Latest news with #JimChalmers
The Diplomat
a day ago
- Business
- The Diplomat
Achieving Australian Abundance
The central operating principle of Australia's current Labor Party government has been a 'whole-of-nation' approach to both national and foreign policy. The idea is that each sector of Australian society contributes to the country's overall capabilities, and each sector should see itself as part of a converging web of interrelated components that influence and affect one another. The key to effective statecraft is getting the fundamentals of a prosperous society right, and making sure these fundamentals are capable of adapting to changing circumstances. Urban planners may not recognize themselves as foreign policy actors, but if the most important capability Australia has is its human capital, then the environments that allow people to excel are imperative. This is the crossroads Australia currently finds itself at. Australia's present and future capabilities face two extraordinary hurdles. The first is the exorbitant cost of housing in the country – particularly in its major cities – and persistent impediments to boosting supply. The second is that Australian cities have urban rail networks that – due to irresponsible government neglect during the second half of the 20th century – are decades behind where they need to be for today's city populations, let alone projected future city growth. Combined, these two problems inhibit the flourishing of individual Australians, and the flourishing of the country's most economically productive urban centers. The result is a stifled country that is unable to fully unlock its potential, and therefore unable to navigate an increasingly complex and unstable world with confidence and sophistication. In recent interviews, Australia's treasurer, Jim Chalmers, recognized that this is a problem, and has begun discussing the Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson book, 'Abundance.' Or, as the kids say, Chalmers has been 'Abundance-pilled.' The central thesis of Klein and Thompson's book is that a dense web of regulations, processes, consultations, and reviews are getting in the way of producing outcomes that should be deemed 'progress.' They argue that in the United States – but this is also true of Australia – it is becoming to difficult and inefficient to build the things that are necessary for thriving societies. Or, as Chalmers has said, 'We want good things to happen, we've got to stop strangling good things from happening.' Yet in order to seriously address this problem, there is a major structural issue that needs to be both acknowledged and dealt with. Australia has one of the highest rates of tertiary education in the world. This is an absolute positive, and education should never be discouraged. But the unintended consequence of the rise of widespread tertiary education has been the lack of productive outlets, well-paid, or status-providing jobs for university graduates in the private sector. As a result, the state has felt the need to absorb this cohort into the bureaucracy. This has created a larger class of rule-makers and consultants, making rules and seeking rents for a greater array of aspects of life. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) there are now almost 1 million people working within Australia's various bureaucracies (state and federal), with an addition of 50,000 people in the last year alone. This is not a positive trajectory, but given the difficulty in actually reducing the size of the bureaucracy – especially in a city like Canberra, where government is the industry – the solution Chalmers and the rest of the Cabinet (as well as their state counterparts) may have to tackle is one of culture. For this, the government would need to find a way to shift the culture of the bureaucracy to see its personal rewards not in the administration of a web of complex rules, but in the production of efficient and effective outcomes. That is, a way of making pride flow from green lights, not red. Being able to unlock both a new vast supply of housing stock, and a great expansion of public works, is fundamental to addressing Australia's dire cost of living, but also addressing the country's major capability deficit in its lack of economic complexity. Affordable housing is essential for people to be able to take economic risks, and creativity thrives in urban centers with dense public transport networks. Therefore shifting the culture of the bureaucracy to have a laser-like focus on efficient outcomes also should create the conditions for tertiary educated Australians to find well-paid and high status jobs in the private sector – or create these jobs themselves. This would weaken the need for the state to absorb these highly educated people itself, and subsequently weaken some of the mechanisms that inhibit Australia's abundance.
News.com.au
a day ago
- Business
- News.com.au
‘Financial disadvantage': Super boost to close gender gap
Major superannuation changes are set to roll out across the country starting from July 1, set to help millions of women bridge the gender pay gap. Starting next Tuesday parents taking government-funded paid parental leave will also receive a superannuation payment. This additional payment is estimated to help the near 200,000 Australian mothers each year and narrow the gender superannuation gap by around 30 per cent. According to the ASFA a woman taking 24 weeks leave the superannuation contributions will lead to $7,200 more at the time of retirement. When the regime is extended to 26 weeks, the boost to the super balance increases to around $7,800. ASFA chief executive Mary Delahunty said this is a major win for Australian women who take time out of the paid workforce to have and raise children, and helps reduce the superannuation gender gap. 'While compulsory superannuation has been delivering on its purpose of providing a dignified retirement for most Australians, it's long been known that women are often financially disadvantaged in retirement due to time taken out of work to have and raise a family. she said. 'The introduction of superannuation payments on government paid parental leave from 1 July on will go a long way to closing the gender superannuation gap.' Australian treasurer Jim Chalmers said paying super on paid parental leave from this Tuesday is part of our efforts to ensure parents earn more, keep more of what they earn and retire with more as well. 'A sornger paid parental leave system is good for families and good for the economy as well,' he told NewsWire. 'This important change means a more dignified and secure retirement for more Australian parents and especially women.' A second change which will see nearly 14 million workers will see their superannuation guarantee increase from 11.5 to 12 per cent starting from July 1. While the changes seem small, the treasury uses an example of a 27 year old woman who has taken up a graduate position as a professional lawyer. 'During her career, she takes an extended six-year career break for the birth and care of her two children,' treasury estimates. 'Her balance will be $22,000 higher at retirement as a result of the permanent 0.5 percentage point increase in the SG rate from 11.5 to 12 per cent.' Mr Chalmers says these reforms will make a meaningful difference for millions of Australians, helping them work towards a well-deserved and dignified retirement. 'Since we've come to government, we've increased the superannuation guarantee four times, and this means an extra $98,000 at retirement for a 30 year old earning the average full-time income,' Mr Chalmers said. While the Albanese government has implemented an increase of the Superannuation guarantee from 10 to 12 per cent. It was the then Morrison government who started the changes, which saw superannuation lift from 9.5 per cent to 12, at a 0.5 per cent increment a year. The treasury department says the changes to Tuesday's superannuation guarantee will see 14 million employees have their retirement lifted. The ASFA said this increase means a median 30-year old worker making $75,000 a year will add about $20,000 to their superannuation balance by the time they retire. This $20,000 increase will mean the median 30-year old will retire with $610,000 in superannuation, above the $53,383 a year or $595,000 they would need for a comfortable retirement. ASFA says a couple requires $73,875 a year or $690,000 combined in total to live comfortably in retirement using their super plus age pension top-ups. The major caveat to these figures for singles and couples is owning your own home by retirement. The National Minimum Wage and award wages will increase by 3.5 per cent from 1 July 2025, adding $0.85 per hour to $24.95 for full time staff. Treasury estimates this change will add $75,114 over the average working life of an employee.
The Age
a day ago
- Business
- The Age
Chalmers hits China-linked companies with landmark lawsuit over crucial military minerals
Treasurer Jim Chalmers has launched an unprecedented lawsuit against China-linked interests to force them to sell their stake in an Australian rare earths miner, whose products are crucial to warplanes, missiles and submarines. The lawsuit, filed in the Federal Court on Thursday against foreign investors in Northern Minerals, is also seeking financial penalties for allegedly refusing to obey Chalmers' direction to sell out of the company last year. The Australian-listed company is developing the Browns Range heavy rare earths project in remote northern Western Australia, which could be one of the first non-Chinese sources of the minerals used in military guidance systems, wind turbines and electric vehicles. Chalmers' court action against an entity called Indian Ocean International Shipping and Service Company Ltd and a former associate follows his order last year for five Chinese-linked groups to sell their shares in Northern Minerals to unconnected buyers by September. 'Foreign investors in Australia are required to follow Australian law,' Chalmers said in a statement. 'We are doing what is necessary to protect the national interest and the integrity of our foreign investment framework.' China's control of rare earths and critical products is an escalating cause of concern to the United States and countries like Australia, after Donald Trump's trade war prompted Beijing to restrict shipments of the materials. It has made similar moves before, including against Japan in 2010 during a territorial dispute. China controls nearly all of the world's heavy rare earth production and Australian Strategic Policy Institute senior fellow Ian Satchwell said the global superpower's interests were seeking to exert influence over Northern Minerals. 'Australia, with like-minded partner nations, is seeking to build alternative supply chains for rare earths and other critical minerals, and the Northern Minerals shenanigans are a very obvious example of China-linked bad faith investing to allegedly seek to disrupt those efforts,' Satchwell said. 'In Australia's case those rare earths are used for things such as F35 fighters, missiles attached to them and in the future, nuclear-powered submarines.'
AU Financial Review
a day ago
- Business
- AU Financial Review
In August, Chalmers must tell a story about real tax reform
Jim Chalmers likes to say that people who robustly question the health of the federal budget are 'talking down' the Australian economy. Like all skilled narrative politicians, the treasurer is particularly aware of the way storytelling can be used to shape public understanding and opinion about key economic policies. Hence his sensitivity to critical media coverage (a trait shared with his predecessor Josh Frydenberg).
Forbes
a day ago
- Business
- Forbes
Australian Legal Action Against Chinese Rare Earth Investors
A strategically important deposit of rare earths in Australia is the prize in a legal brawl which erupted earlier today when the Australian Government launched its first case for alleged breaching of foreign investment laws against a group of shadowy Chinese investors. Australia's Treasurer (Finance Minister) Jim Chalmers said the action was being taken against Indian Ocean International Shipping and Service Company for failing to comply with an order to sell shares in a rare earth project developer, Northern Minerals. Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers. (Photo by) Indian Ocean and five associated foreign investors were ordered last year to sell the shares they had acquired in Northern which owns the Browns Range rare earth project in the far north of Western Australia. Browns Range is rich in dysprosium and terbium two of the most valuable rare earths with specialist uses in industrial and defence equipment. China dominates current supply. Both dysprosium and terbium were on a list of materials which China temporarily banned from export to the U.S. earlier this year. Terbium was also recently added to the inventory of products produced by Australia's Lynas Rare Earths which is working closely with the U.S. Government on rare earth refining. The Northern Minerals project at Browns Range is reported to contain the biggest deposit of dysprosium and terbium outside China. Military Uses The company, in a background note, said dysprosium and terbium were used in the production of magnets for military, clean energy, and high technology industries. 'Dysprosium and terbium are prized because their unique properties improve the durability of magnets by increasing their resistance to demagnetization, Northern Minerals said. "The flagship deposit in Browns Range is Wolverine which is thought to be the highest-grade dysprosium and terbium orebody in Australia. Periodic symbol and diagram of Dysprosium illustration 'The company is preparing to bring Wolverine into production with the objective of providing a reliable alternative source of dysprosium and terbium to production sourced from China.' Chalmers said in a statement that he was doing what was 'necessary to protect the national interest and Australia's foreign investment framework'. He did not name any individuals in the compulsory share sale (disposal) order but last year there were five groups of investors said to have been ordered to sell their Northern Minerals shares including a business called Yuxiao and individuals named as Ximei Liu and Xi Wang. The Australian Financial Review newspaper said Yuxiao is close to China-based Shenghe Resources and China Northern. Ordered To Sell Today's case against the Chinese investors is said to focus on the fact that they have defied the original order to sell stock as required by Australian law. Browns Range is being developed in association with a rare earth refinery being built in the south of Western Australia by Lynas Rare Earths. Northern Minerals told the Australian Stock Exchange that it was not party to the government action against the Chinese investors.
