Farnham song ‘Two Strong Hearts’ not banned under hate speech laws, Queensland government confirms
Andrew Messenger
The John Farnham song Two Strong Hearts is not banned as hate speech, the Queensland government has confirmed.
Seven protestors were arrested in Brisbane’s CBD yesterday for allegedly saying or holding a sign reading “from the river to the sea”, which was banned under specific circumstances under legislation passed earlier this year.
The Farnham song features the lyric “like a river to the sea”.
The attorney general, Deb Frecklington, responded to a parliamentary petition on Monday asking her to exempt songs and books from being banned under the legislation.
She said the law had a “high bar” for conduct that would be prohibited, which is only illegal if it causes a member of the public to feel menaced, harassed or offended, though under the act the person does not have to exist. It also allows a person to do so for a genuine artistic, religious, educational or historical purpose. It also does not prohibit “expressions which closely resemble a prohibited expression”.
“The act does not prevent or prohibit the publication of books or the playing or recitation of songs as noted in the petition unless it meets the requirements set out in the act … for example, Two Strong Hearts by John Farnham is not proposed to be banned as suggested in the petition,” she said.
Patrick Commins
‘We are taxed like tobacco,’ Property Council boss says
Mike Zorbas, the chief executive of the Property Council, has hit back against earlier accusations that his and other lobby groups’ opposition to the proposed tax changes runs against the national interest.
Those representing builders and property developers are not vested interests, Zorbas told the Senate inquiry into proposed tax changes, including capital gains reform.
They are directly invested in the prosperity of Australia, as they employ 1.4 million people across the economy.
He argued that government overspending at all levels and by all political parties, alongside a lack of “actual” tax reform, “has left us taxing the life out of new property projects and existing operating assets”.
Zorbas said last year’s economic reform roundtable “appears to have been largely a tax hike forum”.
“Investment in industrial, commercial, and residential property in this country is already taxed like tobacco at a federal, state and local government level to the tune of $130bn a year,” he said.
He argued high taxes were contributing to unaffordable housing.
The cost of each new home is now, in some states, almost 40% federal, state and local government charges.
Master Builders Australia chief, Denita Wawn, said there was “immense frustration” among her members about the prospect of higher taxes when they are already struggling.
“We are of the view that, combined, these tax hikes … will stifle business and are likely to cause a private investment strike, leading to a significant decline in terms of economic capacity of our country,” Wawn said.
Jocelyn Martin, managing director of the Housing Industry Association, said “we do not support measures that Treasury itself expects will reduce housing supply”.
Nick Visser
That’s all for me. Cait Kelly is on deck to take the blog reins. Enjoy the Monday!
Albanese says he won’t engage in any attacks or ‘personalised politics’ with One Nation
The prime minister said he didn’t plan to engage in “the sort of personalised politics” amid One Nation’s “fire the liar” fundraising campaign.
Albanese said his government was focused on delivering for Australians, building homes and increasing the minimum wage, “all of which has been opposed by the three rightwing parties in our parliament”. He went on:
We’ll continue to deliver for Australians and we’ll continue to be focused on their needs.
Albanese says decision on future of fuel excise tax cut coming soon
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, held a press conference a moment ago, where he was asked about the US-Iran ceasefire deal and its impact, if any, on the fuel excise tax cut.
He said the government would make an assessment in the coming days, as a decision “obviously” needs to be made prior to 30 June, when the temporary cut expires.
He said:
We’ll make an assessment over the coming period … We know that an end to the conflict doesn’t mean that it’s business as usual …
We obviously need to make a decision prior to June 30, and we need to do that in advance of June 30 so people have appropriate notice … We’ll make an appropriate assessment.
Farnham song ‘Two Strong Hearts’ not banned under hate speech laws, Queensland government confirms
Andrew Messenger
The John Farnham song Two Strong Hearts is not banned as hate speech, the Queensland government has confirmed.
Seven protestors were arrested in Brisbane’s CBD yesterday for allegedly saying or holding a sign reading “from the river to the sea”, which was banned under specific circumstances under legislation passed earlier this year.
The Farnham song features the lyric “like a river to the sea”.
The attorney general, Deb Frecklington, responded to a parliamentary petition on Monday asking her to exempt songs and books from being banned under the legislation.
She said the law had a “high bar” for conduct that would be prohibited, which is only illegal if it causes a member of the public to feel menaced, harassed or offended, though under the act the person does not have to exist. It also allows a person to do so for a genuine artistic, religious, educational or historical purpose. It also does not prohibit “expressions which closely resemble a prohibited expression”.
“The act does not prevent or prohibit the publication of books or the playing or recitation of songs as noted in the petition unless it meets the requirements set out in the act … for example, Two Strong Hearts by John Farnham is not proposed to be banned as suggested in the petition,” she said.
Patrick Commins
Graeme Samuel criticises ‘very loud voices’ of vested interests fighting tax reform
Graeme Samuel, a former ACCC chair, says the proposed changes to capital gains tax and negative gearing are in the public interest, and has called out the “very, very loud” complaints by “private vested interests” attempting to derail the changes.
Samuel, at the Senate committee hearing into the tax changes, ran through his long history in public life, before saying “and the one thing that I have learned over all these 35 years is this, that the measure of the public interest in relation to reform is generally in inverse proportion to the noise that is made by private vested interests”.
And I can tell you now that the noise in relation to these tax reform proposals announced in the budget has been very, very loud indeed, which persuades me that the public interest is trying to be submerged by the loud voices of private vested interests.
Saul Eslake, an independent economist, also strongly backed the tax changes, saying it was “far from obvious” that the arrangements that have been in place since 1999 “have aided the achievement of any worthwhile public policy objectives”.
But, like other experts appearing earlier in the day, he had suggestions for improvements.
He backed a carve-out for start-ups with a zero cost base, worried the 30% minimum tax rate on capital gains would hurt low-income earners, and argued in favour of investors being able to average their capital gains over a number of years for tax purposes.
Andrew Messenger
Fire ants detected on Sunshine Coast
Residents of the Sunshine Coast have been urged to be on alert, after fire ants were detected outside the south-east Queensland containment boundary.
The aggressive ants arrived in Brisbane more than two decades ago, and have spread since, despite an nationally funded eradication campaign.
The Invasive Species Council said on Monday that a nest had been discovered outside the current containment boundary during proactive surveillance activities.
The council’s advocacy director, Reece Pianta, said nests often become more visible during winter, because the ants will often build distinctive mounds above ground to capture warmth from the sun, making them easier to spot than at other times of the year.
“Every colony found and treated this winter reduces the risk of fire ants spreading further and helps keep eradication on track,” Pianta said.
Australia still has a chance to become the first country in the world to eradicate an established fire ant invasion, but success depends on finding every last nest.
Fire ants are considered one of the world’s worst invasive species and pose a serious threat to Australia’s environment, economy, agriculture and way of life.
Residents can report suspected fire ants, or notify the program that they have checked their property and found none, online or by calling 132 ANT (13 22 68).
Penny Wong to meet activists from Global Sumud Flotilla
Tom McIlroy
The foreign minister, Penny Wong, is to meet activists who took part in a Gaza flotilla protest and were arrested by Israeli authorities in international waters last month.
Eleven Australians were part of the Global Sumud Flotilla, sailing from Mediterranean ports in an attempt to deliver food, medicine and baby formula to the war-ravaged Gaza Strip, blockaded by Israel.
Wong told a budget estimates hearing earlier this month she believes the Australian women who have alleged they were sexually assaulted and beaten by Israeli soldiers.
Israel’s national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, sparked outrage by posting a video of himself taunting detainees as they knelt with their heads on the ground and their hands zip-tied behind their backs.
Members of the group will meet Wong on Monday afternoon, and are expected to push for an independent Australian investigation into the matter.
The Australian government has raised concerns with Israel over the treatment of the flotilla’s members, as well as Israel’s refusal to grant Australian diplomats access to the detained activists.
Benita Kolovos
Ben Carroll rules out leadership tilt against Victoria premier
Victorian deputy premier and education minister, Ben Carroll, was grilled at a press conference earlier about a possible leadership spill against the premier, Jacinta Allan, when Labor MPs gather for their final caucus meeting before the winter parliamentary break on Tuesday.
Carroll repeatedly dismissed suggestions that he was positioning himself as a challenger, telling reporters:
I have said I’ve got the job that I want.
When asked directly if he wanted to be premier, Carroll replied:
I have always aspired to be the education minister.
Asked whether he had ever aspired to the state’s top job, he said:
We have a premier, and she’s working harder than anyone every day. I want to serve Jacinta Allan. I’ve got a young daughter at home, and I couldn’t be more proud to make sure she grows up knowing that I supported Jacinta Allan to be a world-class premier and get re-elected in her own right.
He then flatly rejected a possible spill on Tuesday.
Reporter: “Are you going to try to get the premier’s job tomorrow?
Carroll: “No.”
Reporter: “Are you going to ask her to step aside?”
Carroll: “No.”
Still not satisfied, a reporter then asked Carroll to “look her (Allan) in the eye and say that”. Carroll proceeded to look the premier in the eye and say: “I can look her in the eye and say that.”
Patrick Commins
CGT discount same as spending $50bn to subsidise wealthiest investors, expert says
Imagine spending $50bn a year to subsidise investment returns for the country’s wealthiest people.
This is how Kathryn James, an associate professor from the University of Melbourne’s law school, has described the current investor tax concession regime to the Senate committee hearing today.
James strongly backed changes to what she called the “costly and inequitable” tax concessions for capital gains, pointing to the tens of billions of dollars of revenue foregone each year.
While there has been vocal opposition to switching to the inflation-adjusted discount model, James said “it is worth highlighting that taxing real gains is a special concession in and of itself”.
“The combination of capital gains and negative gearing enables investors to immediately claim investment losses, often at the top marginal rate, and defer capital gains, which are then only taxed on half the gain, and so tax half the effective marginal rate,” she said.
The budget papers showed that the current system results in the government “subsidising the investment preferences of these investors”.
Imagine a government proposal to spend more than $50bn a year, subsidising the investment activities of the wealthiest 10% of Australians. It would be politically unthinkable, but this is effectively what we do when we provide the same support through tax concessions.
Patrick Commins
Reduced housing supply from tax changes worth it to improve equity, expert says
Proposed changes to CGT and negative gearing will mean an estimated 35,000 fewer new homes over coming years, but Susan Lloyd-Hurwitz, the chair of the National Housing Supply and Affordability Council, says it will be worth it in the goal of reducing inequality in the housing market.
Lloyd-Hurwitz was questioned by Liberal senator Andrew Bragg, who asked whether “there was ever a good argument to suppress any supply”.
“I think the good argument around accepting that impact is to do with an intergenerational inequity and the fact that we are building a society that is being divided into Australians that have housing wealth and those that don’t,” Lloyd-Hurwitz says.
She said the reforms “go some way to reduce the speculative investment demand to overconsume housing, which we are highly incentivized to do by the current settings”.
And so in the council’s view, assuming that that is a correct assessment, accepting that for the greater payoff is something that we would support.
Lloyd-Hurwitz said the tax bill should pass and that the council would be conducting its own modelling into the changes.
She did, however, warn of potential “unintended consequences” from tax changes that could dissuade institutional investment in rent-to-buy projects.
Benita Kolovos
Victorian high-school students will be able to use devices for only two hours a day
Carroll provided some more detail on device-free time for secondary schools during the press conference.
He said guidelines will launch in the coming months after consultation with schools but he expects devices will only be allowed for two hours a day in secondary schools:
There shouldn’t be any more than two hours. We want eyes up, screens down. A full reset in the classroom is so important – for behaviour, for calmness, for the students’ own mental health – the focus needs to be on the most important adult in the classroom, and that’s the teacher, and that’s why we are moving down this with a relentless focus on excellence inside every classroom.
He said the device limit would be “strict”, though exceptions would exist for neurodiverse students who rely on technology, as well as for those studying science and technology.
Carroll stressed the limit was in the best interest of students, following “world best practice” from international experts:
The big tech giants, their algorithms, they do not have these young people’s best interests at heart. They’re focused on eyeballs, and we’re focused on their minds and their hearts for the future.
<a href