QUAD STEPS UP ON MINERALS; CYBER WARNING

Quad nations escalate critical minerals collaboration

Members of the Quad alliance – the US, Japan, India and Australia – have stepped up their collaboration to secure and diversify supply chains of critical minerals. Meeting in Washington, the foreign ministers of the four nations launched the Quad Critical Minerals Initiative in a move to shore up economic security. In a joint statement issued by Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong and her three counterparts, the four nations said they were deeply concerned about the “abrupt constriction and future reliability” of supply chains, especially for critical minerals. That included the non-market policies and practices for critical minerals, certain derivative products, and mineral processing technology. The Quad nations said reliance on any one country for processing and refining critical minerals and derivative goods production exposed their industries to economic coercion, price manipulation and supply chain disruptions.

Home Affairs Minister warns companies against paying cyber ransom

Home Affairs and Cyber Security Minister Tony Burke has warned companies that they should not pay cyber criminals ransom demands in the event of a hacking incident. In a media interview, Mr Burke said the payment of ransom kept cyber-criminals in business.  Companies that did so were required by law to advise the government; failure to advise was an offence. Mr Burke also advised companies not to outsource their cyber security obligations to third parties. The Minister was responding to reports of six million Qantas customers being affected by a hacking attack on the airline.

PM throws down gauntlet to business in productivity push

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has challenged the business sector to drive the push for a more efficient economy, ahead of the government’s productivity forum next month. In a speech delivered to a business audience, Mr Albanese said the business sector should “resume your rightful place” as the primary source of growth in the economy.  He said taxation would be an important part of the forum discussion, but not the whole of it. The PM nominated the removal of unnecessary or outdated legislation, and the elimination of overlap between local, state and federal laws. Mr Albanese also cited better alignment of investment in TAFE and vocational education, while ensuring those skills could cross state borders in real time.

PM backs reforms to ensure NDIS sustainability

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister says the National Disability Insurance Scheme must be made more sustainable, while catering for the more than half a million people on the scheme. Mr Albanese said he was not happy that 11 per cent of six year-old children (and 15 per cent of six year-old boys) were on the scheme, with the numbers beyond the original vision of the now-$50 billion NDIS. The Federal Government was working through the reform issues with state and territory governments to ensure the scheme’s sustainability. Mr Albanese said people who needed the NDIS needed to keep it, but the truth was that were massive rorts in the system.

Trade surplus subsiding as capital imports jump

Australia’s trade surplus in goods is continuing to slip, falling $2.6 billion to a $2.2 billion trade balance in May. The Australian Bureau of Statistics said goods exports fell by 2.7 per cent in May, while goods imports rose by 3.8 per cent, driven by a 8.6 per cent rise in the importation of capital goods. In June 2022, the trade surplus peaked at $18.5 billion and has since steadily trended down as export markets cooled and post-Covid imports rose.