Key events
‘Governments shouldn’t own airlines’: Ley
Deputy opposition leader Sussan Ley says the government shouldn’t buy regional airline Rex, as it struggles to find a buyer.
Ley says the government could “crowd out competition” by having a stake in the market, and Labor should instead be looking at the policies in the sector
Governments shouldn’t own airlines, because that does mean that taxpayers own them, and taxpayers pay for them… The most important thing for a government with airline policy is to get the policy and regulatory settings right so that you do have a sustainable and competitive aviation sector.
You can read more on that story here:
Dan Jervis-Bardy
R&D review makes for ‘sobering reading’: Husic
Australia is at risk of “being left behind” because of a failure to leverage research and development for economic gain, an expert panel has warned.
The industry and science minister, Ed Husic, will release an overview of the state of the nation’s R&D sector ahead of a speech to the National Press Club on Wednesday.
Husic last year commissioned Tesla chair Robyn Denholm to lead a review into R&D amid warnings Australia’s performance was “slipping”.
The panel’s first piece of work was a “reconnaissance” of the R&D landscape that made early observations about the industry’s problems and areas for improvement.
In excerpts of the press club speech supplied to Guardian Australia, Husic said the panel’s preliminary findings made for “sobering reading”.
The panel says there’s an over-reliance on our good fortune, leaving us unprepared to achieve sustained economic growth.
They describe our economy as one of the least differentiated in the world.
And an R&D system that’s siloed and barely engaged with the national need.
At the national level there is little planning to maximise the value of our scientific output and minimise the inadequacies in the system.
The sector overview will inform the panel’s final advice, which will be presented to the government later this year.
Krishani Dhanji
Good morning,
Krishani Dhanji here with you as we continue our way through the sitting fortnight.
The will they or won’t they on tariffs on steel and aluminium from the US has been quite the journey so far, and we’ll probably be hearing more reaction to that today.
The government has said they could put in for regional airline Rex as they struggle to find a buyer.
And the prime minister will be standing up shortly, so it’s all starting early this morning.
Put you’r seatbelts on, it’s going to be a big one!
More on that home loans story from AAP:
The treasurer also asked APRA to clarify a misconception that had limited housing supply by preventing developers from accessing finance for apartment projects.
That was apparently due to a misinterpretation of advice given by APRA in 2017, which some lenders misconstrued as preventing them from handing out loans to builders who had not yet pre-sold all properties in a development.
The regulator will tell the banks that, while it expects them to consider the extent of pre-sales as part of prudent credit risk management, it does not expect 100% pre-sales for them to approve a loan.
“By unlocking more finance from the banks we’ll see more housing projects get off the ground more quickly,” Chalmers said.
Home loan guidance on Hecs debt to be clarified to help more Australians get into homes, treasurer says
Home ownership will be made easier for Australians with outstanding student debt after financial regulators promised to update their guidance on lending restrictions, reports Australian Associated Press.
Regulators Asic and Apra have agreed to clarify their guidance to lenders, along with reducing serviceability and reporting requirements for Hecs debts, at the request of the treasurer, Jim Chalmers.
The “commonsense clarifications” would help more Australians into a home, Chalmers said.
“People with a Help/Hecs debt should be treated fairly when they want to buy a house and we’re working with the regulators to make sure they are,” he said.
Banks had indicated they were unsure about how to interpret the existing requirements, which were holding them back from providing mortgages to some prospective borrowers with student loans.
Apra will tell banks they can exclude Hecs repayments from serviceability assessments if they expect a borrower will shortly pay off their debt.
The prudential regulator will also ensure Hecs is not treated as a debt for debt-to-income reporting purposes, recognising that the size of a person’s Hecs repayments depends on their income.
Asic will also change its guidance on Hecs debts after consultation.
Caitlin Cassidy
Marles ‘confident we will be able to pursue a productive relationship’ between Australia and America
Marles was asked if Australia would use upcoming Aukus payments as part of a leverage to the United States regarding potential tariffs. He said Australia would “walk down the path of pursuing the Aukus arrangement as we have been”:
We want to maintain a sense of momentum that we have in the way in which we have been engaging with the Trump administration … We’ve now just had the second conversation between President Trump and Prime Minister Albanese. And we really have hit the ground running in the way in which we’re engaging with the Trump administration.
Pointed to comments by the opposition leader that tariffs on Australia would “damage the relationship” with the US, Marles replied “let’s work on pursuing the exemptions that we are seeking”.
Let’s take the fact that the president has agreed to give active consideration to an exemption in relation to Australia that he acknowledged today in his statements that it is a trading relationship where America has the surplus … And I am confident that we will be able to pursue a productive relationship between Australia and America under the Trump administration.
Marles describes ‘positive’ US talks
Caitlin Cassidy
Australia should take “at face value” what the prime minister and US president, Donald Trump, have said about potential tariff relief, the deputy prime minister and minister for defence, Richard Marles, has said after his trip to Washington.
Speaking on ABC 7.30 on Tuesday evening, Marles said both Anthony Albanese and Donald Trump had “made clear” an Australian exemption from tariffs put in place under the US administration was under active consideration after their conversation today.
That’s not said lightly … that was the agreement they reached in their conversation this morning which, having spoken with the prime minister himself, he said was very positive, very constructive. And we will obviously now work diligently to put forward our case for those exemptions to apply.
Pointed to accusations Australia had disregarded their commitments to restrain aluminium exports, Marles said he couldn’t speak for the former government which was a “matter for them to explain”.
We do roughly over $100bn of trade every year. It’s about two to one in favour of the US. In that sense, having that trade in a manner which is tariff-free is very much in the interests … of the US.
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then it’ll be Krishani Dhanji with the main action.
Richard Marles says the government has “hit the ground running” with the Trump administration as he returned from talks in the US amid the threat of tariffs being imposed on Austraian goods exported to the States. The deputy prime minister told the ABC last night that voters should take at “face value” comments by Anthony Albanese about positive talks with Donald Trump and the possibility of exemption from the proposed US levies. More coming up.
We have an exclusive story this morning on how Coalition frontbencher Bridget McKenzie and Victorian Liberal MP Moira Deeming, along with key figures from News Corp, are set to attend a UK conference next week led by the right-wing figure Jordan Peterson which aims to “re-lay the foundations of our civilisation”. The former prime minister Tony Abbott will speak at the gathering in London.
Attendance at school in Australia is falling and fewer children are going through to complete year 12. These are the two main takeaways from the Productivity Commission’s latest report on education services. The numbers showing attendance and retention at a 10-year low, while there is a record low number of children (63.9%) enrolled at public schools. A separate report revelas that almost half of school age children have trouble sleeping.