May 7, 2021
Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg speaks to the media during a press conference inside the budget lockup ahead of handing down the Budget 2020/21 at Parliament House. Source: AAP/Lukas Coch.
It seems like only yesterday Treasurer Josh Frydenberg was unveiling the budget he promised would drive Australia out of pandemic doldrums. Abandoning the deficit-fetishism that has plagued politics for decades, he promised big-spending measures. And if the recent drops are anything to go by, he’ll promise more of the same on Tuesday.
But seven months later, many of Frydenberg’s signature splashes wage subsidies and women’s economic security have failed to have a big impact. And it’s unlikely many of the big assumptions underpinning that budget’s optimistic projections will play out.
Coal provides thousands of jobs and billions of dollars to the Central Queensland economy, so the union representing the industry is calling on the State Government to establish a statutory authority to oversee the transformation of the sector.
The âWorkers Future Authorityâ, as the CFMEU has dubbed it, would be independent of government departments to manage industry transformation and workers transitioning to alternate employment.
With the transition to renewable energy, the CFMEU said the âWorkers Future Authorityâ would identify and attract new industries to impacted regions and would identify areas for skills development, training, and government investment.
Central Queensland has both solar and wind farms established and proposed, plus Gladstone has been identified as a hydrogen hub, on the back of its port, infrastructure, the Gladstone Hydrogen Ecosystem and Hydrogen Park Gladstone initiatives.
Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack says “no one’s going to be jailed” under the India travel ban but insists the “strict provisions” in the Biosecurity Act are necessary to protect the nation.
Under the Biosecurity Act the federal government had threatened Australians who attempted to return home from India during the two-week travel ban with a $66,000 fine or five-year jail term.
However, on Tuesday Prime Minister Scott Morrison conceded there was “pretty much zero chance” those caught travelling home would be jailed or fined.
“No one’s going to be jailed, let’s be honest, but it has to be in place of course,” Mr McCormack said.
“We have to have strict biosecurity rules, I mean our entire agriculture sector is based on having the strictest regime when it comes to biosecurity and that’s why in this budget indeed, we’ve even looked at strengthening our biosecurity rules.
“We want to make sure that Australians, yes, follow the rules but the prime m
Hopes Singapore will become the next country to open a travel bubble with Australia have been set back after a spike in COVID-19 cases in the South East Asian country.
Singapore authorities have announced a 21-day quarantine on most inbound travellers and the return of stricter social-distancing controls after a cluster of cases at a hospital.
From Friday at 11.59pm, all inbound travellers except those from Australia, Brunei, China, New Zealand, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau will have to do a three-week quarantine at dedicated facilities.
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Singapore authorities are bringing back COVID-19 restrictions and increased quarantine rules after a new outbreak. EPA/WALLACE WOON(EPA/AAP)
Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack says it is a “possibility” that migrants could be brought in with returning Australians if quarantine capacities were expanded with a larger facility.