On balance it’s been a successful first year for the Albanese Government, steering key election commitments through Parliament and maintaining a consistent lead over the Coalition in the polls.
But the last fortnight of Parliament’s winter session hasn’t been an easy one for the PM and his team, taking fire over it’s prosecution of the Higgins’ rape allegations, the defeat of it’s social housing bill in the Senate and facing declining support for the referendum on an Indigenous voice to Parliament.
The government will be hoping to use the long break to reframe the voice debate and take some heat out of the opposition’s attacks over it’s handling of the economic headwinds facing Australia’s economy.
Parliament resumes on Monday the 31st of July.
Greens take hard line on housing bill
The Greens and Coalition have teamed up in the Senate to delay debate on the government’s Housing Australia Future Fund until October 16, with the Greens saying they want the PM to force National Cabinet to agree to a nationwide rent freeze before they’ll pass the bill.
The government is seeking advice on whether the Greens’ deferral of the legislation counts as one of the two Senate rejections that would provide a trigger for a double dissolution election. For the government to call a full-Senate DD election, allowing them to go back to the polls before the earliest date for a half-Senate election in August 2024, their legislation must be defeated on the floor twice.
Any unlikely DD election before the end of the year would hinge on the result of the referendum, set to be held in mid October, with Albanese having to weigh the political consequences of a defeated referendum if the voice fails to win public support.
Parliament sets up public voice campaign
That referendum has cleared the final parliamentary hurdle, with the Senate this week passing the bill containing the question that will be put to Australians later this year.
In a divisive debate, senators across the chamber used the opportunity to make their case for or against the voice, and the opposition using Question Time in the House of Representatives to pile pressure on Indigenous Australians minister Linda Burney over the advisory body’s remit.
Having ruled out changes to Australia Day as an issue the voice would pursue, the minister was forced to clarify Parliament would decide whether or not Australia Day was to be changed after member of the government’s referendum working group said the voice would be entitled to make representations on Australia Day.
Multinational tax avoidance legislation introduced
The government yesterday quietly introduced the Treasury Laws Amendment (Making Multinationals Pay Their Fair Share—Integrity and Transparency) Bill 2023, following their election commitment last year to crackdown on multinational tax avoidance.
The legislation has been amended following consultation on the exposure draft released earlier this year, with the tax transparency measures brought into line with international standards rather than the more onerous requirements initially flagged by the government.
New rules will force Australian public companies to disclose information about their subsidiaries, and limit debt deductions that companies can claim – with the government suggesting the measure will bring in an additional $720 million over the four years from 2022-23.
New mental health plan for disaster response
On Wednesday the government released the National Disaster Mental Health and Wellbeing Framework, developed by the National Mental Health Commission and the National Emergency Management Agency.
The new framework aims to provide a nationally-coordinated approach to natural disaster mental health and wellbeing and defines the key roles and responsibilities between levels of government and the non-government sector.
It included $7 million for the Black Dog Institute’s National Emergency Workers Support Service and the Australian Psychological Society’s Disaster Response Network.