| While Labor retained the seat, both parties seem to be claiming a win in the Dunkley by-election with the Liberals encouraged by the increase in their support. However, a week is a long-time in politics and the conversations have quickly shifted. New economic data has the Treasurer reshaping his narrative, while the government used International Women’s Day to announce enhancements to the paid parental leave scheme. Given the US just endured ‘Super Tuesday’ and Trump became the last man standing for the Republican Party, our global section is dedicated to US politics. It’s been an eventful week and the race to the White House has essentially begun. Before we get into the issues, we want to acknowledge the tragic death of Lance Corporal Jack Fitzgibbon who lost his life this week in a parachuting accident during a routine military training session. The fallen special operations commander is the son of former federal minister Joel Fitzgibbon and his death has devastated the family and entire ADF community. Jack has been described as a “dedicated, highly skilled and courageous soldier”. May he rest in peace. Let’s take a quick look at this week’s headlines: 1. The Coalition ignites the debate around nuclear energy. 2. Virgin Australia to allow pets on planes by the end of this year. 3. Australia hosted ASEAN leaders in Melbourne for the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit. 4. International Women’s Day on 8 March. 5. Queensland Premier apologised for misleading parliament while LNP backbencher was referred to the Ethics Committee for photographing a colleague’s phone in the Chamber. 6. WA becomes the first state to ban non-compostable takeaway coffee cups. Politics Government announces super on paid parental leave Finance Minister and Minister for Women Katy Gallagher yesterday unveiled the government’s national gender equality strategy, along with a commitment to introduce superannuation on government-funded paid parental leave from next year. The policy’s costings are yet to be released but are speculated to cost the federal budget around $250 million a year. Parenting groups and the Greens had ramped up their calls for superannuation to be paid on parental leave payments, arguing time out of the workforce was a significant contributor to the retirement savings gap between men and women. While it has long been a part of Labor’s national policy platform, the Albanese Government resisted earlier calls to implement the policy in its first two budgets citing budget pressures. Minister Gallagher also announced businesses with more than 500 employees bidding for government work would be required to meet new gender equality targets that focus on the gender makeup of their workforce, board representation and equal pay. The government said the move will ensure women are getting a fairer share of the $70 billion spent on goods and services a year. Growth slows as Treasurer signals shifting budget focus Australia has narrowly escaped falling into technical recession, with GDP figures released on Wednesday showing the country’s economy grew by a sluggish 0.2 per cent in the last three months of 2023. Treasurer Jim Chalmers warned the tax windfalls that had boosted the budget bottom line over the past two years, driven by high commodity prices, may be ending and the government will need to shift its focus from inflation to growth. This shift in language is important for upcoming budgets, most notably as we head towards the next federal election. If inflation cools, it gives the government the green light to pump more money into the economy – a happy coincidence for the Treasurer who will likely deliver two more budgets ahead of the next poll. Dunkley by-election As we highlighted last week, voters in the south-east of Melbourne in the electorate of Dunkley went to the polls last Saturday to elect a new federal representative. Ultimately, Labor retained the seat, but their margin has decreased from 6.3 per cent to approximately 2.7 per cent – meaning on a two-party preferred basis they suffered a 3.6 per cent swing against them. Prior to election day, the Liberals were downplaying their chances of winning the seat but were hopeful of securing a swing of at least four per cent. While 3.6 per cent is a significant shift in support towards the Liberals, it is important to take a deeper look at the numbers. On primary votes alone, Labor actually secured a 0.8 per cent swing towards them. They increased their primary vote to 41 per cent, while the Liberals’ primary vote also increased by 6.7 per cent to 39.3 per cent. This result shows support shifting back to the two major parties and away from independents or minor parties. The Greens in particular lost 4 per cent from their primary vote and this has political commentators asking a lot of questions. Chief political correspondent David Crowe characterised the by-election best when he said the result was “average”. He went on to point out that the swing against the government was in line with historical averages for by-elections and highlighted that both major parties had tried to spin the results in their favour but noted that the actual outcome did not signal a dramatic shift in voter sentiment. We agree with Crowe’s assessment that the Liberals made a modest gain, and Labor held ground on its primary vote, suggesting that the Liberal Party needs a stronger strategy to clinch the next election. Opposition reshuffle Liberal leader Peter Dutton has finally replaced the vacant Shadow Assistant Treasurer position after Stuart Robert’s departure in May 2023. Dutton used the opportunity to give his shadow ministry a small shake-up with Queensland MP Luke Howarth and Victorian Senator James Paterson receiving the most significant promotions. Luke will step into the important Shadow Assistant Treasurer role and also add Financial Services to his remit. Senator Paterson, already the Coalition’s spokesperson for Home Affairs and Cyber Security, will now also fill the important role of Shadow Cabinet Secretary – a position left vacant by the retirement of NSW Senator Marise Payne. Dutton also added a new Shadow Assistant Minister for Government Waste Reduction and has tasked South Australian MP James Stevens to hold “the Albanese Government to account on its wasteful spending and economic management”. Given the record level of debt left by the former Coalition Government, they will need the new shadow ministers to help rebuild their credentials and reputation on economic management. That’s no easy task but tireless campaigner Luke Howarth is certainly their best chance. Global US set for Biden, Trump rematch We’ll focus solely on the US this week and bring you a wrap up of one of the biggest weeks on the US election calendar. Millions of Americans in 15 states voted in Super Tuesday’s primary ballots, both Democratic and Republican. While in previous years, Super Tuesday results were closely watched to determine the frontrunners in both campaigns, this year the Democrats were largely voting to endorse incumbent President Joe Biden, and the Republican contest was extremely one-sided in favour of Donald Trump. The former President’s last remaining challenger, former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, ended the night with one victory in Vermont. She had on Sunday won the primary in Washington DC. Haley becomes the first Republican woman to win a primary election – a statistic that surprised even us. As was widely speculated, Haley bowed out of the campaign after Super Tuesday’s results. She stopped short of endorsing Trump, as others had when they ended their campaigns, and urged Trump to earn the votes of her supporters. Both Biden and Trump are yet to be officially endorsed by their parties, which will happen later in the year, but it is now clear we will see a re-run of the 2020 Presidential election. Focus will now to turn to Donald Trump’s pick for his running mate, of which there is a long shortlist of names. That list includes a few of his high-profile primary opponents like Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy. President Biden, meanwhile, has just delivered his third State of the Union address – a speech to a joint session of the Congress and the highest-profile televised speech he will deliver before the campaign. In an energised performance, he positioned himself as a defender of democracy and trumpeted his administration’s economic credentials. The President’s number one weakness is a perception he is too old to run for the White House, which is frequently weaponised by Trump – himself no spring chicken at 77 years old. Let the games begin! Sport and other news Facebook’s future in Australia Late last Friday, Meta, parent company of Facebook, announced they would no longer pay for news content in a number of jurisdictions, including Australia. They claim that fewer people are consuming news content on Facebook. The previous government negotiated the News Media Bargaining Code with platforms, including Meta and Google, however Meta’s agreements with Australian news publishers are about to expire and they will not be renegotiating or renewing them. Meta’s decision removes a significant source of revenue for Australian news media businesses and it appears the announcement caught the government off-guard. They are now scrambling to determine what the penalties will be and how they are going to remedy the situation. The Australian newspaper reported this week that Meta could be fined up to $1.5 billion if it is found to have breached the News Media Bargaining Code, but that the penalty will depend on which sections of the code they have been deemed to contravene. Australia’s national treasure Sam Kerr face UK court Matildas captain Sam Kerr this week faced a UK court on charges of racially abusing a British police officer last year, in news that shocked Australia. It soon emerged that Kerr stood accused of calling the police officer a ‘stupid white bastard’, which divided opinion across the nation with everyone from Premiers to sports heroes backing in the soccer superstar and declaring the label wasn’t racist. It was reported today Kerr intends to fight to have the charges dropped, and will argue she called the officer a ‘stupid white cop’, not bastard. The incident was allegedly captured on a body camera. No moves have been made by Football Australia to stand down Kerr, despite reports suggesting senior officials were unaware of the charges until they became public. Kerr will likely miss the Paris Olympics this year due to a ruptured ACL. What happened in Vegas? The old saying “what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas” has once again been proven to be untrue. While the NRL has declared the two opening round matches played in Las Vegas on Sunday a success, they have to acknowledge that on and off-field controversies have dampened the event. While there are conflicting reports about what happened in the stands during the Manly game, it is clear that a fight of some kind broke out and a man was escorted away with blood all over his face and right hand. There was even more action on-field during the Roosters v Broncos game with claims of a racial slur. Broncos five-eighth Ezra Mam made an official complaint to referees that Roosters prop Spencer Leniu targeted him with a racial slur. Lenui has since apologised and pled guilty to the charge by the NRL but claims he did not intend to racially vilify Mam. ————————– We enjoy keeping you up-to-date with the important issues and encourage you to please reach out if there is any particular topic you’d like us to cover. |
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A well written summary covering a wide field.