May 9, 2019 Edition.
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Well we are really now down to the pointy end with respect to the election and the polls are running within the margin of error. What happens from here is any one’s guess as long as we don’t have more total jerks being kicked out of both parties.
In the US Trump is trying to play cool as North Korea shoots off a few missiles! However he has since thrown the China trade toys out of the cot with some Sunday tweets and sent an aircraft carrier battle group to confront Iran. Things risk going pear shaped!
The UK council elections have pointed out that Brexit is no longer the preferred outcome – so who knows what happens from here!
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Major Issues.
5 reasons why retirees are embracing ETFs
Christine Benz | 26 Apr 2019
Millennial investors were more likely than investors in other age groups to own exchange-traded funds, according to a US survey conducted by investment provider BlackRock.
Among investors aged 21 to 35, 42 per cent said they owned ETFs in 2017, up from 33 per cent of investors in that same age group who said they had ETFs in their portfolios the year prior.
Given that ETFs are a new(er) investment innovation, it’s probably not surprising that the youngest investors would embrace them.
What’s unexpected, however, is just how much ETFs have found a home in the portfolios of what BlackRock calls “Silver”-aged investors – people over age 70.
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The threat to the fledgling retail corporate bond market
Apr 29, 2019 — 12.00am
The threat of class actions brought against trustees of failed corporate debt offerings could further derail efforts to grow a retail corporate bond market, as two looming defaults weigh on the sector.
Individual investors that subscribed to bond offers by Mackay Sugar and ASX-listed Axsesstoday are facing the prospect of losses as a result of restructures and administration filings.
That has reignited concerns within the trustee industry about the litigation risks from providing services to issuers of notes, bonds and debentures.
Australian Executor Trustees, the 130-year firm acquired by ambitious fintech Sargon from IOOF, acts as the trustee for holders of both bond securities, and industry experts say it is one of the few companies prepared to provide the service on debt raisings to individuals.
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Future Fund returns top 10 per cent for the decade
By Emma Koehn
April 29, 2019 — 12.00am
Australia's Future Fund has grown to $154 billion and strong equity gains over the past quarter have helped push the 10-year returns over 10 per cent, though future global economic challenges could affect value.
Australia's sovereign wealth fund has earned $94 billion in returns since being established in 2006 and is up 5.9 per cent so far this year, beyond its target of 3.9 per cent.
Future Fund chair Peter Costello said in a statement on Monday strong returns this quarter were likely influenced by "easing China-US trade tensions and the US Federal Reserves decision to keep interest rates on hold".
The value of Australian and global equities held in the fund last quarter was $42.4 billion, or 29 per cent of the fund. In the March quarter this jumped to $50.7 billion, or 33 per cent of the fund's holdings, according to quarterly asset allocation statements.
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How to prepare for the next ASX rally
After the strongest start to the ASX in decades, investors may be wise to position their portfolios for higher bond yields and a recovery in the US and Chinese economies.
Apr 29, 2019 — 4.27pm
After four straight weeks of gains, by Friday the S&P/ASX 200 sharemarket index had posted its longest winning streak since May 2018 and pushed back to its highest point in 11 years.
Speaking to the broad-based and perhaps largely indiscriminate nature of this year’s rally, Bloomberg data shows only 31 of the top 200 ASX stocks lower in 2019.
The momentum is good, but are the gains justified by the fundamentals? These are essentially the worries that have plagued equity markets since monetary policymakers started their unprecedented meddling in capital markets post-GFC.
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Walking away: Greenfield lot defaults hit 27 per cent in Melbourne
Apr 29, 2019 — 9.45pm
One in four new home buyers in Sydney and Melbourne is defaulting on their housing lot purchases due mainly to financing and valuation shortfalls, forcing developers to resell these lots in a market where monthly sales rates have hit seven-year lows, new figures show.
Victoria, the country's biggest greenfield land market, is at the epicentre of the surge in defaults, with its cancellation rate hitting 27 per cent in the first quarter of the year, up from a 12 per cent default rate in the December 2018 quarter and just a 2 per cent fallover rate a year prior, according to land consultancy Research4.
Alongside the surge in defaults, Research4 figures show that Melbourne lot sales tumbled to just 539 a month in the first quarter of the year, down from 2200 at the peak of the market in mid-2017.
Research4 director Colin Keane said a cancellation rate above 15 per cent was a "strong red flag" regarding the mindset of "home builders and households".
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Are you a yield-hungry investor? Beware the small print
Apr 25, 2019 — 5.31pm
Desperate savers trying to squeeze more income from their capital need to be aware that many new offers from banks and fund managers come with strict conditions, get-out clauses and high-risk strategies.
Even zero-risk "bonus" and "special offer" savings accounts that promise another few basis points are loaded with small print conditions that exempt the higher rate.
Savers’ dilemmas are creating opportunities for fund managers to launch products offering much higher returns which, for investors aware of all the potential risks, could be worth a look.
Top savings rates, as the tables show, are typically about 3 per cent but come with strict conditions.
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'A milestone': Sydney prices could fall below $1m
Apr 30, 2019 — 12.01am
Sydney's median house price will fall below $1 million within the next two months even if the property downturn eases slightly from its current pace.
Sydney house prices have now fallen 14.3 per cent from their mid-2017 peak, including a drop of 3.1 per cent over the March quarter, according to Domain Group's latest house price report.
House prices in Brisbane stalled over the year, recording a slight drop of 0.3 per cent, after six years of continuous annual growth, while in Canberra prices fell by 2 per cent over the 12 months to March, the largest price fall recorded in a decade.
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Les Murray and the meaning of existence
By Warwick McFadyen
April 30, 2019 — 12.20pm
The death of a poet does not stop the clocks. The world still turns. Yet in the world within the world, this time is marked. Les Murray is dead.
The world has stopped to take in his last breath, to close the lips and mind from uttering any more words. Yet we have them, thousands of them. They swirl (most would not know around us), they rise from the earth and from under the roots of gnarled trees and bush lives, both human and non-human. Murray gave us our world, if we choose to read it from him.
He gave me joy in a personal way, though I’m sure he would not have weighed it against its effect. A few years back when Murray was literary editor of Quadrant, I submitted a couple of poems to him. He accepted them and published them in the magazine. He wrote back a little handwritten note, saying, "Thanks Warwick, show us some more of your work!"
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Rich and invisible lives of over-55s
- 12:00AM April 30, 2019
Google the term “over-55s” and up will pop the most confronting schedule of material that any baby-boomer could imagine. Apparently, the Over-55s is now a thing, a grab-bag, that encompasses everyone and everything that sweeps forth from the virtual end of the working life to, well, the great abyss.
I am sure that the term Over-55s was dreamt up by a young marketing consultant (where young is defined as under 40), who from the vantage point of youth regards anyone over the age of 55 as being part of the same great amorphous mass of aged and irrelevant humanity.
Hey, young marketing consultant (or, should that read “yo, young marketing consultant”) being 55 is vastly different to being 85, and suggesting that we’re all in the same “old” bucket is offensive.
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Increasing super to 12 per cent will deliver $20 billion hit to wages: Grattan Institute
By Eryk Bagshaw
May 2, 2019 — 11.45pm
Labor and the Coalition's plan to increase compulsory employer superannuation contributions to 12 per cent will cost workers up to $20 billion a year in wages once it is fully implemented, new figures show, stinging millions of workers already battling historically low wage growth.
Labor has vowed it will have no more delays increasing super from 9.5 to 12 per cent. The Coalition remains committed to the legislated timetable but has internal reservations about the impact it could have on wages and the financial boost it will give the union and employer linked Industry Super lobby.
The Grattan Institute will on Friday release a report that shows the cut to wages from raising compulsory super is big.
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At last we have a choice: social democracy or Trumpified Liberal Party
By Tim Soutphommasane
May 3, 2019 — 12.20pm
For a long time, the Labor and Liberal parties have converged on the big questions of politics. We’re talking here about the neo-liberal consensus.
Both have embraced an open-market economy. Both have accepted, to a large degree, that the primary aim of good government should be to deliver economic prosperity and security.
This was briefly interrupted. The Rudd government’s response to the global financial crisis hinted at a social democratic alternative. Yet it didn’t lead to an ideological shift in our politics.
Compulsory voting has reinforced convergence. Political contest is focused on winning the middle ground and capturing swing seats. With some notable exceptions, the differences between the major parties are usually matters of degrees, not questions of first principles.
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Interest-rate cut would be a blow to poorer retirees
By John Collett
May 3, 2019 — 10.01am
Pensioners relying on interest from their savings look set to be receive even less if the Reserve Bank cuts the official cash rate, which could be as early as the bank's meeting on Tuesday.
A poll conducted by comparison site Finder of market watchers and economists found three-quarters believe the cash rate will be cut to 1 per cent this year, implying two cuts by the Reserve Bank of 0.25 percentage points each.
“If we don’t get a cut on Tuesday, we look incredibly likely to get one within the next three months," says Graham Cooke, insights manager at Finder.
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Building approvals fall sharply in March
The weakness in building approvals will be scrutinised by the Reserve Bank.
• By James Glynn
• Dow Jones
• May 3, 2019
The number of building approvals fell sharply in March as the market corrected from a big rise in February.
Home building permits fell by 15.5 per cent in March, compared with the 12 per cent fall expected by economists. Approvals for apartments fell by 30.6 per cent.
The Australian dollar fell to a four-month low of US69.85c after the release of the data.
Weakness in building approvals will be scrutinised by the Reserve Bank of Australia which has become concerned that weak conditions in housing will damp consumer confidence and drag down GDP growth.
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The Federal Reserve's words are more powerful than the RBA's actions
By Stephen Bartholomeusz
May 4, 2019 — 12.00am
Given that there is a clear correlation between interest rates and stock markets, would a Reserve Bank rate cut next week set the Australian market alight? Probably not.
There has been considerable speculation of an RBA rate cut on Tuesday as the economy has slowed, and amid signs that the continuing decline in house prices is having a damaging impact on households, increasing mortgage stress and undermining confidence.
That in turn has generated some speculation that a rate cut would help boost an equity market that has already bounced back about 16 per cent from last year’s lows, and is up about 12.5 per cent since the start of this year.
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Australians accepting of migrants but negative towards Islam, poll finds
New wide-ranging YouGov data gives insight into the Australian identity
Sat 4 May 2019 08.00 AEST Last modified on Sat 4 May 2019 08.41 AEST
Lovers of regulation, supporters of same-sex couples and very liberal when it comes to abortion – this is how a sample of a thousand Australians perceive themselves.
Australia is a country that accepts gay couples, hates the big banks, considers second-generation migrants “Australian”, but the majority feel negatively towards Islam.
New wide-ranging data released by YouGov has revealed fascinating insights into the Australian identity, its place in the world, and its many contradictions.
Australians were the second-highest out of 23 countries surveyed in not considering where someone’s parents come from as relevant to identifying as Australian, but in our personal lives, 47% admitted to having “very few” or no close friends of a different ethnic background. And 80% of us believe women still suffer discrimination, but a third also think the women’s rights movement has gone too far.
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Federal Election.
Pay day: Shorten hands out the loot
Apr 28, 2019 — 10.30pm
Labor has lifted the temperature ahead of the May 18 federal election with a $6.9 billion spending blitz targeting the cost of living and a threat to regulate childcare fees.
On the day before pre-poll voting started, Labor leader Bill Shorten pledged to spend over the next four years $4 billion in extra childcare subsidies for low and middle-income families, $2.4 billion to provide $1000 in free dental care every two years for aged pensioners, and $537 million in taxpayer-funded wage subsidies for childcare workers.
The wage subsidies will deliver up to 100,000 low-paid workers, 96 per cent of whom are women, a 20 per cent pay increase over the next eight years and cost the budget $9.9 billion over a decade. They will be additional to any other pay rises the workers would receive in the course of their job.
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A 'silent revolution': How pre-polling is changing the nature of elections
By Judith Ireland
Updated April 29, 2019 — 10.45am first published April 28, 2019 — 11.45pm
On May 18, Sydney's Adam Muller will be in the wilds of Bournda National Park on the far south coast of New South Wales. While most Australians are lining up for their ballot papers in the federal election, the law student will have already voted.
Muller, who is from the hotly contested seat of Wentworth, will be in the middle of an orienteering competition that day, so will vote early at one of the hundreds of pre-polling stations that open on Monday. "I definitely think the flexibility is important," he says.
Muller will be part of a rapidly growing group. At least 5 million of the 16.4 million Australian voters are expected to vote early in the 2019 federal election as the proportion of Australians who vote via pre-polling rises - from about 8 per cent in 2007 to more than 22 per cent in 2016.
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Treasury signs off on budget fantasy forecasts
By Ross Gittins
April 29, 2019 — 12.00am
While we were preparing for the Easter-Anzac super long weekend, the secretary to the Treasury and the secretary of the Finance Department released the PEFO – pre-election economic and fiscal outlook – their official, once-every-three-years licence to tell us anything the government hasn’t told us but should have. And what was that? Not a sausage.
They made trivial updates to the budget figures and solemnly swore that all the rest of it “reflects the best professional judgement of the officers of the Treasury and the Department of Finance”. Wow. Really?
This despite the fact that, taken at face value, this is the most fiscally irresponsible budget since Whitlam. It’s a budget claiming to be able to cut income tax by $300 billion over 10 years and spend $100 billion on infrastructure over 10 years, while still returning to continuous surplus and eliminating the net debt over the same period.
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If Bill Shorten loses the election, three things will follow
By Sean Kelly
April 29, 2019 — 12.00am
Last year, Fox News host Sean Hannity blasted US congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. A graphic flashed up behind him, listing her “downright scary” policies. They included “Medicare for all”, “housing as a human right”, “mobilising against climate change”, and – most terrifying of all – “support seniors”.
The graphic behind Hannity was the political equivalent of – pick your generation – a Magic Eye picture, or perhaps The Dress. Some people saw a commonsense set of entirely reasonable propositions. Others, looking at exactly the same graphic, could see only left-wing nuttiness leading straight to apocalypse.
Labor is pledging to make childcare free for almost one million Australian families.
Every election campaign is based on a version of this. One side announces policies it believes are reasonable; the other describes them as disasters. Often, in Australia, with compulsory voting and a large set of swinging voters to capture, the major parties are not miles apart on central issues, so this involves taking small details and blowing them up. Regardless of how slight the contrast, the leaders tell us this is the most important choice in Australia’s history.
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Sole person who deserves credit for latest Newspoll is Scott Morrison
- April 29, 2019
Nearly nine months after a coup to remove Malcolm Turnbull as Prime Minister and the Coalition have finally returned to where they were in the polls. Of course under Turnbull they trailed 49-51 per cent on the two party vote for four consecutive Newspolls, and this is merely one poll result. But still.
And yes the calculation for distributing preferences has been changed to send more One Nation and United Australia Preferences the Coalition’s way than had previously been the case. Had the calculation been done back then the way it is now Turnbull probably would have drawn level.
But they are back to where they were in August last year, and that gives Scott Morrison momentum.
While the Coalition’s primary vote is still too low at just 38 per cent — a depth it has never sunk to and won an election — John Howard won the 1998 election with slightly less than 40 per cent of the vote. Of course he did that with a huge seats buffer from the 1996 election — not holding just 74 seats like Morrison does now. And Howard only won 48.9 per cent of the two party vote back then. Morrison can’t win this election with a two party vote that low.
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Double-whammy tax hit for exclusive club
- 12:00AM April 29, 2019
Voters living in Australia’s most exclusive suburbs face a “double-whammy” tax clampdown under a Labor government, with Bill Shorten’s plan to cap deductions for managing tax affairs at $3000 aimed at the same people most vulnerable to his franking credit ban.
While the latest tax statistics do not reveal the extent to which specific individuals are claiming deductions above Labor’s proposed limit for managing their tax affairs, they show the postcodes with the highest average deductions for the cost of accountants, advice and tax planning, pointing to the suburbs most likely to be impacted by the proposal.
Accountants and the Coalition have attacked the opposition’s policy as a “handbrake” on small businesses that offer tax advice and have warned it could prevent average Australians from seeking help when managing the tax implications of a divorce or the death of a family member.
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Shorten bites into Medicare for older teeth
- 12:00AM April 29, 2019
Labor leader Bill Shorten has offered $1000 in dental subsidies to pensioners and seniors, under a proposed $2.4 billion extension of Medicare, and vowed to negotiate a much larger federal-funded oral health program with the states if elected.
Addressing a Victorian rally yesterday, Mr Shorten announced “the next step” in the evolution of Medicare, with 2.6 million pensioners and another 380,000 people with a seniors card to have up to $1000 in dental work covered every two years.
Private dentists would be invited to bulk-bill eligible patients under Medicare — amounts above the $1000 may still be covered by health insurance — although a new schedule of benefits has yet to be determined.
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Bill Shorten wins first election debate against Scott Morrison
By David Crowe
April 29, 2019 — 8.59pm
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has won the popular vote in the first leaders’ debate of the federal election campaign after using his closing remarks to tell Australians the economy was not working for them.
Mr Shorten emphasised the cost of services ranging from childcare to private health insurance in a challenge to Prime Minister Scott Morrison over economic management during the live debate in Perth.
Scott Morrison and Bill Shorten mostly stuck to the script during the debate on Channel 7 talking policy, but still throwing a couple of political punches.
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Politically charged RBA meeting set to put campaign focus on economy
By Shane Wright
April 29, 2019 — 4.06pm
When the bureau of statistics stunned financial markets with its latest inflation report, Bill Shorten and Scott Morrison reacted in very different ways.
Shorten was the first to get quizzed after the March quarter showed inflation at zero through the previous three months.
A strong month of job creation across the country buys the government more time on interest rate cuts.
"If there's no inflation in this quarter, that tells you this is an economy running on empty," he said.
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Marginal seats the least affected by Shorten tax-grab plans
- 12:00AM April 30, 2019
The impact of Labor’s multi-billion-dollar tax grabs on capital gains discounts, franking credit refunds and its pursuit of voters earning above $180,000 is not as prominent in the nation’s most marginal seats, analysis shows.
An analysis of 22 marginal seats across Queensland, NSW, Western Australia and Victoria reveals voters are less likely to earn enough to put them in the highest income tax bracket, less likely to pocket franking credit refunds, own investment properties, and are less likely to be over 65.
Investment bank Morgan Stanley said the only exception was the share of voters in marginal seats reliant on negative gearing.
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Franking fears pushing retirees to commercial property investments
- By Tony Kaye
- 12:00AM April 30, 2019
The prospect of changes to franking credits legislation under a Labor government is spurring an increase in inflows into real estate investment trusts (or A-REITs).
Many self-funded retirees reliant on fully franked dividend income from equities are already investigating other cash flow sources that can offset potential income losses should the ability for them to capture dividend tax credits be denied by the ALP.
This is particularly the case for self-managed superannuation fund trustees who fall outside the ALP’s stated exemptions that would be applicable to those receiving a full or part government age pension.
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Retirement: a rotten time to be punished
- April 30, 2019
Neither Scott Morrison nor Bill Shorten understand the fear and frustration that dominates most in “retirement land”.
In the leaders debate Morrison forced Shorten to admit he was planning to tax some pensioners but that’s as far as it went.
Few “young” Australians aged under 50 have any idea what’s happening to their parents and grandparents.
And so, in today’s commentary I welcome all journalists (radio, TV, print social etc) plus all other readers aged under 50 to the land of retirees and those looking to retire.
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Coalition's $34m study of ageing needs
If re-elected, the Coalition will provide $34m for an aged-care research¬ centre to examine new ways to deliver care for older Australians and training and education for care providers.
Michael Roddan
• 12:00AM May 1, 2019
Australia’s aged-care sector will be supported by a $34 million workforce research centre, in a pre-election pledge by Scott Morrison to ensure the industry can meet growing demand.
The funding is the latest in a ¬series of announcements by the Prime Minister to develop new research centres for key government initiatives, after the announcement of a suite of cyber-security initiatives on Monday and a number¬ of veteran support centres to coincide with Anzac Day.
If re-elected, the Coalition will provide $34m for an aged-care research¬ centre to examine new ways to deliver care for older Australians and training and education for care providers. A further $10m will be spent to develop a “seniors connected program” to address loneliness in aged-care centres.
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The 'price of power': Key independents list their conditions for support in next Parliament
By David Crowe
May 1, 2019 — 12.00am
The two major parties will face demands to block the Adani coal mine and take concrete action on climate change in a combined statement by seven independent candidates that lists their conditions for support in the next Parliament.
The independent candidates have set out the "price of power" for their support after the May 18 election amid a tightening race that could force Labor or the Coalition to negotiate with the crossbench.
The joint statement from seven of the most prominent independents, brokered by the Australian Conservation Foundation and to be released on Wednesday, also calls for deeper cuts to greenhouse gas emissions and a faster adoption of renewable energy.
The demands are backed by Julia Banks in her campaign for the electorate of Flinders, Helen Haines in Indi, Rob Oakeshott in Cowper, Kerryn Phelps in Wentworth, Zali Steggall in Warringah, Andrew Wilkie in Clark and Oliver Yates in Kooyong.
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Universities told no more research money under Labor
Robert Bolton Education Editor
May 2, 2019 — 12.01am
Labor has put universities on notice that they will not get any extra money for research and they will be under greater scrutiny to show students and parents that they can get people into jobs and give value for the fees they charge.
Labor education spokeswoman Tanya Plibersek said a Labor government's education policy would be focused on the training sector, which is run down, under financed and unable to serve the needs of people in country Australia.
Labor education spokeswoman Tanya Plibersek: "Our commitment to universities is really a very large and substantial commitment and we know they do use some of the money generated by enrolling more students in cross-subsidising research." Roy Vandervegt
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New modelling to unleash explosive row over climate change costings
By David Crowe
May 1, 2019 — 11.45pm
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten is facing an explosive political row over his climate change policy as industry warns of rising costs and a new economic study predicts 167,000 fewer jobs by 2030 under the Labor plan.
Business groups backed the ambition to reduce greenhouse gas emissions but said they deserved more detail given they would pay for the scheme, in a rebuke to Labor's claim it was “impossible” to model the cost of its policy on employers and the economy.
Scott Morrison and Bill Shorten faced off on election topics during the first leaders debate.
The dire new warning from economist Brian Fisher, which is hotly disputed by Labor and countered by other experts, marks a dramatic escalation in the political fight over the cost of taking action on climate change compared to the cost of inaction.-----
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Why Australia swings between two flawed parties
By Jessica Irvine
May 2, 2019 — 12.00am
Not unlike the epic Game of Thrones television series, the final stages of the 2019 election battle are finally upon us.
After what seemed like an eternally long phoney war, the political forces of both parties are spread far across the land, fighting hand to hand in marginal seats, where the weapon of choice is not swords and arrows, but local grants and free sporting amenities.
Which side will ultimately seize the upper hand? We don’t have long to wait now to find out.
At such times, it’s handy to step back and consider the vast sweep of Australian political history.
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Coalition promises cheaper medicines, while Labor unveils obesity plan
By Dana McCauley
May 2, 2019 — 12.00am
The Coalition has promised cheaper medicines for 1.4 million Australians - including cancer patients - ramping up the battle over health policy as Labor unveils a $116 million plan to tackle obesity and other preventative conditions.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Australians with a chronic illness and families who bought a lot of medicines would qualify sooner for free or discounted medicines, saving up to $80 a year.
Scott Morrison has announced cheaper medicines in a bid to counter Bill Shorten's health policies. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer/Alex Ellinghausen
Under the $308 million plan, the annual threshold to get access to free or further discounted medicines through the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme would be lowered by 12 scripts for concession card holders, down from 60 to 48.
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Confusion around Labor's 'under the radar' family trust policy
By Cara Waters
May 2, 2019 — 10.19am
Small businesses remain confused about the impact of Labor's policy on family trusts as the election looms.
Labor has pledged to introduce a standard minimum 30 per cent tax rate from 1 July 2019 for discretionary/family trust distributions.
Head of the Council of Small Business of Australia, Peter Strong, says most small businesses are unaware of the policy.
"I think it is below the radar but it will have quite a big impact," he says. "It discriminates against people who are running a business and who are investing in that business. The policy is misdirected, the policy is saying 'If you run a trust you are doing it because you want to unfairly minimise your income'. You don't maximise your tax you minimise it."
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Coalition promises cheaper medicines
Sean Parnell
• 12:00AM May 2, 2019
The Coalition has promised more support for Australians with ongoing medicine needs, vowing to lower safety net thresholds on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme to share the financial burden of chronic illness.
Having promoted its record listing of new medicines on the PBS, the Coalition, if re-elected, would deliver broader benefits to more than 1.4 million Australians and return thresholds to 2009 levels. The $308 million pledge — separate to existing budget initiatives and scheduled to start in 2020 — is the Coalition’s most significant health announcement so far in the campaign.
It comes after several big-spending Labor promises and with Health Minister Greg Hunt due to debate his opposition counterpart Catherine King today for the first time.
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Labor will not rule out scrapping $6 billion health insurance rebate
By Dana McCauley
May 2, 2019 — 5.19pm
Labor health spokeswoman Catherine King has refused to rule out scrapping $6 billion-a-year worth of health insurance rebates if elected, setting up a pre-election fight with the Morrison government over the cost of premiums.
Ms King said she would wait for the recommendations of Labor's promised Productivity Commission review of the sector before deciding whether to pursue the controversial policy - which could substantially increase the cost of premiums - if the party wins the May 18 federal election.
Speaking during a televised debate with federal Health Minister Greg Hunt, Ms King said: "I'm not going to rule in or out what the Productivity Commission might recommend or might not recommend, nor what our response would actually be."
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Wong puts closer Asian ties on election agenda
May 3, 2019 — 12.00am
Almost four decades ago Singapore's prime minister Lee Kuan Yew warned that Australia was at risk of becoming the "poor white trash of Asia" if it failed to open up to the region.
In many ways Australia has answered that criticism and is now a model of a multicultural country that is open for trade and investment.
Yet shadow foreign affairs minister Penny Wong in a speech to the Lowy Institute has once again raised the question of Australia's position in Asia.
She argued that Prime Minister Scott Morrison was harming Australia's image in the region by playing the race card and supporting political figures whose views harked back to the White Australia Policy.
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We may not be interested in the world, but the world is interested in us
By Michael Fullilove
May 3, 2019 — 12.00am
International issues have been all but invisible in the federal election campaign. The world did not intrude, for example, on this week’s leaders debate.
This is too bad. There are meaningful differences between the foreign policies of the two sides, and the rapid changes to Australia’s external circumstances deserve serious discussion. It is useful to look at the parties, the personalities and the policies.
Historically, Coalition governments tend to be more focused on bilateral relationships; Labor governments tend to be more multilateral in disposition. Coalition governments often look at the world through the prism of the US alliance; Labor governments often have more reservations about American leadership – reservations that are unlikely to diminish in the Trump era.
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Why voters are turned off, tuned out and unmoved
With two weeks until election day, exclusive focus group testing of Bill Shorten and Scott Morrison and their policies reveals worrying signs for both major parties.
Phillip Coorey and Andrew Tillett
May 3, 2019 — 10.30pm
Key Points
• A record 510,000 people have already voted early
• The Ipsos focus group research featured voters from Western Sydney aged under 45 who voted Liberal in 2016 but are now undecided
• The second focus group featured Melburnians aged over 45 in marginal seats, all of whom voted Labor in 2016 but are now undecided
• Sydney swing voters were more positive on Scott Morrison than Melburnians
• Both Sydney and Melbourne swing voters had negative views of Bill Shorten's union roots
Typically, big queues outside polling booths early on election day don't bode well for the incumbent. It usually means the voters want change, as was the case in 2007 and 2013, the last two occasions in which a government was removed from office.
With the advent of pre-poll voting, the modern equivalent of the big queues may be people voting early in large numbers. That has certainly been the case this time. The polls opened on Monday and by Thursday, a record 510,000 of the 16 million enrolled voters had cast a ballot.
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Advice ain't cheap: when you'll need to spend more than $3000
Bill Shorten says he wants to shut down a loophole exploited by millionaires to reduce their tax bills but tax specialists insist mum and dad investors will be hit by this too.
Joanna Mather Superannuation writer
May 4, 2019 — 12.00am
The wealth wars took a bitter turn when Labor leader Bill Shorten, in full campaign mode, described tax deductions for accounting advice as “one of the rorts we want to shut down”.
A clearly incensed Michael Croker, the tax leader with Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand, accused Shorten of impugning an entire profession with comments that scraped the “bottom of the political barrel”.
The stoush is over Labor’s plans to cap at $3000 a year the amount that taxpayers can claim for “managing tax affairs”.---
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Focus groups of undecided voters signal dangers for Scott Morrison and Bill Shorten
By Peter Hartcher
May 3, 2019 — 11.45pm
Uncommitted voters know about Labor's plans for new taxes but have heard almost nothing about the promised benefits, in a sign of potential trouble for Opposition Leader Bill Shorten's election prospects.
Focus groups of uncommitted voters in Melbourne and Western Sydney are unenthusiastic about the leaders of both major parties ahead of the May 18 poll.
Both major parties are attempting to win over undecided voters.
After three weeks of campaigning, neither Mr Shorten or Prime Minister Scott Morrison are "presenting a compelling case" or seen as "having a vision for the future of Australia", in the words of research firm Ipsos.
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Only the stupid think the cost of climate change is simple
By Ross Gittins
May 4, 2019 — 12.00am
You know an election campaign has run off the rails when the pollies start hurling the results of economic modelling at each other. Voters find it incomprehensible and cover their ears, and the only people who think it proves something are the pollies themselves and the journalists silly enough to imagine their incessant demands to “show us your modelling” will expose the truth.
The more you know about modelling, the less it impresses you. There’s a place for economic modelling, but it’s in a seminar room, being pulled apart by experts, not in the argy-bargy of politicians seeking election, vested interests seeking more bucks, and journos who think their customers will just love a bit more meaningless conflict.
Thinking people know and accept that the future is unknowable. Unthinking people delude themselves that somewhere out there is an expert with a magic box – or maybe a crystal ball - who can give them a sneak peek at what only God knows in advance.
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It’s lonely at the top on Coalition’s campaign trail
Peter van Onselen
• 12:00AM May 4, 2019
Even though Bill Shorten was judged the winner of the one and only free-to-air television debate so far — by undecided voters in the studio audience — the opportunity to square off in a presidential-style setting is something Team Morrison is keen to promote.
The reason is simple: the Prime Minister is virtually a one-man band in this campaign. Beyond the apparatchiks helping to organise the PM’s campaign, he hasn’t got much by way of support within the parliamentary line-up. It’s a sharp contrast to Labor, which has a better known and more visually present frontbench on the hustings.
Yes, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg bobs up from time to time, and he did a solid enough job selling the budget. Equally, Senate leader Mathias Cormann rarely makes a mistake when doing interviews. But that’s about it for Team Morrison. The PM is largely going it alone on this campaign.
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Doing the sums on Labor’s tax policies
James Gerrard
• 12:00AM May 4, 2019
The Labor Party’s proposed tax policy has been a major talking point over the past six months as we lead up to the federal election.
Measures include substantial changes to negative gearing, the treatment of capital gains, refund of excess imputation credits and a new trust tax to name just a few.
If implemented, we are likely to see those affected manoeuvre their finances to minimise the impact of the changes, but in doing so, may fall foul of the tax office under tax avoidance provisions. There’s also the strong possibility that some of the changes will not be implemented due to either being blocked in the Senate or a -realisation of the complexity of ¬issues as Labor tries to create ¬legislation.
Labor plans to introduce a budget repair levy in 2022 that would bring the top marginal tax rate up to 49 per cent.
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New GetUp poll shows crash in support for Tony Abbott in Warringah
By Nicole Hasham
May 5, 2019 — 12.02am
New polling commissioned by GetUp suggests former prime minister Tony Abbott is on track for a defeat by independent candidate Zali Steggall in his blue ribbon Sydney seat of Warringah.
A Lonergan poll of 805 Warringah voters shows Mr Abbott trailing Ms Steggall 56-44 on a two party-preferred basis. GetUp is campaigning against Mr Abbott in Warringah.
The poll also showed climate change and the environment is a top-order issue for Warringah voters.
Ms Steggall, an Olympic skier-turned-barrister, has put combating climate change at the centre of her campaign and says the Morrison government has failed to act on emissions reduction or encouraging the renewable energy transition.
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A healthy difference of opinion
By Matt Wade
May 5, 2019 — 12.00am
There's nothing like an election campaign to highlight our political differences. Debates over tax changes have pitted some older voters against younger ones, aspiring housing investors against first home buyers and high income earners against those on lower incomes.
The election has been cast, by some, as an opportunity for women to shake up a federal Parliament dominated by men. Regional differences have also been in focus, especially the apparent political divergence between voters in north Queensland and those in the southern capitals.
These are just a few of the fault lines being amplified as political leaders tout their own campaign messages and do their best to discredit those of their opponents.
But is it all this conflict constructive?
Are our political differences healthy or dangerous?
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Royal Commissions And Similar.
IOOF skimmed super members: APRA
May 1, 2019 — 12.00am
Former IOOF managing director managing director Chris Kelaher ran the financial services company like a personal fiefdom and once unilaterally refused a request from Optus to move its staff super fund elsewhere without a reason, according to court documents.
The allegations are contained in a 190 page statement of claim bound for the Federal Court where Australian Prudential Regulation Authority is seeking to have five of IOOF’s former and current directors and executives banned from acting as superannuation trustees.
APRA also alleges that IOOF broke the law when it sought to fix its mistakes by compensating customers with more than $5 million in funds taken from the members own reserves instead of penalising itself for making the mistake. It says raiding the members reserves demonstrated a failure or unwillingness to understand its obligations.
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APRA targets super conflicts
- 12:00AM May 1, 2019
Banks and wealth management companies will be forced to remove conflicts of interest from their superannuation businesses after the prudential regulator agreed there was “ongoing weakness” in vertically integrated sections of the $2.7 trillion sector.
The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority, currently undertaking a capability review led by former competition watchdog Graeme Samuel after being shamed during the royal commission for overseeing a raft of poor corporate behaviour in the super sector, yesterday gave itself a pass grade following an internal review of its prudential framework for super funds.
The review of APRA’s 2013 superannuation prudential framework found the regulator’s rules and guidelines for operating in the sector met its original objectives. But the regulator conceded directions should be updated to ensure members’ interests are protected.
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Priority urged for aged care pay rises
May 2, 2019 — 5.43pm
Unions and employers are urging Labor and the Coalition to deliver immediate pay increases for low-paid aged care workers ahead of the royal commission into the sector, putting pressure on the parties to announce a short-term fix.
Bill Shorten said this week he has no plans for pay rises for aged care workers after promising a 20 per cent increase for child carers over eight years if elected, but later said he would see what the recommendations were from the royal commission.
Health Services Union NSW secretary Gerard Hayes said it was important to get aged care policy right in the long term but that proposals on wages, funding and staffing should be announced now.
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Healing the scars of Hayne
Karen Maley Columnist
May 3, 2019 — 11.00pm
If Kenneth Hayne happened to peruse the financial press in the past few days, he might well have allowed himself a slight smile of satisfaction at the huge attitudinal shift on the part of our most senior financiers following his royal commission’s unflinching expose of widespread misconduct in the sector.
It was a bumper week for the financial sector, with the Melbourne banks, ANZ and National Australia Bank, both unveiling their half-year results, while AMP’s board fronted up to shareholders at the company’s annual general meeting.
But what would have caught Hayne’s attention was the new and unreservedly penitent comportment of our leading financiers. It will take considerable time and effort, they conceded, before they can hope to regain the trust of their customers and the broader community.
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Why aged-care costs are not created equal
By Rachel Lane
May 5, 2019 — 12.00am
In my last column, I looked at how low-means aged care residents can pay more for their accommodation than those who are market-price payers, which led one reader to ask “but what if you were Australia’s richest person?" What a great question!
The cost of aged care is split into the amount you pay for accommodation and the amount you pay for your care.
Paying the market price for retirement accommodation can be expensive. The highest Refundable Accommodation Deposit at the exclusive Mark Moran Vaucluse is $2.2 million.
The majority of residents are not eligible for government funding towards their accommodation and pay the advertised price – or an amount up to this.
All residents, regardless of means, pay a basic fee of $51 a day towards their cost of care and, beyond that, a means-tested care fee, based on their assets and income.
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National Budget Issues.
Australia's 'perfect economy' set for a wake-up call - and the world is watching
By Daniel Moss
April 30, 2019 — 11.16am
Anyone who still thinks Australia's economy is an all-conquering model of perfection is likely to get a wake-up call soon.
A nearly 28-year run of expansion has had people abroad fawning over life Down Under - Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell among them. For all the superlatives, though, the local central bank considers everything far from rosy. Reserve Bank of Australia officials never really bought the hype. Notwithstanding, the policy landscape has undergone a big shift the past two months.
The chances that the RBA will deliver an interest-rate cut as soon as next week rose after figures April 24 showed a significant slowing in inflation. As in many developed countries, and quite a few emerging markets, the pace of price increases is consistently below target. Growth isn't collapsing, but it could do with some perking up.
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House prices continue to fall clearing way for rate cut
By Shane Wright
May 1, 2019 — 10.01am
The national property market is enduring its biggest fall in values since the global financial crisis, being led down by double-digit drops in Sydney and Melbourne.
New analysis by CoreLogic shows house values in Sydney dropped 0.8 per cent in April to be down by 11.8 per cent over the past 12 months. The situation is worse in Melbourne where values fell by 0.7 per cent last month to be down 12.6 per cent over the past year.
Overall dwelling values in Sydney dropped by 0.7 per cent to be 10.9 per cent lower over the year. Since their peak in September 2017, Sydney dwelling values have fallen by 14.5 per cent.
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Health Issues.
Elegant but deadly: why death caps are a forager's nightmare
It's peak season for wild mushrooms but be careful about picking your own. Just one morsel of the wrong fungus can kill you, slowly.
By Tom Cowie
April 29, 2019
Autumn is here, which means it’s wild mushroom season. As the days cool and the rain increases, foragers in gumboots head out to hunt among the yellowed leaves for their dinner.
But there’s one killer mushroom they don’t want to find. It lurks beneath oak trees in some of our most established suburbs in Melbourne, Canberra and Adelaide. Amanita phalloides. The death cap.
The death cap is a paragon of truth in advertising. Even the smallest bite is packed with enough toxins to kill someone or, at the very least, maim survivors. And it has a long history of victims.
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Private health cover is in a death spiral
Not enough young people want to cross-subsidise the care of older private health customers. That adds up to big trouble.
Stephen Duckett
Apr 29, 2019 — 4.54pm
The future of the private health insurance industry looks bleak. Premiums are rising and people are dropping their cover, especially the young and the healthy.
Those who are left are more likely to need health care, which drives insurance costs up further. About 100,000 fewer Australians have private hospital cover today than a year ago.
Private health insurance in Australia faces a reckoning. Labor has promised that if it wins the May 18 federal election it will order a comprehensive Productivity Commission review of the private health sector. The Coalition should match that promise.
Rising costs per person have placed private health insurers under increasing pressure. Premiums have risen faster than inflation, and more people are downgrading their cover by opting for products with deductions and exclusions.
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ALP dental subsidies ‘risk costs blowout’
- 12:00AM April 30, 2019
Pensioners and seniors who receive dental treatment without charge in the public system could use Labor’s proposed $1000 subsidies to jump the waiting list and go private instead, prompting warnings of cost blowouts.
With Labor yet to determine what it would pay private dentists to bulk bill under a promised $2.4 billion extension of Medicare, there are questions over how the Shorten government would manage demand to benefit those most in need.
The Australian has learnt the Parliamentary Budget Office, in costing the Greens’ proposal for a much broader dental scheme, estimated patients would require an average $800 worth of treatment every two years. Labor has instead opted for a $1000, two-year cap — its PBO costing has not been released — to benefit “up to three million people”.
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Private cover is the canary in the coal mine for whole health system
Rachel David
Apr 30, 2019 — 12.58pm
The Grattan Institute's Stephen Duckett argues that private health cover is in a "death spiral" of too few young members supporting rising numbers of older ones. But he omitted one thing. The changes as Baby Boomers reach the age of "peak healthcare" are not just hitting private health insurance, but also the Medicare system as a whole.
Times have changed and community expectations are high. We are not living in the 1970s any more. People have stopped smoking, are starting their families later, living until their 90s or even longer, and cancer is becoming a mostly chronic disease.
In the 1970s, there were 10 working people supporting every one dependent on the health and welfare system. Today there are five, and by 2040 there will be three. Health fund premiums are growing on average at 3.25 per cent per annum, but Commonwealth funding to public hospitals is growing at 6.5 per cent and this will increase again should there be a change in government. Health fund premium increases are the canary in the coalmine as a direct price signal hitting hip pockets at the same time each year.
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A 'two-edged sword', but health insurer looks to Labor-led reform
William McInnes Reporter
May 1, 2019 — 2.55pm
While other leaders have found the looming federal election has disrupted business, the leaders of Australia’s two biggest listed health players say it is a chance to bring clarity and further reform to the sector.
“I hope and expect any new government will have as much enthusiasm for healthcare reform as the current government,” NIB Holdings chief executive Mark Fitzgibbon told the Macquarie Australia conference in Sydney on Wednesday.
He said a Labor victory, which he considered likely, could be good despite the party’s mixed relationship with the sector.
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Hip and knee replacement patients a heavy burden on hospital
By Kate Aubusson
May 2, 2019 — 12.00am
Ninety per cent of patients having knee or hip replacements are obese or overweight at one NSW hospital, epitomising the heavy double burden of the obesity epidemic and ageing population on Australia's healthcare system.
Just one in 10 patients who underwent elective hip and knee replacement were of "normal" weight, the 10-month audit of 247 patients at the unidentified public hospital found.
Obese hip replacement patients are more resource intensive for hospitals, researchers say.
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'That’s a scary moment': how that first prescription in hospital fuelled an opioid epidemic
By Kate Aubusson
May 1, 2019 — 2.03pm
Up to one in 10 surgery patients who get hooked on opioids had never used the drugs before they were prescribed the medication after their operation, world-leading pain experts say.
They warned the potent painkillers themselves can switch on pain pathways in some patients, locking them in a vicious cycle: the more opioids they take, the worse they feel.
As the political and public focus on the opioid epidemic focuses on banning over-the-counter codeine and real-time prescription monitoring, pain and anaesthesia specialists are looking upstream to the poisoned chalice of the first opioid prescription.
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College of Physicians under investigation over governance
By Tom Rabe
May 4, 2019 — 11.00am
The Australian charities and not-for-profits watchdog is investigating the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP).
In a statement on Friday, an RACP spokesman said the college had been formally notified it was being investigated by the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC).
The college has entered into a voluntary compliance agreement with the commission to improve board culture and governance, according to the RACP.
"We wish to reassure our trainees and Fellows that the College's annual program of written and clinical examinations, training and inductions to Fellowship will continue as normal while this investigation is underway," the RACP spokesman said.
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International Issues.
Spain's Socialists set to win vote as far rightists enter parliament
Pamela Rolfe and James McAuley
Apr 29, 2019 — 7.30am
Madrid | Spain's Socialist party stood poised to win the lion's share of votes in a contentious snap election that will determine the future of the country's legislature in a moment of bitter political polarisation.
The Socialists, the party of incumbent Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, were projected to win 123 of 350 seats in Spain's Congress of Deputies in the Sunday (Mnday AEST) poll; more than 70 per cent of the vote had been ocounted counted.
While the centre-right Popular Party appeared to suffer heavy losses, Vox, on the extreme right, was on course to enter parliament, the Cortes Generales, for the first time.
Turnout was also at a record high: 75 per cent, according to the Spanish Interior Ministry.
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Election of comedian president is a sign of desperate times in Ukraine
By Oksana King
April 29, 2019 — 11.54am
It's sounds like a bizarre misunderstanding, but it's true. Ukrainians have chosen a comedian, actor and a screenwriter as their president. What is even more bizarre is that very little was known (and still is) about his policies, the agenda of his little-known political party or, indeed, his personality. In ordinary circumstances, his curriculum vitae would not survive a glimpse by your down-to-earth presidential selection committee in Ukraine, it did, and more than just survived – it was the winning bid. So what happened and what were the “key selection criteria” that Volodymyr Zelensky fulfilled so well in the eyes of three quarters of the Ukrainian people?
The quick answer is that Ukrainians wanted someone drastically different from their previous leaders, someone who can represent a fresh start for Ukraine. It comes from a desperate desire to start with a clean slate with someone who does not own factories, dozens of off-shore accounts and mansions all over the world, someone who is a political and business “virgin” in the seemingly never-ending power relay of old-style corrupt politicians and oligarchs.
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China’s vast fleet is tipping the balance in the Pacific
The Chinese navy, which is growing faster than any other major fleet, now controls the seas off its coast. Once dominant, the United States and its allies sail warily in these waters. A former U.S. naval officer says China's advances have caught America napping.
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US commitment to regime change in Venezuela tested
Aime Williams
May 2, 2019 — 9.26am
Washington | The stalled effort by supporters of Venezuela’s opposition leader to oust Nicolás Maduro this week raises the question of just how far the Trump administration is willing to go to install Juan Guaidó in the presidential palace.
US President Donald Trump has made removing Mr Maduro from power one of his top foreign policy efforts, but clashes on the streets of the Venezuelan capital of Caracas this week have made clear that regime change will not be straightforward.
The US administration’s attention to Venezuela intensified three months ago when it joined more than 50 other countries in vociferously supporting Mr Guaidó, recognising him as the country’s interim leader.
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Fed keeps rates on hold, defying Trump's calls for a cut
By Heather Long
May 2, 2019 — 7.31am
The Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged on Wednesday, defying a push from President Donald Trump for lower rates intended to stimulate the economy.
One day after US President Trump urged the Federal Reserve to slash interest rates by a large amount, the Fed voted to keep rates steady.
The US economy is "solid," the central bank said in a statement, suggesting it was in no rush to move interest rates, which are at just under 2.5 per cent .
Fed leaders have repeatedly said they will be "patient" on any rate hikes, and they are not forecasting any increases or decreases this year.
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Why is Russia clashing with US over Venezuela?
By Emily Tamkin
Updated May 2, 2019 — 10.48amfirst published at 7.02am
Washington: There was an unexpected twist on Tuesday evening as Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido's attempted uprising against President Nicolas Maduro's government appeared to be sputtering out. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that Maduro was set to flee Venezuela and that Russia had persuaded him to stay.
An anti-government protester, masked with a Venezuelan flag, looks toward security forces during clashes near La Carlota airbase in Caracas, Venezuela. Credit:AP
Russia denies the assertion, and, on Wednesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in a phone call with Pompeo that Washington's "interference" was "a most grave violation of international law," according to Russia's Foreign Ministry.
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Only misery awaits if Venezuelans don’t reclaim their freedom
WSJ EDITORIAL BOARD
- The Wall Street Journal
- 12:00AM May 2, 2019
The stakes couldn’t be higher as Venezuela’s democratic leaders launch a revolt against Cuban-backed dictator Nicolas Maduro.
Either Venezuelans reclaim their freedom, or instability and misery will continue to radiate from Caracas through the Americas.
Self-declared president Juan Guaido, who was chosen by the elected National Assembly, stood outside La Carlota military air base in Caracas at dawn on Tuesday to call for “beginning the final phase of Operation Freedom”.
He was calling Venezuelans to the streets a day earlier than he had planned as part of a peaceful May 1 demonstration.
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The economic 'revolution' that has billionaires worried
By Katia Porzecanski, Gillian Tan and Sonali Basak
May 3, 2019 — 7.12am
In Beverly Hills, the chicken Caesar salad costs $US25.95.
Stephen Schwarzman, with a net worth of $US14.3 billion ($20.4 billion), could buy one for all 329 million people in the US today - and then do so again tomorrow for 222 million of them.
The wealth on display this week at the annual Davos-style conference organised by Michael Milken, once of junk-bond fame, is capturing a moment in our age of growing inequality. For the first time in Milken Institute Global Conference's two-decade-plus history, Schwarzman and the other billionaires and mere multimillionaires here find themselves confronting uncomfortable questions about the source of their wealth: modern American capitalism itself.
That chicken Caesar at the Beverly Hilton? The price breaks down to almost four hours of work at the federal minimum wage.
Data doesn't support Belt and Road debt trap claims
By Kirsty Needham
May 2, 2019 — 6.04pm
Beijing: Accusations of "debt trap diplomacy" levelled at China's Belt and Road plan to offer billions in loans to poor nations for infrastructure have been questioned by new research which shows asset seizures by Beijing are rare.
An analysis by New York's Rhodium Group of 40 debt renegotiations made by China across 24 countries found "asset seizures are a very rare occurrence".
Instead, debt write-off was the most common outcome, happening in 16 cases, including Vanuatu.
Apart from a high-profile example in Sri Lanka, where control of the Hambantota Port was passed to a Chinese company, the only other potential case the researchers could find was in Tajikistan in 2011 where land was transferred to China.-----
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'F--- Brexit': Voter anger hits home as Tory and Labour councils routed
By Nick Miller
May 4, 2019 — 7.33am
London: It's chaos out there in Brexitland, formerly known as England, which has just finished counting the casualties of a local election bloodbath.
Well over a thousand local councillors lost their jobs as voters punished the Tories for their hapless, rudderless state.
And instead of reaping the spoils Labour was ruing its own losses: significantly fewer, but unexpected and humiliating.
Take it from plain-spoken Labour MP Jess Phillips, who complained on Friday: "Let the Tories play with the Brexit ball and let it wreck them. Why on earth are we allowing it to do the same thing to us that it's done to the Tories for 40 years?"
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North Korea fires 'barrage' of short-range missiles, says South
UpdatedMay 4, 2019 — 11.39amfirst published at 11.24am
Seoul: North Korea has fired "a barrage" of unidentified short-range missiles toward the ocean, according to the South Korean military.
The North "fired multiple rounds of unidentified missiles from its east coast town of Wonsan in the north-eastern direction between 9.06am [10.06am AEST] and 9.27am today," the JCS said in a statement according to the Yonhap news agency.
They flew for a range of about 70 to 100 kilometres, the JCS said, adding that South Korean and US authorities were analysing details of the missiles.
The South Korean Defence Ministry was not available for comment.
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Gaza-Israel violence flares into second day with rocket attacks and air strikes
By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Maayan Lubell
May 5, 2019 — 9.04am
Talking points
• Flare-up follows killing of two Hamas militants
• Cairo trying to mediate truce
• Netanyahu convenes Israeli security council
Gaza/Jerusalem: Gaza militants fired more than 250 rockets into Israeli towns and villages through Saturday, while Israel hit back with tank shelling and air strikes that Palestinian officials said killed four people.
Cross-border hostilities which broke out on Friday flared into a second day, with Palestinians fleeing Israeli strikes in Gaza and air-raid sirens sending Israelis running to shelters as interceptor missiles blew up rockets in the sky.
The escalation, which comes just ahead of both the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and Israel's Independence Day holiday, prompted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to convene security chiefs.
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Lessons lost as riots return to Solomon Islands
The Economist
• 12:00AM May 4, 2019
Politics in the Solomon Islands has a nasty habit of repeating ¬itself. On April 24, riots broke out in the capital, Honiara, after MPs met to pick a prime minister, as happened 13 years ago.
Outside parliament, angry youths again denounced the outcome. When their protests went unheeded, they descended on Honiara’s Chinatown district and smashed up the Pacific Casino Hotel, just as they had in 2006.
This time, the Australian-trained police force was better prepared. Black-clad riot police equipped with helmets, shields and teargas barred access to Chinatown, and dispersed the crowds. Rioting continued on the nights of April 24 and 25, but it was mainly confined to attacks on shops and businesses in and around the Burns Creek squatter settlement in eastern Honiara.
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I look forward to comments on all this!
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David.
