Carbon tax not to blame for Kurri Kurri closure:PM

The Federal government says its carbon tax was not a major factor in  the closure of  the Kurrri Kurri  aluminium smelter, in the Hunter Valley, which cost more than 450 jobs.

The Opposition Leader Tony Abbott tackled the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, on the issue as question time opened in Parliament.

Ms Gillard said aluminium prices had dropped fallen by 40 per cent, from their peak.

And a senior minister, Greg Combet,  said “It has long been known that the Kurri Kurri smelter had faced difficulties, which saw the closure of one of its pot lines back in January.

“The key uncertainty facing the company has veen reaching agreement with the NSW government over a long term electricity supply contract,” Mr Combet added.

Mr Abbott responded by quoting a company statement saying: “the long term viability of operations is negatively affected by a number of factors, including increasing energy costs and the carbon tax.”

Mr Combet said: “That was selective quoting by the Leader of the Opposition.”

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Red tape slashed

Red tape is to be slashed.

The Federal government says a new bill will lead to the quick and efficient repeal of around 12,000 regulations

The Attorney General, Nicola Roxon, announced the new measure today

“We will now be able to repeal thousands of unnecessary regulations through this new streamlined process, rather than repealing them one by one,” she said.

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Credit ratings to be overhauled

Have you been refused a car or home loan, because there is a blot on your credit rating?

But would you know about it?

And could you correct it, if it was put there by mistake?

Many people have complained that their credit ratings are now so complicated that they simply can’t understand them.

The Attorney General, Nicola Roxon, says the Federal government is tackling all that – and more – with proposed changes to the Privacy Act, that she has just introduced into Federal parliament.

She said: ‘“There have been big changes to the way we access finance since 1990 when the existing credit reporting provisions came into effect.

“Many consumers have expressed their frustration at not being able to understand their credit rating.

“These changes will provide much more power to consumers

Ms Roxon said the proposed changes would also provide better protection for personal information, simplify credit reporting arrangements and give new enforcement powers to the Privacy Commissioner

“In an online world, we are sharing our personal information more than ever before—whether that be by paying our bills online, buying some footy tickets for the weekend, or connecting with friends and family through social media,” Ms Roxon said.

“Both consumers and governments have a role to play to protect privacy. “In introducing these changes, the Gillard Government is doing its bit to protect the privacy of Australian families.

“These new privacy laws focus on giving power back to consumers over how organisations use their personal information,” she added.

Lenders welcomed the bill.

Damian Paull, of the Australian Retail Credit Association, said: “Comprehensive credit reporting will deliver both certainty for industry and security for consumers.”

He said this would be achieved through the introduction of mandatory standards on the completeness and integrity of credit file information.

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Australia ahead of most:OECD

The Australian economy is expected to outperform most others, over the year ahead.

The OECD is forecasting that our growth will be 3.1 per cent in 2012 and 3.7 per cent in 2013.

However another indicator, released later, suggests that growth, over large sectors of  the Australian economy, will be weak for some time.

The Westpac Melbourne Institute leading index, which points to likely growth three to nine months ahead, remained well below trend in March.

The  OECD said it  expects a muted and fragile recovery in many other advanced economies, largely due to the lingering effects of past global turmoil and very challenging economic conditions facing Europe.

And it warns that the European sovereign debt crisis continues to be the most significant risk to the global outlook, with recent political developments in Greece resulting in greater financial market volatility.

However, the OECD expects that emerging economies particularly in our own region will continue to grow strongly.

The OECD expects that China’s economy will grow at 8.2 per cent in 2012, before picking up to 9.3 per cent in 2013. India’s economy is expected to grow at 7.1 per cent in 2012 and 7.7 per cent in 2013.

The OECD also expects that Australia’s unemployment rate will remain substantially lower than the 7.9 per cent unemployment rate expected for the OECD as a whole in 2013, and around half of the 11.1 per cent forecast for the euro area in that year.

The Federal Treasurer, Wayne Swan, said the OECD had also praised applauded the Government’s commitment to return to surplus.

It had said that “restoring fiscal leeway while macroeconomic conditions are still favourable, and the terms of trade high, is welcome.”

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Consumer confidence falls, but….

Last week’s share market slump hit consumer confidence in Australia hard.

The Roy Morgan organisation  said confidence fell 7.5 points last week.

The hit struck all components of the index.

“Australians are less confident about the Australian economy over the longer term, the organisation’s executive chairman, Garry Morgan, said.

Share markets, throughout the world, were rattled last week over fears that unpopular austerity programs might force Greece out of the European Union.

However, US President Obama urged G8 nations at the weekend to opt for expansionary plans instead.

That led to partial share market recoveries, in both the US and Australia, when trading re-opened this week.

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Small business “squeezed”

The small business sector in Australia is still facing “challenging” times, according to a new survey, conducted by Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

The survey showed that  selling prices and profits are still being squeezed, as labour costs rose.

The Survey also confirmed  that:

• the small business sector remains pessimistic about the strength of the Australian economy;
• Profit Growth remains deep in contractionary territory
•  despite poor trading conditions the small business sector continues to report significant labour cost pressures.

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Thomson explains

The embattled former Labor MP, Craig Thomson, declared today that the Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott, is not fit to be a member of parliament – let alone Prime Minister – because he ignores the democratic principle that an accused man is presumed innocent, until found guilty by a court.

“Are we going to have parliament ruled by the mob?” Mr Thomson asked rhetorically, as he concluded an hour long statement to Parliament, declaring himself innocent of allegations made against him.

These included assertions that he had misused union funds and paid for the service of prostitutes, with a union credit card.

“I have repeatedly made it clear that I have done nothing wrong,” Mr Thomson declared.

He attacked three officials of his old union, who he said had made false allegations against him, the watchdog,  Fair Work Australia, which made adverse findings against him, after a four year investigation and opposition members, who he said had ignored basic principles of law, to advance their political cause.

The Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, was not in parliament as Mr Thomson spoke.

She is in Chicago for talks with other world leaders, on the future of Afghanistan.

Mr Thomson also had tough words for journalists and commentators whom he said had reported that he was guilty, without checking with him.

He reserved some of his strongest words, though, for Terry Nassios, the author of the 1,100 page report, that Fair Work Australia made about him.

He said Mr Nassios had simply accepted assertions that union rivals Kathy Jackson and Michael Williamson had made against him, without supporting evidence.

Mr Thomson noted, too, that Jeff Jackson, Kathy Jackson’s former husband, was second in  charge of Fair Work Australia.

He said, too, that a  threat made by Marco Bolano, another HSU official, had originated from Ms Jackson’s office.

The threat was that he would be associated with prostitutes and his career in politics ruined if he persisted with reforms to the union.

“Michael Williamson said this is the way we deal with matters that we view as problems,” Mr Thomson said.

He said, too, that the credibility of the Fair Work Australia report had been “destroyed” by another, produced by the Australian Electoral Commission, which showed that FWA had not properly investigated the matters on which it had reported.

Mr Thomson said, too, that while there are many good people in the media,  some journalists and commentators did not check the facts on which they wrote.

He said there had been other abuses, too.

“What I did not expect to see was Channel Seven reporters hovering under my bathroom window, while my pregnant wife was taking a shower,” Mr Thomson said.

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The G8 gamechanger

Investors will start to see small,  but significant, changes in world markets this week.

Austerity is now out of style.

Expansionary policies are on the way back.

The US President,  Barack Obama, saw that the austere policies, championed by the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, were shrinking European economies.

And his view prevailed, at a G8 meeting in Camp David over the weekend.

The Australian Treasurer, Wayne Swan, is taking a sober view of these events.

He warns that “bouts of volatility” like those seen over recent weeks “are likely to be with us for some time to come.”

Predictably, Mr Swan says this is due to “the profound challenges facing Greece and many other parts of Europe.”

That’s hardly encouraging for Australian investors, who lost billions last week, as share prices plummeted.

Acknowledging that pain, though, should not obscure the fact that a corner has been turned.

The new policies, though, won’t appear overnight.

The US economist, Paul Krugman, last week gave a glimpse of what will be required, to set things right – and keep Greece in the EU – as even Dr Merkel now says is desirable.

It’s a big to-do list.

Krrugman says the European Central Bank must “drop its obsession with price stability.”

That would involve several years” acceptance of 3-4 per cent inflation in most of Europe, and more than that in Germany.

This is called reflation.

It’s a shocking idea.

It won’t be sold, easily.

But the world saw, back in the 1930s, what kind of risks come with allowing unemployment levels of 50 per cent  – and more – to persist among the young.

Mr Swan says Europe’s worries were taken into account, in the budget he produced earlier this month.

“The Budget takes a conservative view of Europe’s economic outlook, with the euro area forecast to contract by ¾ of a per cent in 2012,” he said.

Mr Swan also said, once again, that the Australian economy is still among the strongest in the world .

But he, too, would dearly love to see Europe’s problems on the way to resolution, sooner rather than later.