The newly elected Parliament sat for the first time this week, ushering in a flurry of announcements and issues as the new Government begins to shape its agenda. Here is a fast-fire overview of key issues from the past week.
Amid the growing Omicron wave, the Property Council has state and territory officials that work from home mandates and requests are not cost free and urged governments not to send mixed signals to business.
We have the doubling of FIRB application fees announced last week as sending the wrong message to the world and a bad principle to follow.
We have the Albanese Government’s expansion of the Australian Renewable Energy Agency’s mandate to focus on energy efficiency and electrification. Demand management should be valued in our energy system, including through its potential to take pressure off grid transition.
The Government has reduced the powers of the building industry watchdog, the ABCC, to its ‘bare legal minimum’ as a precursor to abolishing the body. The Property Council is calling on the Government to safeguard the construction industry from the bullying and intimidation we have seen in the past.
Tomorrow we will get a much clearer picture of the Albanese Government’s forward economic agenda when Treasurer Jim Chalmers provides an economic address to Parliament. The speech is expected to shed light on plans for budget repair, productivity growth and to combat inflation.
