Latest news with #economicboost
BBC News
a day ago
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Call to turn Norfolk council HQ into concert centre
Transforming a council headquarters into a concert venue and conference centre would "put Norwich on the map", a councillor has Steve Morphew suggested changes to local government could leave Norfolk County Council's main building empty – and repurposing it would provide "a huge potential economic boost" by drawing more visitors to the Conservative deputy council leader Andrew Jamieson rejected the idea as "absurd", arguing the site would still be music journalist and blogger Cerys Hubbard said Norwich "definitely needed" a larger venue than it currently has. Built on the outskirts of the city in 1968, County Hall is primarily home to the county council – but also hosts other organisations including some NHS services. Morphew - who leads the authority's Labour group - argued that, should a shake-up of local government go-ahead, services would likely be relocated to other said a regional mayor – which Norfolk and Suffolk are set to get next year – could attract the investment needed for such a major called for County Hall – and the land around it – to be redeveloped into a conference centre with space "for thousands"."There's no other place in the east of England which has an arena or concert centre that can hold international or national scale conferences and exhibitions,""It's a huge potential economic boost and would put Norwich on the map."Jamieson, who is responsible for finance at the council, said the plan was "madcap" and "absurd"."Whatever happens to local government, I'm sure that we'll need a place that will be used to deliver essential services and I'm pretty sure that county hall will be used for that."We do need to have a conference centre. I just don't think this is the place for it."We've got a whole range of public sector bodies using this venue, not just the council - the NHS and so forth," he added. Whilst Norwich's Carrow Road football stadium has hosted some major gigs – the likes of Elton John, Take That and The Killers have played in recent years – it lacks an arena for journalist Cerys Hubbard said whilst existing venues such as the University of East Anglia's LCR, Norwich Arts Centre and The Waterfront were "great", they were relatively small."To bring bigger acts to Norwich, there needs to be a decent-sized venue."We have to go down to London to see big acts. "You're then having to spend more money on train tickets, petrol, hotels. "I just think it makes more sense to build something in the east of England, for the wider area." Follow Norfolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
CTV News
2 days ago
- Business
- CTV News
CTV National News: Country music festival boosting P.E.I.'s economy
Watch Maria Sarrouh on how Atlantic Canada's biggest country music festival is providing an economic boost to P.E.I., with added benefits for local food security.
SBS Australia
5 days ago
- Business
- SBS Australia
Albanese trip to China could be good for both nations' economies
Financial experts say Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's visit to China will provide an economic boost for both countries. Mr Albanese leaves tomorrow on a trip that includes stops in Beijing, Shanghai and Chengdu and will meet senior Chinese leaders, including President Xi Jinping. Mr Albanese will be accompanied by an Australian business delegation. China is Australia's largest trading partner, and, after a period of frosty relations, has removed around 200 billion dollars worth of trade restrictions on Australia in recent years Raymond Chan, Head of the Asian Desk at Stockbroking Wealth Management firm Morgans Financial Limited, tells S-B-S Cantonese Mr Albanese's visit is another indication of the renewed sense of certainty in the Australia-China relationship. "This visit is seen as a positive signal because one thing important in the world of investing is certainty. When the bilateral relationship is uncertain, investors will hesitate to invest. With a more stable relationship between Australia and China it certaintly boosts sentiment. It's especially important for China because China is Australia's largest trading partner." The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has set up a unit to target romance scams, as reports of the scam types grow. Known as a 'fusion cell', the unit will bring together dating and social media industry representatives as well as law enforcement and financial institutions to better understands and disrupt the scams. Australians lost over $23 million to romance scams last year, with people from a culturally or linguistically diverse background, those with a disability, and First Nations Australians disproportionately impacted by the scams. ACCC Deputy Chair Catriona Lowe tells S-B-S people are at risk when looking for love. "These criminals are experts at targeting really lovely parts of human nature. There is nothing wrong, obviously, with wanting a new relationship, and so people who are seeking that sort of relationship are vulnerable to these sorts of scams." Police say a German backpacker who has been missing for two weeks in Western Australia's wheat belt, likely got lost in dense bushland after her car broke down. W-A police have escalated a national search for 26 year-old Carolina Wilga yesterday, after her van was discovered about 100 kilometres north of where she was last seen in the small Wheatbelt town of Beacon. Carolina was last seen on the 29th of June. Police say the van appears to have suffered mechanical issues. Police are urging a motorbike rider who allegedly ran over a nine-year-old girl in southwest Sydney to come forward. Last night, police say the girl was playing with her friends in the park in the suburb of Rosemeadow when a rider on an unregistered dirt bike came roaring over a hill, hitting the young girl. She was treated for facial injuries by paramedics at the scene and was taken to Westmead Children's Hospital in a serious condition. New South Wales Police Detective Superintendent Grant Healey says police don't believe the incident was intentional but the rider needs to do right by the girl and turn himself in. "Police are actually seeking the rider of the bike to do the right thing and come into the police station and hand themselves in. The rider would know that he hit the little girl. He did stop briefly and had a really brief conversation and rode off without helping the young child. For him to do the right thing by the little girl is to come and hand himself in to police." US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has met with his counterparts in Southeast Asia, seeking to reassure them about the region's importance to the Trump administration, amid the fallout from US tariffs. Mr Rubio joined foreign ministers of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Kuala Lumpur at a meeting that includes Australia, China, the European Union, Japan, Russia, South Korea and others. The delegates have spoken about the threats facing the region as a result of these tariffs, while Russia and China are pushing for deeper ties amid the tariff resentment. Mr Rubio says the Trump administration considers the Indo-Pacific a focal point of its foreign policy. 'We're not abandoning those relationships. On the contrary, we want to strengthen and build upon them. And there are a bunch of other issues, and certainly trade is part of it. But there are a lot of other issues that we work together on. And we will continue to highly prioritise that. The story of the 21st century will be written in the Indo-Pacific. And the countries represented here today along with others that have joined to be a part of this, represent some not just important markets, some of the most important partners we have in the world." In cricket, Australian fast bowler Mitchell Starc says fellow fast bowlers Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins deserve much of the credit for his success. 35-year-old Starc will become just the second Australian fast bowler, after Glenn McGrath, to play 100 Test matches when he plays for Australia in the third Test against the West Indies in Jamaica, which starts on Sunday morning [[13th July]]. Starc, Hazlewood, and Australian captain Cummins all hail from New South Wales, and have played a lot of cricket together. Starc says the trio have lifted one another at the sport's highest level. "It's not lost on myself, or the three of us, how lucky I think we are that we are all from the same place- we train together, we sit in rehab rooms together. Over the years, the ability to push each other along the way, whether it's a flat week or a Test week... I think that contributes to the longevity of the three of us in particular."
ABC News
21-06-2025
- Business
- ABC News
Budget reveals WA oil and gas royalties shrinking as North West Shelf earnings drop
When the nation's largest mainland gas project was given provisional approval to keep running until 2070, the West Australian premier heralded it as an economic boost for the state. "It's not just important for our overall economy, it's important for regional WA," Roger Cook told reporters. But the most recent state budget papers show the shared revenue, or royalties, the project is generating for WA is in rapid decline. A royalty is a fee charged for the right to extract a mineral resource. In the 2022-'23 financial year, royalties from the North West Shelf (NWS) gas project on WA's north-west coast, delivered more than $1.3 billion to the state's coffers. That number is now tipped to drop by more than 70 per cent to $365 million in the 2025-'26 financial year. That amounts to 0.7 per cent of the state's $50.2 billion revenue, and just 6 per cent of the $6.6 billion generated by iron ore royalties. The drop in revenue is because the project's original gas fields are depleting. When the NWS began production in 1984, it was required to give 10 per cent of the revenue from each gas well to the Commonwealth. A legal change four years later meant future offshore projects would not pay royalties, but a 40 per cent tax on profits, known as the Petroleum Resource Rent Tax (PRRT). Two-thirds of the revenue from the NWS is redirected to WA. But as those gas fields deplete, so does their revenue, and there have been new gas sources processed at the NWS since 1988 that do not generate royalties. "The North-West Shelf project [is] forecast to process higher volumes of gas sourced from areas outside the revenue-sharing agreement," the 2025-'26 state budget papers read. Principal adviser to progressive think-tank The Australia Institute Mark Ogge said he had not seen any evidence the new gas sources required to extend the NWS would have royalty agreements attached to them. "Australia is being robbed of its resources and our governments are entirely complicit," he said. Mr Ogge said West Australians reading the latest budget should be outraged. Oil and gas analyst and consultant Jeanette Roberts believed it was likely new revenue-sharing agreements would be signed if the NWS extension was finalised. "I think that's the most likely scenario," Ms Roberts said. A spokesperson for Environment Minister Murray Watt would not comment on whether royalties had featured in the negotiations over the NWS extension because the decision was not final yet. Ms Roberts pointed said the oil and gas industry made other contributions to the Australian economy through taxes. "Tax is more than just Petroleum Resource Rent Tax and state royalties, it's also GST, corporate taxes, a whole bunch of contributions gas companies pay," she said. The industry's peak lobby group, Australian Energy Producers, claimed the sector paid $17 billion in taxes and royalties nationally in the 2023-'24 financial year. A spokesperson for Woodside, which manages the NWS, said the project had contributed $40 billion to Australia since beginning production in 1984. "Including more than $18 billion to the WA government," the spokesperson said. They would not comment on any future royalty-sharing agreements. According to the Australian Taxation Office's corporate tax transparency report, the company paid $2.6 billion in income tax in the 2022-'23 financial year. Mr Ogge from the Australia Institute said the public should still expect more from the industry given there were large offshore gas fields near WA where royalties were not being charged. "Vast amounts of gas are processed in Western Australia from offshore fields and exported, making tens of billions of dollars every year for these companies," he said. "I just cannot understand why the federal government doesn't charge royalties on the vast majority of gas being exported from Western Australia." Treasurer Jim Chalmers was approached for comment but did not directly respond to questions. Last year, the federal government made changes to the PRRT, which it claims has brought in more tax revenue from the oil and gas sector.
Yahoo
20-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Liberals' major projects bill passes House of Commons with Conservative support
The Liberal government's major projects legislation passed in the House of Commons on Friday evening as MPs wrapped up the spring parliamentary sitting. Bill C-5, the One Canadian Economy Act, essentially gives cabinet the ability to pick certain projects to speed through the regulatory process, with an eye to projects that can deliver an economic boost to Canada, help strengthen the country's autonomy and resilience, "advance the interests of Indigenous peoples" and contribute to "clean growth." The legislation was a priority for Prime Minister Mark Carney who promised to "build big, build bold" during the spring election campaign. Once a project is deemed in the national interest, the legislation would allow the government to skirt certain laws — such as the Impact Assessment Act — in order to get construction underway. The legislation passed fairly quickly, having only been introduced earlier this month. The Conservatives supported the bill as a whole, while the NDP and Bloc Québécois backed a part of the bill that removes internal trade barriers. Liberal backbencher Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, who had previously called on the government to allow for more time to study the bill, also voted against the legislation. The government hasn't said what exactly would be fast-tracked under this legislation — and there are no specific projects mentioned in the bill itself — but Carney has signalled support for new energy "corridors" in the east and west, which could include pipelines and electricity grids, new and expanded port facilities, mines and other resource-related initiatives. After Friday's vote, Carney crossed the House floor to shake hands with a number of Conservative MPs. Despite the bill passing in the House in less than a month, it isn't without its critics. WATCH | Carney on Indigenous consultation: Indigenous and environmental groups, along with MPs — some within the Liberal Party — and senators, raised concerns that the bill is being rushed through Parliament and will grant cabinet sweeping powers to override other laws to plow ahead with industrial projects favoured by the government of the day. Those criticisms prompted Carney to hold a news conference immediately after the bill passed. "These projects will build our national economy — and through Indigenous equity and resource management, these projects will be built with Indigenous nations and communities," he said outside the House chamber. "This is not an aspiration. It is the plan embedded in the bill itself." The legislation itself states the government will recognize, affirm and "respect" Indigenous peoples' constitutional rights when considering a project. But there's a fear among some leaders that the consultation process with First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities will be inadequate. Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak, national chief of The Assembly of First Nations (AFN), told the House transport committee on Tuesday that the bill was being rushed through Parliament without giving First Nations communities time to have their questions answered and concerns heard. "We all need more time and opportunity to speak to this legislation and get answers," she told MPs on the committee, saying she's hearing these concerns from multiple chiefs. WATCH | Grand chief says bill won't apply on First Nations territory: The government sent letters to Indigenous communities last month, outlining what the legislation would look like before the bill was tabled. But Woodhouse Nepinak and other leaders who appeared at the transport committee said the consultations have been inadequate. "The process that led to Bill C-5 is a case study in how not to engage with Indigenous nations," Kebaowek First Nation Chief Lance Haymond told the same committee on Wednesday. "The conditions for an Idle No More 2.0 uprising are being written into the law as we speak," Haymond cautioned, referring to the movement that began in 2012 and led to countrywide protests, including road and rail blockades. Nishnawbe Aski Nation Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler, who represents 49 First Nations in northern Ontario, wants the Governor General to step in before giving the legislation royal assent — an unlikely and constitutionally dubious proposition. "I'm hoping she's paying attention to what's happening here so that she can think about intervening," he said. When asked Friday about those concerns, the prime minister said moving forward in partnership with Indigenous communities was always the intention of the bill. But he said that message might not have been articulated "as clearly and as structured" as it could have been at the start. Carney promised Friday to hold "summits" regarding the legislation with Indigenous leaders starting next month. The legislation is supported by the business community and building trades, who testified to Parliament that it can take longer to get projects approved than to get them built. Other government legislation that the House was examining hasn't yet made it to the finish line, and therefor will need to wait until MPs return to Ottawa in September. Bill C-2 and Bill C-4 were both seen as government priorities that the Liberals were pushing to get through fairly quickly. C-4 primarily would have brought the Liberals' proposed income tax cut officially into law. But even though the bill hasn't passed, the government can move forward with the tax cut starting July 1, thanks to the passage of a ways-and-means motion earlier this month. The government's Bill C-2 focuses on strengthening Canada's borders, but advocates and some opposition MPs have raised concerns that the legislation would create new surveillance powers infringing on personal privacy and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The privacy commissioner also raised concerns with some of the provisions in C-4. The Senate will continue to sit next week after agreeing to examine C-5. The House is scheduled to return Sept. 15.
