POSITIVE ECONOMIC NEWS A WELCOME RELIEF FOR THE GOVERNMENT AS THE OPPOSITION CONTINUE THEIR ATTACK ON PENALTY RATES
Wednesday, 1 March 2017
Summary
The Government received some long-awaited good economic news today with Australian Bureau of Statistic confirming Australia had avoided the indignity of a technical recession thanks to growth of 1.1 per cent in the December 2016 quarter. While this data was a boost to the credibility of the Government’s economic message, more pleasing news to the Government was that all states and territories enjoyed growth for the quarter.
The Opposition Leader, the Hon Bill Shorten MP, took a rare opportunity to use a 90 second Members’ statement in the moments before Question Time commenced to attack the Government over any possible changes to the Racial Discrimination Act — notably section 18c. This was a clever ploy to ensure his statement was observed by a full House of Members and a full press gallery.
1.The Government used three of its nine Dixers to highlight the positive economic news stemming from the publication of the December quarter figures of the national accounts by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
2. The Opposition’s cohesive attack on the Government continued with all nine of their questions focusing on the decision by the Fair Work Commission to reduce some weekend penalty rates in some sectors. The Prime Minister, having answered a bulk of these questions over the course of the week, showed no signs of fatigue when discussing the role that the Opposition Leader played in cutting penalty rates for workers during his tenure as National Secretary of the Australian Workers’ Union.
3.Newly installed Member for Longman, Ms Susan Lamb MP, took her chance to question the Prime Minister on the decision by the Fair Work Commission. That she would cite shopping centre workers in Mackay, in Mr George Christensen MP’s electorate of Dawson, at the expense of any shopping centre workers in her own electorate, was ineffective. There are some 900 km between these two electorates and that question was even further off the mark.
4.Minister for Veterans’ Affairs and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Cyber Security, the Hon Dan Tehan MP, joined the Government’s energy debate in Question Time answering a solid question from the Hon Warren Entsch MP. Minister Tehan was able to link the recent energy security crisis to national security when he informed the House some Cyber Security installations of Government, such as a Defence Signals Directorate facility, had to switch to diesel fuel generation on 10 February 2017 in order to continue operating to help with “load shedding” from the grid.
1.The Australian Bureau of Statistics today revealed a 1.1 per cent growth in gross domestic product arising from the December 2016 quarter. This brings the annualised gross domestic product figure to 2.4 per cent.
2.Fairfax reports Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Hon Julie Bishop MP, will bring every Ambassador and High Commissioner back to Australia. “In an Australian-first step, 113 heads of mission — which includes the nation’s Ambassadors, High Commissioners and Consuls-General — will return for three days next month, as the government looks to reset how Australia navigates its foreign, trade and development policies on the global stage.”
3. The President of the United States of America, Mr Donald Trump, addressed his first joint sitting of Congress. President Trump referred to both Australia and Canada as two countries with “merit based immigration systems.”
4.The Australian reports at least 15 senior executives in Government Business Enterprises are earning more than $1 million a year. Executive pay of more than $40m across six Government-owned enterprises — NBN Co, Future Fund, Australia Post, ASC, Defence Housing Australia and Moorebank Intermodal has so far been confirmed.
Today’s legislation focus included:
1.Fair Work Amendment (Protecting Vulnerable Workers) Bill 2017
2.Fair Work Amendment (Repeal Of 4 Yearly Reviews And Other Measures) Bill 2017
3.Personal Property Securities Amendment (PPS Leases) Bill 2017
4.Social Services Legislation Amendment (Omnibus Savings And Child Care Reform) Bill 2017
5.Farm Household Support Amendment Bill 2017
