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The Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA) has welcomed the push from the Government’s reaffirmed commitment to increasing the superannuation guarantee (SG) to 12%, which was announced in the Federal Budget earlier this week, and said it was
an important step towards providing adequate retirement savings, particularly for women and younger Australians.
ASFA also supported the package of additional measures aimed at boosting women’s retirement savings and increasing flexibility for retirees to make contributions and access income streams which included:
Abolishing the $450 a month earnings threshold for the payment of the SG;
The removal of the work test (for those aged 67 to 74) for superannuation contributions;
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The Sydney and Melbourne property boom is facing a slowdown on federal government forecasts as closed international borders and the end of grants encouraging home building hit the housing market brakes.
This yearâs federal budget expects a likely slowdown in property market activity following a rapid rise in prices across the country, with new supply entering the market sooner than expected on the back of generous grants like HomeBuilder pulling forward construction activity. At the same time, the international border is expected to remain closed until mid-2022 limiting the arrival of new migrants needing a new home.
The housing market is expected to slow.
Denied insurance, rebuffed loan applications and struggling to refinance: Australia’s coal export industry, the world’s largest, says it is being squeezed out by banks and insurers, and some want the government to wade in.
Australia exported A$43bn-worth of thermal coal, its second-largest export by value, in 2020. But miners say that Australian banks’ retreat from fossil fuels as they seek to curb their contribution to greenhouse gas emissions is also stifling Asian financiers’ willingness to plug the resulting funding gap.
The complaints come in submissions to a
parliamentary inquiry established earlier this year to examine the impact of prudential regulation on Australia’s export industries. While the probe includes all major exporters, it is expected to focus mainly on the increasingly controversial coal trade.