Extending income management in Cape York

Image: Coen (Wikimedia Commons)

Legislation introduced into Parliament last week proposes to extend operation of income management in Cape York for a further two years until the end of 2015. This will be the third time income management has been extended in Cape York since it began in 2008. The Government argues that income management is a key element of welfare reform efforts in Cape York, which it says have 'seen improved school attendance, care and protection of children and community safety'.

Quantitative easing - What do we know about the Fed's exit strategy?

Image source: Wikimedia commons

For much of this year there has been speculation about when the US Federal Reserve (the Fed) will begin tapering quantitative easing (QE) as a first step to normalising monetary policy. This would be a welcome development for Australia because the Australian dollar, which remains at uncomfortably high levels, would likely depreciate. This note provides a quick summary of what the Fed has said about its exit strategy. It follows on from an earlier flagpost Exiting quantitative easing – the need for a deft touch and some luck.

Legislation and the financial initiative: what happened to the Opposition amendments to the Carbon Tax Repeal Bills?

The Clean Energy Legislation (Carbon Tax Repeal) Bill 2013 and other related Bills passed the House of Representatives on 21 November 2013 with no amendments. While this is not an unusual occurrence, what is notable is that Opposition amendments to the package of bills were not debated during the consideration-in-detail stage.

Abolishing free legal advice to asylum seekers — who really pays?

Image source: unhcr.org

One week before the 2013 federal election, the Coalition announced that, if elected, it would no longer provide funding for free legal advice to asylum seekers who have arrived without a valid visa. The primary concern for the Coalition was clearly the increasing cost of providing this service. However, one month prior to the Coalition’s announcement, the Government had entered into a regional resettlement arrangement with Papua New Guinea which meant all future boat arrivals would be processed abroad with no access to the Immigration Advice and Application Assistance Scheme (IAAAS). Nonetheless, there are estimated to be in excess of 30,000 asylum seekers in Australia that will be affected by this proposed change.

Removing employer responsibility for Paid Parental Leave

Image: Wikimedia Commons

New Abbott Government legislation will remove the requirement for employers to make payments to employees under the national Paid Parental Leave (PPL) scheme from 1 March 2014. Instead, employees would be paid directly by the Department of Human Services, unless the employer chooses to make the payments.

The Government's reason for making the change is to 'ease administrative burdens on business'. 

Currently, in most cases, the Commonwealth Government funds employers to provide instalments of PPL to their eligible long-term employees for up to 18 weeks at the National Minimum Wage (currently $606.50 per week).

How much does working until 70 save the budget bottom line?

Last week, the Productivity Commission released a research paper on the ‘economic issues raised by population ageing’, which included a recommendation to raise the age for eligibility for the Age Pension to 70. This proposal has been widely condemned by interest groups including the ACTU and National Seniors Australia, with one group claiming that implementing the policy would ‘see grandmothers and grandfathers joining the dole queue’. A Grattan Institute report released yesterday also includes this proposal as one of the ‘tough choices’ that may be required to balance the budget.

The Hung Parliament: procedural changes in the House of Representatives

Image source: Wikimedia

On 5 August 2013 the 43rd Commonwealth Parliament—the first hung parliament since the early 1940s—was officially prorogued ahead of the federal election to be held on 7 September 2013. Whilst there has been considerable commentary on the performance of the Government, the Opposition, the parties and the cross-bench during the 43rd Parliament, there has been much less discussion about the nature of the hung parliament itself. However, the 43rd Parliament was characterised by a range of new arrangements to House of Representatives practice and procedure.

Housing affordability and social housing



Image source: Wikibooks

Australia’s housing affordability situation is dire, and looks set to worsen. The figures, as outlined in a recently released AIHW report, are stark. They indicate that between 2001 and 2011 national average house prices increased by 147 per cent, from $169,000 to $417,500, while median household disposable income rose by 57 per cent. Further, the proportion of Australian households in housing stress (that is, spending over 30 per cent of their gross household income on housing costs, either mortgage repayments or rent) has increased from 14 per cent in 1994–5 to 18 per cent in 2011–12, with 2 in 5 (42 per cent) of these being low-income households (in the lowest 40 per cent of the income distribution).

According to the recently abolished National Housing Supply Council (NHSC) the fundamental problem is one of supply and demand. As a result of a number of factors, chief of which are: Australia’s growing and ageing population; the trend toward smaller household sizes and larger dwelling sizes; major changes in household composition and relationships; taxation policy; land release and zoning; and labour costs, the NHSC argues that housing supply is simply not keeping up with underlying demand. As at June 2011, the Council estimated this shortfall at 228,000 dwellings. It projects growth in the overall gap between demand and supply to increase to 370,000 dwellings by 2016 and 492,000 dwellings by 2021.

Gambling reforms to be wound back



Image: Victorian Government

On the 20 November 2013, the Minister for Social Services, Kevin Andrews introduced the Social Services and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2013 to the House of Representatives. Among a host of amendments to various social welfare, higher education and income support arrangements, the Bill proposes to significantly wind back national gambling reforms that were intended to address problem gambling associated with electronic gaming machines (EGMs), or pokies.

The disputed 2013 WA Senate election

The initial count of the Senate vote in Western Australia gave the last two Senate seats to Palmer United Party (PUP) candidate Zhenya Dio Wang and ALP candidate, sitting senator Louise Pratt. However, the closeness of the result (14 votes separated two minor parties at an important point in the count) was challenged by defeated candidates sitting senator Scott Ludlam (Australian Greens ) and Wayne Dropulich (Australian Sports Party). As a result on 2 October, the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) deferred the formal announcement of the six successful candidates. The next day (3 October) the AEC turned down the appeal for a recount by Ludlam and Dropulich because they ‘did not identify any specific issues which would have warranted the conduct of a recount’. As allowed under section 278(2) of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 the two candidates appealed directly to the Australian Electoral Commissioner Ed Killesteyn.

Total recall: the 2006 Papuan asylum seeker incident and Australia-Indonesia relations

Image source: Wikimedia commons

In the wake of recent allegations that Australia spied on the Indonesian President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, his wife, and a group of his advisors in 2009, Indonesia has recalled its ambassador to Australia, Nadjib Riphat Kesoema, and is ‘reviewing’ current bilateral cooperation. The last time Indonesia recalled its ambassador was in 2006 following the Papuan asylum seeker incident.

Littoral combat ships - lessons learnt from the US



Image source: Wikimedia commons

Less than a fortnight after the 2013 federal election, the new Defence Minister David Johnston indicated that the protection of Australia’s exports through maritime security would be a major Defence priority. In order to achieve this, the Minister claimed that ‘our navy needs a suitable mix of high-end war-fighting capabilities’ and accordingly, consideration should be given to acquiring littoral combat ships (LCS). This article summarises the US experience of acquiring LCS and outlines some key benefits and challenges the US has faced.

A return to Temporary Protection Visas?

Image source: Australian Human Rights Commission

On 18 October 2013 the newly elected Coalition Government registered an amendment to the Migration Regulations 1994 providing for the re-introduction of Temporary Protection Visas (TPVs). Unsurprisingly, given their vocal opposition to TPVs, the Australian Greens have moved to disallow the Regulation. This FlagPost provides an historical overview of the TPV, and outlines the arrangements that will be in place should the new TPV system withstand the disallowance motion.

Electoral quotas for women: an international overview

Dorothy Tangney DBE
Image source: Wikimedia Commons
courtesy Australian Freedom of Panorama

Electoral quotas for women: an international overview, published by the Parliamentary Library, provides an overview of recent global trends in women’s political representation and the different types of gender quotas adopted. Drawing on recent international research, it explains the impact of electoral quotas, what influences their success, and the various arguments for and against their use. The paper also looks at electoral gender quotas in Australia, and describes the use of quota systems in other Commonwealth countries. 

Zippers: former prime ministers leaving parliament

Of Australia’s 28 Prime Ministers Kevin Rudd has become only the fourth former prime minister to have lost an election or the leadership of his party and resigned from parliament shortly afterwards, bringing about a by-election.

Immigration: We can choose our skills, but we can't choose our family

Picture source: DIBP

Whilst boat arrivals, asylum seekers, skilled permanent and temporary programs and even students have kept immigration featured in our politics and newspapers, family migration receives little share of public debate. This is intriguing as family migration is a bigger part of permanent migration than official planning levels would lead us to believe.

Migration Program planning levels fluctuate according to the political, social and economic imperatives of the government of the day. In the mid-1970s, the planned annual intake reached a low of 50,000 places and gradually climbed to the 1988 peak of 145,000 and then reduced to 80,000 by 1993.

Aung San Suu Kyi and Australia’s new relationship with Myanmar

Image source: Wikimedia commons

The Australian Government has confirmed that Aung San Suu Kyi will visit Australia from 27 November to 2 December. This will be Suu Kyi’s first visit to Australia and follows her visits to the US, the UK, Europe, Japan, Singapore, and Thailand over the last eighteen months.

Traditionally, Western images of Suu Kyi have portrayed her as a lone heroine fighting tyrannical army generals. As Myanmar experts like Andrew Selth have argued, with her release from house arrest in late 2010 and the far-reaching reforms that are taking place in Myanmar, Suu Kyi now inhabits a much more complex set of roles in contemporary Myanmar politics.