Dreyfus promises voice bill before parliament by end of ‘coming sitting fortnight’
Mark Dreyfus is up:
We will have a constitution alteration bill in the parliament by the end of the coming sitting fortnight. That will contain the words that will amend the constitution and the question that will be put to the Australian people.
Quick note – parliament is sitting from next Monday 20 March for two weeks until Thursday 30 March.
Key events
Peter Hannam
Productivity Commission report lays out challenging path to faster growth
If the ACCC is Australia’s market regulator, the Productivity Commission is the nation’s market motivator to offer what it says is evidence-based advice to foster economic growth.
Today it released its five-yearly report, optimistically entitled “advancing prosperity”. The first such inquiry, “shifting the dial”, didn’t shift much at all after its release in 2017.
Wading through the 1,000-plus page report might not be the most productive use of your time. There are no fewer than “29 reform directives and 71 specific recommendations”.
As the commission has said previously, we are getting more productive (making more from less) at the slowest pace in yonks. “Over the decade to 2020, average annual labour productivity growth in Australia was the slowest in 60 years, falling to just 1.1% compared to 1.8% over those six decades to 2019-20,” it says.
Instead of doubling output every 39 years, we’ll take 64 years at this pace. Or in their words (for all those taking today off): “The often touted ‘4-day week’ is that much harder to achieve.”
Overall, services – unlike mining, say – are harder to automate, so the more our economy becomes service-based the harder it is to generate more output.
Government operations tend to be “non-market”, sometimes without competition or cost to the client. The larger this sector grows, the tougher it will be to drive innovation, so the PC says.
“If productivity growth in the non-market sector continued at its historic level, then (under the simplest assumptions) in 40 years that sector would account for more than 40% of employment,” it says. The current share is about 25%.
Mind you, the market sector is not particularly nimble either. “Some 98% of Australian businesses do not produce new-to-the-world innovations,” the report says.
Unlike the 2017 report, there is a large section dealing with climate change, particularly decarbonisation efforts. The PC hasn’t been a fan of climate action in the past, and they seem reluctant backers now. If we are going to act, we should have “a single, explicit carbon price” – which was scrapped by the Abbott government in 2014.
It recommends an expansion of the federal government’s safeguard mechanism to include electricity generation to the 200-odd industrial sites captured, roughly doubling the carbon emissions cover to a bit over half.
Still, an action might prove a drag on productivity, particularly if it’s not effectively done. “Because the cost of carbon emissions has not been reflected in GDP or business profits, abatement efforts could, in many instances, increase the cost of production and could put downward pressure on measured productivity, at least in the short term,” it says.
(Of course, if Australia and other polluters don’t act, productivity will likely spiral downwards amid ecosystem and societal collapse.)
There are a bunch of other interesting recommendations, which we’ll highlight soon. Stay tuned.
Global Citizen calls for funding for climate change, ‘a matter of political will’
Michael Sheldrick, co-founder & chief policy, impact and government affairs officer for Global Citizen, an international education and advocacy organisation, has released a statement calling for more funding for climate change:
This week, Australians saw President Biden, [the] British prime minister, Rishi Sunak, and [the] Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, formalise an agreement, Aukus, to own and operate nuclear-powered submarines at a cost to Australia of up to AU$368bn. This is the equivalent of 217 years of aid to the Pacific at Australia’s current spend in the region.
It’s clear that Australia has the capacity to fund measures vital to its national and global security. Climate change is clearly the great security challenge of our time. Just ask any of Australia’s friends in the Pacific.
To put this into perspective, paying for Australia’s fair share towards the impacts of climate change is equivalent to the cost of just one nuclear-powered submarine.
We aren’t asking Australia to commit to a new measure: we’re simply calling on Australia to fulfil the promise they made in the Paris Agreement. Our government promised to play its part in closing the global US$100bn climate financing gap, which included supporting climate resiliency programs in the Pacific and South East Asia.
This is something we can be doing to deliver on promises – it’s just a matter of political will.
Abseiling instructor dies at WA tourist spot
Police are investigating the death of an instructor who died while abseiling with a group of school students at a popular West Australian tourist spot, AAP reports.
The 53-year-old man had been facilitating an excursion with students and teachers from a metropolitan high school at Brides Cave in Boranup, near Margaret River.
Police say a number of the group had already abseiled to the bottom of the cave area on Thursday afternoon when the instructor fell. First aid was provided to the man until a rescue helicopter paramedic was lowered into the cave and took over.
“Tragically, the man became unresponsive and was unable to be revived. He died at the scene,” WA police said in a statement.
The man’s colleagues and emergency service volunteers assisted with the recovery of the instructor, students and teachers from the bottom of the cave. Police have notified WorkSafe of the incident and will prepare a report for the coroner.
The Aston by-election campaigning continues, even at concerts.
SA First Nations voice intended to pass on special 26 March Sunday sitting
Maher is back up and giving a rundown of what will happen on 26 March when both SA houses of parliament will sit to vote on the state’s voice bill:
The intention is the South Australian First Nations voice bill will pass parliament on that special Sunday sitting.
There will be speeches and musical acts at parliament, he said.
A real recognition and celebration of what we’re doing in South Australia is something quite extraordinary.
Burney stresses no final date set for dissolving working group
There will be processes in place to finalise recommendations but … the role of the engagement group and working group don’t have a final date, despite what the media has been saying in the last little while.
These two groups are from First Nations leaders right across the country in geographic as well as policy areas. As well as people that have been involved … in the delivery process for six years. The value of these groups is immeasurable.
Linda Burney: SA model on Treaty ‘helpful’
Burney is asked about what the SA members shared in terms of their own model around Treaty:
Lessons around making sure the rounds of consultation and representations were done thoroughly. Issues around how it fits with other legislation. Issues around how it might interface with the parliament.
I’m not saying we’re going to mirror everything, but what I am saying is it has been really helpful to listen to … what the South Australian model is. But most importantly, that it is actually about to happen.
And back to Burney – who says there is no division between the group.
I want to make that extraordinarily clear. The wording will be decided on in the near future. The work of the working group and engagement group will absolutely inform where we go in terms of finalising that. I can assure you, we are so close. It is exciting.
Dreyfus promises voice bill before parliament by end of ‘coming sitting fortnight’
Mark Dreyfus is up:
We will have a constitution alteration bill in the parliament by the end of the coming sitting fortnight. That will contain the words that will amend the constitution and the question that will be put to the Australian people.
Quick note – parliament is sitting from next Monday 20 March for two weeks until Thursday 30 March.
Burney says Australia is on the verge of “something remarkable”.
It is on the verge of recognising, finally, First Nations people in a way that is going to make us feel all proud and walk taller on the day after the referendum. People have been working for decades towards this.
The life expectancy outcomes and many of the other social justice outcomes fo people is totally unacceptable.
This is a way to make sure decisions made around and about us are informed by First Nations people from across the country. Can I finally say this, that through the efforts of the working group and the engagement group, we are on track to get this thing done. And get it done we will.
We will finalise the question and the amendments for the Australian Constitution and you all know those words in a very short period of time.
Burney finishes by thanking the other members of the working group who are representing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people from around the country.
Linda Burney says attorney general will introduce bill in last two weeks of parliament
Burney says the attorney general, in the last two weeks of parliament, will introduce the constitution alteration bill:
That will outline what the question is to the Australian people and what the amendments will be to the constitution. And as the prime minister has said, we will have a referendum to enshrine our First Nations voice, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in a voice into the Australian constitution.
It is about consultation. It is about negotiation. And it is certainly about representation. That is exactly what the voice is about. It is about making sure that First Nations voices, Aboriginal and Torres Strait voices are heard by the parliament.
Linda Burney is speaking now:
We are doing the work needed to get this voice right. I can assure you that we are on track. We are taking our time. We are consulting.
And we are being very deliberate about being on-track and very deliberate about getting the work done to make sure this voice is a voice that people are asking for. The referendum will be at the end of this year.
It is no longer academic. It is actually happening.
Referendum wording to be released in coming weeks
Thomas Mayo is up now:
I am a member of the referendum working group on the engagement group. We are around 60 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people from all around the country, we come from remote communities in regional areas and cities, and we are doing a lot of hard work to reach a set of words that we can take to the Australian people that will see the nation become a better country – a better nation where we … simply recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people for a long-existing and continuing heritage and culture, [and] do that in a way that gives greater fairness to our people who have decisions made about us all the time as a distinct people, to give us a voice to those decisions.
Mayo says they will announce the wording in the coming weeks.
SA minister for Aboriginal affairs: ‘nothing to lose, everything to gain’ on voice
Maher:
There is nothing to lose and everything to gain from an Aboriginal voice to parliament and we are looking forward, as a South Australian government and in South Australia, to supporting the yes campaign in the lead-up to the federal referendum later this year.
South Australia to pass legislation for First Nations voice to state parliament
The South Australian minister for Aboriginal affairs, Kyam Maher, is speaking now:
During parliamentary seatings next week, we will pass legislation for a First Nations voice to the South Australian parliament. A fully elected body of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who will have a legislative right to have their views heard by the parliament of South Australia and by the executive government in South Australia.
I am pleased to be able to announce today that we will have a special sitting of the South Australian parliament on Sunday the 26 March at 11am.
… we will close off part of North Terrace to allow as many people to come into the city; there will be free public transport into the city for as many South Australians that want to witness this historic event in South Australia, the passing of our legislation that we hope will provide some comfort to people around Australia in the lead-up to a referendum.
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