establish a Senate Inquiry into the government’s decision. The Inquiry comes after the PM and Transport Minister faced a barrage of questions during Question Time (QT) this week. Before the PM jetted off to Indonesia on Tuesday, he told parliament he was unaware of the Qatar decision when he spoke to Virgin CEO Jane Hrdlicka on 13 July. However, when the Transport Minister was hounded in QT on Thursday about when she told the PM about the decision, she refused to give exact dates but advised it was before 18 July when the decision was made public. As such, some are questioning whether the PMs office knew of the decision before the call with Ms Hrdlicka. This matter is far from over and no doubt we will discover even more during the upcoming Senate Inquiry. ‘Same job same pay’ laws introduced It was a case of ‘nothing to see here’ when workplace relations minister Tony Burke introduced the next tranche of Labor’s IR reforms on Monday, with the government insisting the changes were modest and simply ‘closing loopholes’ in existing laws. The opposition and key crossbenchers disagreed, with the Senate passing a motion to increase the time available to scrutinise the complex bill – scuttling the government’s plans to enact the laws this year. As was expected, major business groups launched a multi-million dollar, wide-ranging campaign against the changes, which they say will have far-reaching consequences on business – and cost employers far more than the government’s own estimate of $9 billion. So, what’s it all about? Here’s a quick summary: A crackdown on companies using labour hire firms as a way of denying employees proper pay and conditions. Implementing minimum standards for gig economy workers including those working for companies like Uber and AirTasker. Changes to the definition of a casual employee. Increasing access to workplaces for union officials for the purpose of investigating wage theft complaints. The business lobby says the laws are ‘unworkable’, will be onerous to implement and penalise industries like the resources sector that have legitimate reasons to use labour hire firms to manage surge workforces. A key election commitment for the government, it’s a fight they knew was coming, and will dominate Parliament for the rest of the year. PM heads to ASEAN The Prime Minister missed most of the parliamentary sitting week as he jetted off to attend the ASEAN and East Asia summits. His first stop was Jakarta where he released the Southeast Asia Economic Strategy to 2040 and said it “represented the most significant upgrade of Australia’s economic engagement with ASEAN for a generation”. The PM wants Australia to deepen ties with ASEAN nations to help reduce their economic reliance on China. His next stop is the Philippines before heading to India for the G20 summit. Chinese President Xi Jinping isn’t attending the ASEAN or G20 summits, however Chinese Premier Li Qiang attended the ASEAN summit and met with Albanese. During the meeting, Albanese accepted a long-standing invitation to visit China before the end of the year. He will be the first Australian Prime Minister to visit since Malcolm Turnbull in 2016. The PMs visit is expected to assist in getting China to lift trade restrictions on wine, lobster, beef and hay – worth over $2.5 billion. The Australian economy relies heavily on China and there is no doubt the two nations have endured a rocky relationship over recent years. Albanese’s visit could help ease tensions and improve the relationship which would no doubt result in a boost in trade and export opportunities for Australia. Referendum polling points to defeat Polling released on Monday indicated more people now oppose the Voice to Parliament proposal than support it, barely a week after the Prime Minister launched the official campaign in Adelaide. ‘Yes’ campaign advocates and the government maintained the referendum could still be won, as opposition leader Peter Dutton announced he would put a second referendum to the Australian people should October’s fail – proposing symbolic constitutional recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Meanwhile, Victoria’s Yoorrook Justice Commission – a formal truth-telling process into injustices experienced by First Nations people – presented 46 recommendations to the Andrews Government in what Voice opponents are saying could represent the future agenda of a Voice to Parliament. They included recommendations to transfer government powers to First Nations people, the creation of a dedicated child protection system for Indigenous children, raising the minimum age of criminal responsibility to 14 and prohibiting the detention of children under 16. Key Voice campaigners argued the commission’s work had nothing to do with the proposed Voice to Parliament. National accounts released Australia’s national accounts data was released on Wednesday and they revealed the economy is continuing to slow. GDP is down to 2.1 per cent from 2.4 per cent in March and growth is expected to slow even further in the next few months. This data came the day after the RBA kept interest rates on hold again – a welcome decision for mortgage holders. In response to the national accounts, the Treasurer specifically highlighted the impact of China’s economic slowdown and went onto say that the two most important factors for the Australian economy are China and interest rates. Trade figures were the only bright spot, and this was largely a result of the return of international students and tourists from China. Government backs Greens, Teals on gas inquiry The Greens claimed a big political win on Tuesday, when the government backed a call from the minor party and teal independents to establish a Senate inquiry into the Middle Arm gas project in Darwin. It came at the same time the New South Wales Labor government confirmed it would seek to delay the closure of the Eraring coal power station near Newcastle, after a report revealed renewable energy would be unable to plug the substantial gap in power generation. The Middle Arm expansion was a key part of the former Coalition government’s ‘gas-led recovery’, which prioritised investment in gas development projects as the economy transitioned away from coal fired power. “Bin the bill” There has been more commentary this week on the government’s proposed Misinformation Bill. The Bill, as it currently stands, could result in digital platforms or search engines being fined up to $6.8 million or 5 per cent of global turnover for publishing mis or dis information as defined under the Bill. The definitions are incredibly broad and have been widely criticised by the Opposition, tech companies and legal associations. Interestingly, political parties and mainstream media would be exempt. The Minister for Communications, Michelle Rowland, faced further scrutiny this week over her failure to release the submissions that have been made in response to the Bill. The Shadow Minister for Communications, the Hon David Coleman MP, listed a motion in parliament this week condemning the government over the Bill and the exposure draft process, and called for the government to “bin the bill”. Pharmacists disrupt Parliament The House of Representatives descended into chaos on Monday afternoon when a group of pharmacists sitting in the public gallery began loudly jeering and interrupting health minister Mark Butler during Question Time. The rowdy group, dressed in white coats, were protesting the government’s 60-day dispensing policy which came into effect on September 1. It was jut the start of a messy week in Question Time. The opposition on Wednesday, apparently fed up with the dodging of key questions on Qatar Airways by transport minister Catherine King, moved a motion that essentially said they disagreed with the Speaker’s that ruling the minister was being relevant. That resulted in 30 minutes of shouty speeches from both the opposition and government, and interventions from teal independents about the conduct of parliamentarians. And in news from outside the bubble… China’s economy is slowing, and ongoing stress in their property market is leading to increased economic uncertainty. China’s economic stability is important for the rest of the world, especially Australia. China is our largest trading partner and the world’s second largest economy, meaning the downturn is impacting our economy and many others. In fact, when the outgoing RBA Governor announced this week’s decision to hold interest rates at 4.1 per cent, he specifically referenced China and warned about their increasingly weak economy. Recent figures show that Chinese exports fell by 14.5 per cent in the year to July and foreign investment is now at its weakest level since 1998. Furthermore, youth unemployment has soared to record levels. Given China’s growth in the manufacturing sector over several years, experts are concerned about the impact on global supply chains across a number of industries. When asked about China’s economic slowdown, the former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund said, “We’ve never seen it before and don’t quite know what it’s going to do” – highlighting that we are living in very uncertain economic times. On global uncertainty, North Korea’s Kim Jong-un is set to meet Vladimir Putin in Russia later this month to hold ‘weapons talks’. The possibility of the nuclear state supplying Putin with weapons to prolong the conflict in Ukraine has global onlookers worried about what Kim Jong-un would ask for in return. The notoriously security-conscious North Korean leader will reportedly travel by armoured train to the meeting. And lastly, for millions of Americans (and a few Australians!), the wait is finally over as the 2023/24 NFL season gets underway this weekend. Defending “world champions” Kansas City Chiefs have just kicked things off against the Detroit Lions, as fans look forward to another compelling season. American (NFL) Football is the most popular sport in the United States and counts around 400 million fans worldwide. A 2022 YouGov poll found about one in seven Aussies indicate an interest in the sport. We heard recently some of the West Coast teams are keen to expand into the Australian market, so expect to see and hear a bit more about it over the next six months! |