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Gambling amendments coming today
Josh Butler
Further to what Krishani has already told you on the gambling bill, we will be expecting more news later today on the specifics but it’s understood another tweak will be moving the start time of the television ad restrictions from 6am to 5am.
That provision of the laws was originally going to limit TV ads to three per hour between 6am and 8.30pm. It may now be moved back to 5am, we understand, but we’ll wait for the final tick-off once it goes through the Labor and Liberal party rooms today.
We reported last week that this small shift in TV ad times, which will not be nearly enough to win over critics of the changes, was part of the negotiations.
We’re told there will be more than a dozen amendments. We already know a few of them, with Labor proposing to create a single opt-out register for gambling ads and taking action on inducements, but we’re still awaiting specific details about how those would work.
Unsurprisingly, key advocates for more action on gambling ads have branded the government and Liberal amendments as inadequate. Independent MP Sophie Scamps, responding to discussion about the deal, slammed the changes as “weak, piecemeal, pathetic.”
Australians are the biggest losers to gambling in the world and over 400 die by suicide each year linked to gambling addiction. Yet the major parties will crow about doing a deal that will be ineffective and which prioritises the profits of Gambling corporations over the wellbeing of Australians.
Key events
Labor caucus signs off on gambling reform deal with Coalition
The Labor party has green lit the gambling reform deal made with the Coalition, and will sit late tonight to pass the reforms through the House of Representatives.
Government MPs have agreed to more than a dozen amendments made with the Coalition, and could sit until 10pm tonight. We can expect there will be plenty of MPs across the parliament wanting to debate the legislation.
The changes include the creation of a national opt-out register for gambling advertising, making the start time for the three-ad per hour cap 5am rather than the previous proposal of 6am and implements a review after three years.
Benita Kolovos
Carroll calls for Victoria to receive ‘fair share’ of GST distribution
Victorian premier Ben Carroll has responded to the Western Australia premier, Roger Cook, who labelled the authors of an explosive report into a GST distribution deal as “east coast clowns”.
The Productivity Commission interim report found WA received more GST revenue than it needed in 2024-25, and the deal has cost the federal government $23bn.
Asked whether Cook’s clown comments were an overreach, Carroll said “yes”. He went on:
The Productivity Commission has laid bare what every economist around the nation, every public policy expert has known for years. That WA does have a sweetheart deal when it comes to the GST, on top of all the mining royalties. What the Productivity Commission have shown is that this has been occurring since the GST agreement back in 2018.
Victoria’s always just wanted its fair share for our taxpayers and when I meet with the prime minister and when I meet with other ministers, every Victorian can know that I’ll be in their corner advocating for our fair share, we deliver so much for our nation from services, from education. We are a powerhouse by our people. It’s our people that deserve a fair share when it comes to the GST.
He said there needed to be a rethink – though it shouldn’t be increased. Carroll said:
Everyone knows that the GST is inequitable the way it is distributed. Everyone knows that to get the lasting reform, not just for Victoria’s future, but for Australia’s future, redoing the GST to make it more equitable in its distribution is critically needed, particularly for states like Victoria, that are fastest growing and have such big, strong population growth.
We know, as a state government, we’ve been doing the heavy lifting for so long, and we’ll continue to advocate for every single Victorian to make sure the GST carve out is equitable and sustainable for the whole of Australia, not just one particular state.
Josh Taylor
NDIS denies plans to use Palantir in fraud detection, despite meetings
Controversial data analytics company Palantir sought to sell its software to the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) in 2023, documents reveal, but the agency has denied it has plans to use Palantir in National Disability Insurance Scheme fraud investigations.
The documents were published on the freedom of information website Right to Know last week.
Palantir has insisted it is “just a software company” in the face of calls for bans on government contracts following the publication of a manifesto earlier this year described by one UK MP as the “ramblings of a supervillain”.
Members of the fraud taskforce in the NDIA and the agency’s chief operating officer met with a number of Palantir staff, including the company’s Australian president, former Labor minister Dr Mike Kelly, in 2023, according to the documents.
In one email from May 2023, Kelly said:
Over the past six months my team has had the pleasure of working with different folks from your department on how our software might enable workflows for the Fraud Fusion Taskforce and insider threat.
The meetings did not result in a contract, however, and a spokesperson for the NDIA said the agency had not used Palantir technology and has “no plans to do so”.
The Greens justice spokesperson, Senator David Shoebridge, said Palantir “should not have access to the records of disabled people” in Australia.
We know the budget allocated millions to the NDIA for fraud detection and a new digital enrolment and payment system, we need a guarantee from this government that not a cent of this will go to Palantir.
Jonathan Barrett
More than 100 workers leave BHP after sexually harassing colleagues
BHP has disclosed in its annual report that 109 workers lost their jobs, or resigned, after sexually harassing colleagues last financial year.
Many of the incidents involved indecent touching and sexualised jokes.
A further 22 workers had their jobs terminated or otherwise left the company after being found responsible for racial harassment.
The wider mining sector has faced increased scrutiny in recent years over allegations of systemic sexual harassment, violence and retaliation, especially at isolated mines.
There are at least three class actions currently in the courts against BHP, Rio Tinto and Fortescue, alleging widespread sexual harassment, sexual violence and sex discrimination at work sites.
BHP said 113 reports of sexual harassment “were established” following investigations across the company’s global operations. The figure represents an increase on the 102 established reports a year earlier.
BHP has 44,254 employees and contractors in Australia, and 30,892 workers in Chile, representing the bulk of its global workforce.
Nationals MP says Labor wasted six months on ‘weak’ gambling reforms
Nationals MP Pat Conaghan, who was the deputy chair of Peta Murphy’s “You win some, you lose more” parliamentary inquiry is furious, to say the least, by the deal cooked up between the Coalition and Labor.
Speaking to journalists as he entered parliament this morning, Conaghan asked “what’s the point” in even doing the inquiry if the government won’t listen to the findings.
The report made 31 recommendations including a comprehensive ban on online gambling advertised phased in over three years.
Conaghan said:
I won’t make any friends in the Coalition by saying, I think we’re being weak by not implementing those reports and I think we’d be supported by the majority of the public out there.
So I’m really disappointed that we’ve wasted six months … What’s the point of an inquiry? What’s the point of listening to those family members and doing nothing about it?
Liberal MPs consider crossing the floor on gambling reforms
The Coalition party room meeting is taking place now and the shadow communications minister, Sarah Henderson, is laying out the deal between the opposition and Labor.
But we have spoken to at least one Liberal member who is considering crossing the floor because the reforms don’t go far enough.
The amendments include implementing a review of the legislation after three years, creating a single opt-out register for gambling ads, and moving the start time of broadcast restrictions from 6am to 5am.
There has been a push from some inside the Liberal tent for an opt-in system rather than opt-out system for gambling advertising but we understand that hasn’t been agreed to by either Angus Taylor or Anthony Albanese.
Speaking to reporters at the entrance of parliament this morning, Liberal MP Scott Buchholz said there might be a few dissenters.
Do we have all of the Coalition’s support? I think we might see a couple of people cross the floor on it who want to see it go further.
Benita Kolovos
Victorian government still working on terms of reference for construction royal commission, premier says
The Victorian premier, Ben Carroll, is holding a press conference to mark new graduate paramedics beginning their induction today.
But questions quickly turned to the royal commission into the construction sector Carroll promised to call when he became premier. Three weeks on, he is yet to release its terms of reference or announce the commissioner and special prosecutor appointments.
He told reporters:
We are working very hard in terms of [drafting a] broad terms of reference to shine a light on what occurred, getting the best candidate to be commissioner, and also making sure we have the lasting change, establishing an office for a special prosecutor, and also the work the special minister of state continues to do – not just on the royal commission but giving our integrity agency, in particular Ibac, the powers it needs and deserves.
Carroll also confirmed it was his intention to introduce legislation to strengthen Ibac prior to when the government enters caretaker mode in November.
His special minister of state, Ingrid Stitt, said:
My department has been working incredibly hard to bring forward a number of the key recommendations from the Integrity and Oversight Committee’s report, which the government had already agreed to in principle, and they go specifically to the follow-the-money powers and the definition of corrupt conduct.
Now, they’re not simple legislative changes, despite what others may suggest. It’s quite a complex and interconnected integrity agency system that we have here in Victoria, and we want to be careful not to have any unintended consequences with any legislation that we bring forward, but the premier has been very clear that he wants these powers to be in the parliament and hopefully passed in this term of government, and that is what I’m pulling out all stops to bring to cabinet very soon.
Josh Butler
Albanese declares ‘launch edition’ wine from News 24 on parliamentary register of interests
Sky News recently changed its name to News 24 with a flashy rebrand, and it seems the TV channel was in the mood for celebrating, if Anthony Albanese’s latest update to the parliamentary register of interests is anything to go by.
The prime minister, in a new disclosure, has declared receiving a “Bottle of News24 Launch Edition McLaren Vale Shiraz – Vintage 2020”. No doubt going straight to the wine cellar.
Despite the protestations of Pauline Hanson last week, Albanese hasn’t declared the crown melons from the Japanese prime minister on his register – perhaps as they may fall below the disclosure threshold of $750 from official sources – but he has noted a number of other gifts from world leaders and well-wishers.
Alongside the News 24 plonk, Albanese has disclosed receiving an “ironwood carving”, woven mats from the PM of Fiji, a wood carving from Solomon Islands, and “framed traditional double pig tusks, coffee and independence book” from the PM of Papua New Guinea, among other gifts – most listed as having been “surrendered” or “donated” to his department or national collections.
Albanese also declared hospitality from the Canberra Raiders NRL team at a recent football match against his South Sydney Rabbitohs.
Hanson doing what ‘big tobacco have been lobbying her to do’, Greens leader says
Larissa Waters says Pauline Hanson’s call to cut the tobacco excise by 75% is at the behest of the tobacco lobby who she says are “haunting the halls of parliament”.
Speaking to the Today show earlier this morning, the Greens leader said by all means fight organised crime behind illicit tobacco but don’t do it to line the coffers of big tobacco:
Pauline Hanson is doing precisely what big tobacco have been lobbying her to do. We see them haunting the halls of parliament here … if you want to, fight crime, but don’t dress up fighting crime as just a premise to boost the profits of big tobacco.
Anything that Philip Morris wants to do primarily revolves around them boosting their own profits off the pain of humans and the cancer and the devastation that they will wreak. So I don’t have a lot of sympathy for big tobacco and I don’t think they should be influencing our politics.
The government has said it doesn’t want to change the tax settings, while some in the opposition have left the door open to an excise cut.
‘I’m up for that discussion’: Chalmers open to speeding up widow tax reforms
Jim Chalmers says he’s open to talking to the Coalition about speeding up legislation that would close the so-called widow tax loophole on Labor’s negative gearing and capital gains tax changes.
Speaking to reporters in the press gallery corridor this morning, the treasurer said the government had made it “abundantly clear” that it is addressing the issue, and has released draft legislation that’s currently still open for consultation.
Chalmers said:
Now, if the opposition’s main ask is that we pass the government’s legislation quicker, then obviously I’m up for that discussion.
For a recap on what the widow tax is: the government is grandfathering changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax meaning existing owners of a property using the tax incentives can still access them, but as soon as that property is sold or changes hands they’re no longer available. For anyone buying a property that isn’t a new-build, those concessions will no longer be available.
But it means that in the event of a divorce or death where a property goes from joint ownership to the single ownership of one spouse, the current rules say they no longer get the benefit. So the government is promising to change that.
Labor pledges $14.8bn to boost fuel security and increase domestic reserves
Labor has pledged to established a government-owned strategic reserve of one billion litres of diesel and jet fuel, and will consult on low carbon fuels.
The government has released two consultation papers and is pledging $14.8bn to boost fuel security following major international shocks from the war in Iran.
As part of this package, Labor has also committed to “increasing mandatory industry fuel stockholding requirements by an additional 10 days for diesel, petrol and jet fuel by 2030.”
The energy and climate change minister, Chris Bowen and the infrastructure minister, Catherine King, are holding a press conference on the announcement.
Bowen says:
We’ve been pleased with the updates I’ve been able to give the Australian people every week about how many days we have, but strengthening it, not for this crisis, but for future geopolitical crises, which are inevitable at various points in coming decades, is very important for our fuel security.
Wilson leaves door open to tobacco excise cut
Tim Wilson says the Coalition wants to cut out the tobacco black market in Australia and that Anthony Albanese’s “pride” has led him to ruling out measures to do that.
The shadow treasurer is talking about the calls to cut the tobacco excise.
One Nation has said it would do so, as the illegal cigarette market has soared and the budget take from the excise has tanked in recent years.
Wilson, speaking to journalists this morning is asked about whether the Coalition would support One Nation’s plan to cut the excise by 75%. He says the party will “review this policy”:
In principle, we want to cut out the black market and the organised crime that the Albanese government has let fester. What we know is, through pride, the Albanese government is ruling out any measure that would stomp down on organised crime, which is literally handing over the trade to criminals that’s then going on to do things like finance terrorism and hurt the Australian community.
It’s time the Albanese government got past its pride, acknowledged, just like in their budget, that adding more taxes doesn’t always deliver, or definitely doesn’t deliver, better outcomes for the Australian people.
Others in his party, including MP Mary Aldred who is part of a parliamentary committee reviewing the excise, has argued for the levy to be cut.
Gambling amendments coming today
Josh Butler
Further to what Krishani has already told you on the gambling bill, we will be expecting more news later today on the specifics but it’s understood another tweak will be moving the start time of the television ad restrictions from 6am to 5am.
That provision of the laws was originally going to limit TV ads to three per hour between 6am and 8.30pm. It may now be moved back to 5am, we understand, but we’ll wait for the final tick-off once it goes through the Labor and Liberal party rooms today.
We reported last week that this small shift in TV ad times, which will not be nearly enough to win over critics of the changes, was part of the negotiations.
We’re told there will be more than a dozen amendments. We already know a few of them, with Labor proposing to create a single opt-out register for gambling ads and taking action on inducements, but we’re still awaiting specific details about how those would work.
Unsurprisingly, key advocates for more action on gambling ads have branded the government and Liberal amendments as inadequate. Independent MP Sophie Scamps, responding to discussion about the deal, slammed the changes as “weak, piecemeal, pathetic.”
Australians are the biggest losers to gambling in the world and over 400 die by suicide each year linked to gambling addiction. Yet the major parties will crow about doing a deal that will be ineffective and which prioritises the profits of Gambling corporations over the wellbeing of Australians.
Rent increase reports ‘don’t seem realistic’ says Charlton
The assistant minister for science, Andrew Charlton, has dismissed media reports of NAB warning that rents in Sydney and Melbourne could rise by up to 30% due to budget changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax.
Speaking to RN Breakfast earlier, Charlton says 99% of properties that people are in at the moment are grandfathered. Under the budget changes, anyone who currently negatively gears their property will still be able to do so, but only someone who buys newly built property from now will be able to negatively gear it.
Charlton says:
I’ve seen those reports on rental increases today, and they just don’t seem realistic to me … So the idea that you would have big changes to the properties that people are currently renting, when the overwhelming majority of them are in grandfathered arrangements, just doesn’t seem to make sense.
In the budget, the Treasury department modelled the impact of the changes and said rents would increase about $2 per week.
Charlton says he reckons that Treasury modelling is right and “that there’ll be negligible impacts of our changes on rents”.
Chalmers resists call for excise cut with focus on police crack down on tobacco black market
Jumping back to Jim Chalmers’ interview on ABC News Breakfast, the treasurer hosed down proposals to drop the tobacco excise, and said the government is focused on the law and order side of cracking down on illegal cigarettes.
The government has been under some pressure to reconsider the excise, as NSW premier Chris Minns has called for a review of the policy while others in the state Labor party have argued for a cut.
Chalmers says:
Our primary focus has been on providing hundreds of millions of dollars in extra resources for the police and other authorities to crack down on this big problem in our society and in local communities as well. Now, we’ve had some recent successes when it comes to that crackdown. We’ve seen some raids and some busts when it comes to some of this illegal supply. That’s a good thing. We want to see more of that.
Tobacco excise increases lead to ‘more mafia’, Joyce says in call for cut
Barnaby Joyce says increasing the tobacco excise, which makes legal cigarettes more expensive is just leading to “more mafia” around the country, as he argues that the excise should be cut.
Speaking to RN Breakfast this morning, the One Nation MP points to the surge of Australians buying illegal cigarettes which has led to the government revenue from the excise tanking.
Annual excise revenue has more than halved over the past five years to $7.8bn.
Joyce says:
This is just absurd economics: that if you keep on putting up the price of cigarettes, you’re going to get more excise. Now, if you keep on putting up the price of cigarettes, you’re going to get more mafia. That’s what you’re getting, more mafia. And that’s precisely what’s happening. And the only way we can deal with the criminality, the mafia that also underwrites some of the other drugs, is to bring back the price of legal cigarettes into the same realm as where the illegal ones are.
But, and there’s a big but here for you, some research by the e61 institute released late last year showed slashing the tobacco excise might not actually be enough to lure smokers back to legal cigarettes and could even widen the multibillion-dollar hole blown in the budget.
Federal police to investigate leaked melon-gate memo
The Australian federal police has told Liberal shadow defence minister, James Paterson that it will review the leak of a memo sent by Japanese diplomats to the Australian government over melon-gate.
Just when you thought that story was all over …
Last week it was reported that a memo from Japan had downplayed the PM’s appearance on the Bush Deep podcast, and said they didn’t believe Anthony Albanese’s comments or hand gestures were done with “ill will”.
Paterson and shadow foreign minister, Ted O’Brien, then referred that leak to the AFP.
The AFP has responded in a letter, seen by Guardian Australia, which says it takes allegations of unauthorised disclosures of correspondence seriously. It has been referred to the Special Investigations Command.
You can read more about the incident here from Malcolm Farr:
Coalition offers ultimatum on widow tax and NDIS
Angus Taylor has said the opposition will only support the government’s NDIS bill if it first removes the so-called widow tax in the government’s budget changes.
This morning, Jim Chalmers told ABC News Breakfast that the government is working through those changes, and has released draft legislation (which we knew).
Last week, the opposition tried to suspend standing orders in the parliament to get Labor to bring the bill on immediately.
Chalmers says he’ll engage in good faith:
On the NDIS – this is all about saving the NDIS from itself, making it sustainable so it can continue to deliver a decent standard of care for Australians who need and deserve that. That’s our motivation here. And it should be supported, our changes should be supported in the Senate in that light and on its merits.
The government made it clear we were addressing [the widow tax]. We already released draft legislation. We have consulted on that. We made it abundantly clear that this is a change that we’ll be making. Now, if the opposition wants to do that quicker, of course we’ll engage with them in good faith.
