DEFENCE SPEND, MINERALS ON POLICY AGENDA
Dutton pledges to beef up Defence funding, national security
Coalition Leader Peter Dutton has released his election defence policy, promising that a Liberal-National government would invest more than $21 billion to take Defence spending as a share of gross domestic product (GDP) to 2.5 per cent within five years. Mr Dutton said defence spending had remained at two per cent of GDP over the last three years. He also committed to a broader National Security Strategy, that would encompass Home Affairs.
PM zeroes in on global trade for critical minerals
A week after the United States ramped up its support of critical minerals and rare earths, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has pledged to establish the nation’s Critical Minerals Strategic Reserve. The PM said Australia was uniquely placed to meet the needs of increasing global and domestic demand. Increasing uncertain times called for a new approach to ensure Australia maximised the strategic value of critical minerals. Under the $1.2 billion proposal, a re-elected Labor government would establish national offtake agreements to acquire agreed volumes of critical minerals from commercial projects and establish selective stockpiles of key critical minerals.
Pre-poll voting on track for record
Australia’s Federal Election is on May 3, but for around 30 per cent of eligible voters, voting may be over by then. Figures provided by the Australian Electoral Commission has reported that more than three million people, or about 16 per cent, of the nation’s 18 million eligible voters had already cast their ballot in the first five days of voting. If the trend continues, the total number of pre-poll votes may surpass the 5.6 million pre-poll votes recorded at the 2022 election.
Greens shape up for post-poll property tax demands
Reform of negative gearing provisions and of capital gains tax (CGT) discounts for residential investment properties will be on the agenda if no major party emerges with a majority after May 3, according to The Greens party. Greens Leader Adam Bandt said reforms to negative gearing and CGT discounts would be their priority in the next parliament, including when there was a minority government. Mr Bandt released figures from the Parliamentary Budget Office, which calculated that tax revenue foregone from negative gearing deductions and CGT discounts on residential investment properties would amount to $13.35 billion in 2025-26. The Greens hold four seats of the 150 Lower House seats up for election, and 12 of the 76 Senate seats.
Labor claims post-Budget savings in election costings
Five days before the May 3 election, Labor has released the costings for its campaign promises, claiming that it has identified more than $1 billion in cumulative savings since the official Pre-election Economic and Fiscal Outlook. Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Finance Minister Katy Gallagher said Labor’s costings confirmed that it had more than offset its campaign commitments in every year of the four-year forward estimates. In the March Federal Budget, the Treasurer forecast a budget deficit of $42.1 billion in 2025-26; in the latest costings, that has been revised downward to $41.8 billion.
IMF tempers growth hopes in Australia
Australia’s economic growth forecast is tipped to be sluggish under updated data provided by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In its World Economic Outlook, the IMF said Australia’s annual real growth in gross domestic product would be 1.6 per cent, after recording one per cent growth in 2024. Inflation would be 2.6 per cent, the IMF said, down from 6.6 per cent peakin 2022. Amid global trade unrest, the IMF is projecting a significant slowdown for GDP growth in the US – 1.8 per cent in 2025 – a 0.9 per cent downward revision on IMF projections in January.