VOTERS REJECT VOICE PLAN; HYDROGEN RACE

Voters reject Constitutional Voice proposal

A Federal Government proposal to formally insert an indigenous advocacy body within the Australian Constitution has been comprehensively rejected at a national referendum. Australians were asked to recognise the First Peoples in the Constitution by establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice, which would make representations to the Federal Parliament. But less than 40 per cent of Australians approved the proposal at the referendum, with voters in all six states voting against it. Only the Australian Capital Territory voted for the proposal to amend the Constitution. In Australia, the national Constitution can only be changed by a majority referendum vote, and with the approval of voters in at least four states. As explained in Constitutional Reform a Hard Climb, only eight of the 44 previously proposed constitutional amendments had been approved since Federation in 1901.

Australia in global race for hydrogen investment, says Bowen

Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen has forecast that Australia’s hydrogen industry could generate $50 billion in additional GDP and create more than 16,000 jobs by 2050. But he conceded that Australia was facing strong competition from other countries in the hydrogen race, such as through the Inflation Reduction Act in the US, the Made in Canada measures and the green industrial package in the European Union. Mr Bowen told an industry forum that renewable hydrogen was a major stimulus for green manufacturing, such as of green metals, green fertiliser and green chemicals. On the same day, the Minister also called for expressions of interest in the Government’s $2 billion Hydrogen Headstart program.

Marles affirms defence projection goals

Defence Minister Richard Marles has reaffirmed that Australia needed to lift its military capability, with a greater ability to project defence power beyond its borders. Addressing an industry briefing, the Deputy Prime Minister said such projection should give an adversary seeking to act against Australia’s interest “pause for thought.” Mr Marles said that in addition to possessing a nuclear-powered submarine capability, Australia needed a more mobile army and a longer-range strike from land, sea or air. He said Australia could no longer see its strategic circumstances as paying an “entry ticket” to get an American security guarantee; Australia needed to bear military capability in its own right. The Defence Minister said the Federal Government intended to lift its level of defence spending to 2.3 per cent of gross domestic product, up from 2.1 per of GDP when it took office in May last year.

Clare: international education on track to full recovery

Education Minister Jason Clare says the international student sector in Australia has almost recovered to its pre-Covid position. Mr Clare told an education conference that the sector was worth $40 billion to the economy before the pandemic and was almost worth that again, despite international students choosing other places to study, such as in Canada and the UK. He said international student numbers in Australia were now roughly the same as in 2019, with fewer at university and more in vocational education.

Tougher regulation looms for crypto, digital assets

Crypto and digital assets face stricter regulation under proposals released by the Federal Government. Treasurer Jim Chalmers released for consultation a proposal paper that recommends making crypto exchanges and digital asset platforms subject to existing Australian financial services laws. In addition, platform operators would be required to obtain an Australian financial services licence. Digital asset platforms would be required to meet minimum standards for holding tokens, with additional standards for custody software and token transactions.

International visits lag well behind pre-Covid levels

Annual visitor arrivals into Australia are climbing, but are still well below the peak set in pre-Covid years, according to official figures. More than 5.8 million short-term visitor arrivals were recorded in 2022-23, in the first full year of unrestricted travel since 2019, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Visitor arrivals for the year were down 63 per cent on 2018-19 levels. The top five source countries for international visitors were New Zealand, the UK, the United States, India and Singapore; the number of visitors from India was 103 per cent of visits from the country in 2018-19, while the number of Chinese visits represented just 17 per cent of 2018-19 levels.