If it succeeds, the rebate would start to fade out for singles on incomes of $83,000 a year and families with combined incomes of $166,000.

It would disappear altogether for singles earning $129,000 and couples earning more than $258,000.

The Federal Health Minister, Tanya Plibersek, said this would save the Federal government $2.4 billion over three years.

The government will need the votes of at least three independents, to get this bill through the House of Representatives.

If it does, passage of this measure in the Senate would be virtually assured, as the Greens, who hold the balance of power in the upper house, support it.

The support of one independent in the lower house, Rob Oakshott, is seen as critical to the government’s chances.

Mr Oakshott has not yet declared his decision.

He is expected to do so next week.

If the measure is passed, people whose incomes are above the limits set by the government, could expect to pay more for their private health insurance.

Ms Plibersek, herself, is confident.

“Well I think that this is a very important piece of legislation and I think it will pass because of the merits of the case,” she said.

Speaking in an ABC radio interview, Ms Plibersek added “We’re talking about a fairness issue here.

“ We’re talking about people in the community – some of them on say $50,000 a year who can’t afford private health insurance themselves – subsidising the private health insurance of people including very high income earners, through the tax system.”

Ms Plibersek said Labor believes that is not fair.

“So we’re seeking to reduce the subsidy given to high income earners and remove the subsidy given to the highest income earners,” she said.

The ANZ bank has signalled that it will make an announcement then.

The three other big banks will be watching closely.

Meanwhile, the Federal Treasurer, Wayne Swan, has some advice for Australians who find that they are expected to pay more.

Put bluntly, it is “walk.”

“We’ve empowered the consumer,” Mr Swan said.

“So if the bank takes a decision with which they disagree they can walk down the road and get a better deal.

“ The standard variable rate on average from the major banks at the moment is 7.3 per cent.

“You can get far better deals than that elsewhere in the financial system right now,” Mr Swan said.

Where?

He had some hints to offer about that, too.

“We’ve strengthened the credit unions,” Mr Swan said.

“We’ve strengthened the smaller banks.

“What I want to see is red hot competition out there.

“That’s what we need in this system,” the Treasurer said.

Once again, Mr Swan described Australia’s big four banks are “extremely profitable.”

“So the notion that our banks can cry poor in this environment is simply not credible,” he added.

The banks are insisting though that they must be able to cover the now higher costs of the funds they borrow overseas, to lend to Australian home buyers and small businesses.

The Reserve Bank acknowledged that Australia’s banks are, indeed,  having to meet higher costs of this kind.

It did that when it surprised markets on Tuesday by keeping its marker rate at 4.25 per cent.

One well placed source said offshore funding accounted for about 20 per cent of the funds raised for  bank lending.

He estimated that this would add at least 0.1 per cent to their costs.

The Federal Health Minister Tanya Plibersek , who made this claim, described these ads as “the last bastion of tobacco advertising” in Australia.

She said the Australian Senate has now passed legislation restricting online tobacco advertising in this country.

“This legislation has extinguished the last remaining opportunity for tobacco companies to freely promote their harmful products to the Australian public,”  Ms Plibersek said.

“Sales of tobacco on the internet will be subject to the same restrictions as everywhere else, and online retailers won’t be able to spruik cigarettes with words such as ‘cheap’ and ‘tax-free,’” she added

Ms Plibersek said the new law will bring restrictions on tobacco advertising on the internet into line with those applying to other media.

She said the new law complements the Australian Government’s world-first plain packaging legislation, which removes tobacco companies’ ability to advertise on tobacco packaging.

Smoking related illnesses kill an estimated 15,000 Australians each year.

They cost the community more than $A 30 billion ($US27.8 billion).

The Prime Minister Julia Gillard said clean-up and recovery grants of up to $25,000 would be provided to communities in Queensland.

Similar grants, of up to $15,000, are being offered in New South Wales.

In Queensland primary producers, small businesses and not-for-profit organisations in the local government areas (LGAs) of Balonne, Barcaldine, Blackall-Tambo, Maranoa, Murweh and Paroo will be eligible.

In New South Wales, Ms Gillard the said the local government areas of  Moree, Narrabri and Gwydir would qualify.

Full details

Another small cut had been widely expected.

However, the Bank’s Governor, Glenn Stevens, said  a “moderate” economic expansion is occurring in the United States.

He said too that  “acute financial pressures” in Europe  had been “alleviated considerably” late last year.

Mr Stevens also said that the two rate cuts, that the bank announced late last year, had left the rates Australia’s borrowers pay close to their “medium term average.”

“With (domestic) growth expected to be close to trend and inflation close to target, the Board judged that the setting of monetary policy was appropriate for the moment,” the Reserve Bank Governor added.

The decision has, at least, postponed a looming stand off between the Federal government and Australia’s big four banks.

The Treasurer, Wayne Swan, had called on those banks to pass on any rate cut in full.

He said that  banks which did not do so would be acting to protect their “huge profitability.”

The banks might well have resisted that demand, if the Reserve Bank had cut its marker rate.

Bank executives, including Westpac’s chief, Gail Kelly, argue that the costs Australia’s banks now incur, raising funds for home and business loans, has risen as a result of the European debt crisis.

The risk of an all out confrontation between the Federal government and the banks eased when the Reserve Bank kept rates on hold.

Mr Stevens did admit that more needs to be done to bring Europe’s debt problems under control,

“Much remains to be done to put European sovereigns and banks on a sound footing, but some progress has been made,” he said.

Mr Stevens admitted, though, that financial market sentiment “remains skittish.”

He also said : “information on the Australian economy continues to suggest growth close to trend,

Mr Stevens admitted, though, that differences between sectors still persist.

“Labour market conditions softened during 2011 and the unemployment rate increased slightly in mid year, “ he said.

However unemployment had been steady over recent months.

Consumer price inflation “has declined as expected,” he added,

Mr Stevens said that had happened as fresh food prices eased, as the large rises resulting  from last year’s floods, passed.

“Year-ended CPI inflation will fall further over the next quarter or two,” he added.

“In underlying terms, inflation is around 2½ per cent,” Mr Stevens said.

The Treasurer was speaking, in a television interview,  just days before the Reserve Bank board meets to review Australia’s interest rates.

A third rate cut, also of 25 basis points, is widely expected.

However, bank executives, including Westpac’s chief Gail Kelly, have been signalling that they might not pass on the full amount of any rate cut, that the Reserve Bank might announce on Tuesday.

Mr Swan’s pre-emptive response was swift and sharp.

“Customers would have every right to be angered if their bank decided to hang on to part of a rate cut to boost their profits,” he said.

“There’s no doubt Australia’s major banks are hugely profitable,” the Treasurer added.

“Despite the current global volatility, their net interest margins are still around pre-crisis levels and are around their average over the past decade.

“Their return on equity is much higher than most of their global peers,” Mr Swan said.

That is not what the banks have been saying.

Ms  Kelly, for example, has said that the funding costs Australia’s banks face rose quite strongly in the second half of last year.

Westpac, itself, admitted last week that it is planning to cut 300 to 400 jobs and union sources have said that as many as 560 jobs could well disappear at that bank.

The ANZ bank, too, has already cut more than 100 jobs and more jobs are expected to go at the ANZ over coming months.

Other banks are also understood to be reviewing their staff levels, in the light of recent developments.

Mr Swan described recent announcements of job cuts,  most notably in the banking and car industries, as “disappointing.”

Speaking principally of the car industry, he said: “There’s no doubt that many sectors are doing it tough at the moment, particularly with the high Australian dollar.”

Westpac is the latest to announce cut backs, admitting that 300-400 jobs will go.

The Prime Minister Julia Gillard refused to comment, saying the bank had not made a formal announcement when she met reporters.

However she insisted that the nation’s  finance industry has “a bright future.”

News of the planned Westpac cuts came shortly after the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported that home building approvals fell by 1 per cent in December.

The Housing Industry Association said approvals  fell three times in the last four months of last year.

The association’s chief economist, Harley Dale, urged the Reserve Bank to lower interest rates, yet again, when its board meets next Tuesday.

Otherwise, he warned,  housing starts will fall to a level below that experienced during the depth of the global financial crisis.

Dr Dale also urged Australia’s banks to pass on any rate cut, in full.

There have been signs that at least some of the banks may be reluctant to do that, even though banking profits are still strong.

Ms Gillard admitted that job losses present family problems..

“…. for anybody to lose their job or to be confronted with a redundancy is a very tough moment for them and for their family.

“… they have all of our thoughts and all of our support,” she added.

But she  was optimistic.

“…when we look at the future, we can see a bright future for financial services,” Ms Gillard said.

“We live in a region which is growing. “

The  middle classes in both China and India are growing.

“ So I believe our financial services sector has a very bright outlook,”

However the Finance Sector Union described the latest job cuts as “a disgrace.”

Its national secretary Leon Carter told the ABC:”Times are tough out there.

“… the only people who aren’t doing it tough are big banks like Westpac that are making multi-billion-dollar annual profits.”

Fair Work Australia  granted rises of between 23 and 45 per cent to about 150,000 workers that Ms Gillard said are among the lowest paid in the nation.

The Prime Minister said 120,000 of threse workers are women, working with difficult jobs in a caring industry.

Their work included counseling families in crisis, running homeless shelters and working with victims of domestic violence and sexual assault.

Fair Work Australia had previously identified these workers as  underpaid.

The ABC reports that in its ruling today, Fair Work Australia said the highest paid employees would receive a 41 per cent, or $24,000 pay rise, bringing their annual salary to $83,000.

Workers on the lowest award rates will receive a rise of 19 per cent, an increase of around $6,000 per year.

The new rates would be phased in over an eight-year period beginning on December 1.

Ms Gillard said an appropriate phasing in period is “unquestionably needed.”