‘No issue between us’: Hastie denies tensions with Taylor
Andrew Hastie says things are pretty hunky dory between him and Angus Taylor, after Hastie came out saying he was open to gas windfall taxes, an idea Taylor very quickly shut down yesterday.
Speaking to Sky News this morning, Hastie says claims the opposition leader would formally counsel him were “vexatious”.
He says Taylor is a “great leader”.
There’s no issue between us … [Taylor] said he read my transcript closely, and there was a difference between what was reported and what I actually said on the program. So a lot of people use the media to run an agenda, and Angus is a person who establishes the facts, and that’s why he’s a good leader, because he doesn’t jump ahead of the situation. So we’re in a good place.
Angus is a mate. I’ve spent a lot of time in and out of work with him, and we have a great relationship.
Hastie is asked if the chat was formal or casual, Hastie says it was the latter.
Key events
Luca Ittimani
RBA recommends removing card surcharges
Surcharges on credit and debit card payments should be eliminated by October with banks to cop the lost revenue, the Reserve Bank has concluded.
The RBA has found removing the extra charges levied on consumers paying by card are no longer appropriate for the Australian economy, backing in its decision last July to advocate the removal of surcharges across the board.
The Albanese government had only promised to remove the costs on debit cards. We’ll see how the government responds today.
Big banks had pushed back against the RBA’s proposal and warned they might hike credit card fees and interest rates and cut benefits and rewards points. The bank’s final review paper acknowledges that big banks will likely lose some revenue, pressuring credit card points systems, but argues banks had already been pushing these costs on to small businesses.
Dan Jervis-Bardy
Musicians join campaign calling for 25% gas export tax
A star-studded lineup of Australian musicians – including Jimmy Barnes, Midnight Oil, King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard and Yothu Yindi – have added their voices to the campaign calling for a 25% tax on gas export revenue.
More than 120 musicians have signed an open letter appealing to the prime minister and avid music fan, Anthony Albanese, to introduce the tax to “ease climate and cost-of-living pressure”.
The musicians join the Greens, Labor-aligned trade unions, crossbenchers and environmentalists in pushing for a 25% gas export tax, which the Australia Institute estimates could raise $17bn per year.
The campaign has renewed momentum after revelations that the Treasury was modelling a new levy to capture windfall profits from gas and thermal companies.
The open letter reads:
Musicians speak up when leaders fall short. We often reflect the will of the people, especially when those in power refuse to. We are doing so, here and now. We call on the Australian Government to act immediately: implement an ongoing 25% tax on gas export revenue, and invest those profits in the communities, culture and climate solutions our country urgently needs.
The intervention from the musicians comes after Labor voted with the Greens to establish a parliamentary inquiry into the tax settings for oil and gas companies, offering another sign that Albanese was open to potential changes.
Albanese downplays inflation impact of fuel excise cut
The prime minister says cutting the fuel excise by 50% for three months won’t add more money into the economy and fuel inflation.
Anthony Albanese says cutting the fuel excise will reduce the price of it, but won’t mean households are spending more.
The idea of some of this simplistic analysis that says that somehow this is putting more money into the economy, as your last caller said … he’s still spending more money than he was before. So how is there more money in the economy? By reducing the cost?
The PM is also asked about an ABC report that early analysis from the prime minister’s department assumed rationing would take effect if the diesel stockpile dropped to 10 days’ supply.
He denies the reporting and calls it spectulation:
That’s the ABC you know going on, you’ll see lots of speculation. What we do, national cabinet will go through all of these processes in an orderly way.
PM remains tight-lipped over triggers for national fuel plan
The government has been vague on exactly what will trigger stage three of the four-stage national plan announced yesterday.
The government has said stage three would be where there is significant disruption to fuel supply, but it’s not exactly clear what that means, and what would be the response for families.
On ABC Radio Melbourne, Anthony Albanese again won’t clarify exactly what that level of disruption means, or what exactly would trigger fuel rationing.
Well the plan outlines it, where there’s extraordinary disruption, but where we’re at, the objective here is to stay at stage two. That’s the objective. That’s why supply is important.
Host Raf Epstein tries to push Albanese and asks whether the government hasn’t decided what exactly that trigger is. Albanese replies, “No, what we’ve decided is to try and keep supply going.”
On the fuel excise, he says the measure will “make a difference”
So what we have done to make a difference. I accept that it doesn’t make up for the increase in price but it does make a difference.
Albanese says it’s ‘good’ Dezi Freeman was shot by police
Anthony Albanese says it’s “good” Dezi Freeman was shot by police yesterday after being on the run for seven months.
Speaking to ABC Radio Melbourne, the prime minister says he attended the funerals of the two officers allegedly killed by Freeman.
Albanese says Freeman “always was going to be brought to justice”.
At the end of this saga, the thing I remember is the sacrifice of those police officers and the fact that our police put themselves in danger each and every day in order to keep us safe.
The head of Asio has made very clear warnings about what this ideology represents. They don’t respect any processes they regard the police and government and our entire society has not been legitimate, and they place themselves outside it, and they represent a risk to others.
Host, Raf Epstein, asks whether it’s “good” when anyone is killed despite their crimes.
Albanese replies:
This guy, I just don’t have any sympathy for him. That’s my position.
He always was going to be brought to justice and it’s clear that he was always going to fight it out.
Minns says states will work out deal to hand back some GST revenue from fuel spikes
The NSW premier, Chris Minns, says the states will try and reach a deal today to hand back some of the GST revenue gained through higher fuel prices.
GST is a percentage, rather than a flat cost per litre like the fuel excise, so as petrol prices go up, so does the GST take.
Speaking to the Today show a little earlier this morning, Minns said legislation is involved and is a little tricky, but the states will meet again today to figure out how to do it.
It’s not as straightforward. The GST deal is complicated, and it needs legislation, but what I think is likely to happen is that we can reduce that excise a bit more and then give that money back to the commonwealth.
So we accept that we don’t want to profit or make excess profits off people’s misery during a difficult period for consumers. So we want to hand back the GST element that’s gone up as a result of petrol prices rapidly increasing over the last six weeks.
Hastie says he’s still ‘open-minded’ on gas tax debate
So where does this leave Andrew Hastie on his “openness” to a gas export windfall tax?
Last week he told Guardian Australia he was “sympathetic to that point of view” to place a 25% windfall tax on gas companies:
I think a lot of people, Australians, feel like the multinationals don’t have a social licence, that they’ve had a really good run of our wealth here, and so I’m sympathetic to that point of view … I just know how important those industries are to Australia, so I’d want to get it right. So, I guess I’m open-minded about those questions.
This morning he said he was open-minded “to a debate”, but that didn’t mean he would ultimately support the idea one way or another.
I said I’m open-minded to a debate. An open mind is for closing on a position. And you know, I’m signalling to people that I’m not just going to dismiss their concerns out of hand. Now, we go through a shadow cabinet process, we go through a party room process, and I’m not getting ahead of that.
I’m simply telling people I’m listening, I’m hearing what you’re saying. That doesn’t mean I’m landing on a position.
‘No issue between us’: Hastie denies tensions with Taylor
Andrew Hastie says things are pretty hunky dory between him and Angus Taylor, after Hastie came out saying he was open to gas windfall taxes, an idea Taylor very quickly shut down yesterday.
Speaking to Sky News this morning, Hastie says claims the opposition leader would formally counsel him were “vexatious”.
He says Taylor is a “great leader”.
There’s no issue between us … [Taylor] said he read my transcript closely, and there was a difference between what was reported and what I actually said on the program. So a lot of people use the media to run an agenda, and Angus is a person who establishes the facts, and that’s why he’s a good leader, because he doesn’t jump ahead of the situation. So we’re in a good place.
Angus is a mate. I’ve spent a lot of time in and out of work with him, and we have a great relationship.
Hastie is asked if the chat was formal or casual, Hastie says it was the latter.
Fuel excise cut will take days or longer to kick in: Bowen
Chris Bowen has urged the public not to “yell” at service stations that don’t immediately reduce their fuel prices after the fuel excise cut kicks in tomorrow.
He says that service stations will have already paid tax on fuel at the bowser, and will be waiting to purchase new fuel with the discounted levy, which can then be passed on to consumers.
Bowen told Sunrise this morning it’ll take a few days at least in the cities for the lower prices to kick in.
The fuel in the tank at the service station might have been there for days. They have already paid the tax. So please, if you turn up tomorrow and the price has not gone down, they are just waiting for the new petrol with the lower tax to come in.
It is really important we do not yell at the poor person behind the counter and say they have not passed on the petrol tax cut yet, because it will take a little while … Days in city areas, it can be a bit longer in regional areas because they have already paid the tax on the petrol in the tank.
NSW government relaxes freight weight limits to save fuel
The New South Wales premier, Chris Minns, has announced his government will relax freight weight limits for freight trucks carrying cargo.
It means trucks will be able to carry more load and do less trips. Minns tells ABC News Breakfast the rules will also be changed to relax the hours that trucks can make deliveries to stores so they can do “more efficient runs”.
[It] means that they can have fewer trips with more tonnage per trip, which we estimate can save between 18 and 35% of the diesel in our economy. It’s a short term measure while we navigate this crisis.
So why doesn’t it happen all the time?
Minns says the measures are cost neutral in the short term, but the heavier the cargo, the worse it is for the roads, meaning roads degrade faster, so it can’t be done permanently.
If we had it in place forever, then it would [degrade roads]. But right now, the urgent priority is to conserve fuel, particularly diesel fuel in our logistic and transport sector. And I mean, we can’t muck around if we’re talking about fuel shortages, and it’s linked to groceries and food. And we want to make this decision early.
