Treasurer Joe Hockey has unveiled a A$5.5 billion jobs and small business package to kick start confidence, in a second Coalition budget that strategically retreats from the harshest measures of its predecessor.
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The government will provide telecommunications companies with $131 million in the budget to help with the costs of retaining metadata, as part of further measures to strengthen intelligence capabilities and counter extremist messaging.
The budget will toughen anti-avoidance measures to crack down on the profit-shifting being undertaken by 30 multinational companies that have been identified by the Taxation Office.
The government estimates its proposed $3.5 billion child care package will encourage more than 240,000 families to increase their involvement in paid employment, including almost 38,000 jobless families.
A crackdown on the pension assets test will save the budget A$2.4 billion over the forward estimates, the government says.
Victorian Senator Richard Di Natale has been elected Greens’ leader unopposed, after Christine Milne announced she would not contest the next federal election.
Registration of small businesses will be streamlined as part of the government’s package for the sector, which will be a centrepiece of Tuesday’s budget.
The government goes into next week’s budget trailing Labor on a two-party basis but satisfaction with Tony Abbott has risen to a seven month high in the latest Newspoll.
Against the grim outlook of a continuing massive deficit, Tony Abbott and Bill Shorten are both seeking to frame the debate ahead of Treasurer Joe Hockey bringing down his second budget next week.
Australia needs new “philosophical underpinnings” for the major spending areas of health, education and retirement income, Business Council of Australia President Catherine Livingstone has said.
Australia has taken the unprecedented step of withdrawing its ambassador to Indonesia, Paul Grigson.
A $250 million two-year pilot scheme would subsidise 4000 nannies to care for 10,000 children in families who cannot access mainstream services.
A Labor government would crack down on the superannuation tax breaks enjoyed by high income earners, raising more than $14 billion over ten years, under a policy released by Bill Shorten on Tuesday.
After an extensive round of consultations with health professionals and patients, Health Minister Sussan Ley has announced that yet more work needs to be done to find solutions to Medicare’s problems.
The government is locked in a major battle with pharmacists as it looks for $3 billion in budget savings from the pharmaceutical supply chain.
An Australian Medical Association report showing the nation’s public hospitals face a funding “black hole” because of the federal government’s cuts gives premiers strong ammunition for their Friday meeting with Tony Abbott.
Tony Abbott has reaffirmed that the government’s aim is “always to get taxes down” in a speech also saying that the May 12 budget will offset all new spending with “responsible and fair” savings.
With the May 12 budget potentially crucial for Tony Abbott’s future, a Fairfax/Ipsos poll shows the government will go into its testing selling task with Treasurer Joe Hockey at rock bottom popularity.
Former Australian Medical Association president Bill Glasson is in line to fill the Senate vacancy created by the resignation of Brett Mason.
The government is under renewed pressure over the Nauru detention centre, with a claim that it has known of “the sexual and physical assault of women and children” for at least 17 months.
The government’s long awaited tax discussion paper says Australia has a relatively low tax burden compared to other developed countries but its system faces “challenges from a changing world”.
Mike Baird’s Liberal National coalition has been comfortably returned to government in New South Wales, despite a 9% statewide swing against it on the two-party preferred vote.
University of Canberra Vice-Chancellor Stephen Parker and Michelle Grattan discuss the week in politics including John Howard’s address at University of Canberra’s Future Leaders Congress and whether Prime Minister Tony Abbott should follow the Howard prescriptions.
Treasurer Joe Hockey has indicated the government is preparing to announce Australia will enter negotiations to join China’s infrastructure bank.
One government man has an interesting theory on why Tony Abbott mightn’t mind talk of a double dissolution election. The PM finds governing very hard – and would love to be back on the campaign trail.