Weekly Wrap Up

12 March 2021

Highlights

  • Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews is on medical leave following a fall. Deputy Premier James Merlino is serving as Acting Premier on his behalf.
  • Health Minister Greg Hunt has also taken a short period of medical leave. The Prime Minister is Acting Health Minister in his absence.
  • Leader of the Opposition Anthony Albanese announced Labor’s Jobs Plan, with a focus on improving job security and increasing wages as Australia recovers from COVID-19.
  • The Prime Minister is attending the First Quadrilateral Security Dialogue summit on Saturday with US President Joe Biden, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga of Japan and Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India.
  • Western Australia’s Minister for Racing and Gaming Paul Papalia confirmed there will be a Royal Commission into Crown Perth’s suitability to hold a gaming licence.
  • The Auckland hotspot declaration was lifted and Green Zone flights from New Zealand have resumed.

Tourism Package

The Morrison Government committed $1.2 billion to support domestic tourism and aviation as part of the National Economic Recovery Plan. The package will fund 800,000 half-price airfares to 13 regional destinations in an attempt to boost domestic travel while international borders are still closed.

A new International Aviation Support program will also help to maintain more than 8,000 international aviation jobs, while another scheme will assist ground-handling companies to meet the costs of mandatory training, certification and accreditation of their workforces until the market expands.

AFR Business Summit

Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) Governor Philip Lowe spoke at the 2021 AFR Business Summit, noting an improvement in sentiment for the global economy which has been largely driven by the vaccine rollout and further fiscal stimulus in the United States. Lowe applauded the lift in international inflation expectations, however noted that for local inflation to be sustainably within the 2 to 3 per cent target range, wage growth needs to exceed 3 per cent – significantly higher than the current level of 1.4 per cent. He said the RBA Board was prioritising return to full employment to achieve this.

WA Election

Western Australians head to the polls this weekend for the 2021 State Election. Across the state 1,716,732 residents are enrolled to vote, with over 237,604 postal votes received last week. Premier Mark McGowan requested[PDF] a final independent Treasury analysis of Labor’s election commitments which found costings estimated at $2.4 billion over the forward estimates. Elsewhere, Leader of the Opposition Zac Kirkup confirmed he will quit politics if he loses his seat of Dawsville to Labor (paywall).

Please contact GRA Partners in Perth for regular updates about Western Australian politics, including this week’s election.

Looking Ahead

The Federal, NZ, NSW, Victorian, SA, and Tasmanian parliaments sit next week.

Click here for information on Finance, Resources & Energy, Infrastructure, and Health updates.

 

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