Energy rebates dumped; world watches social media ban; Qantas final A380 flies

Energy rebates dumped; world watches social media ban; Qantas final A380 flies

News in brief

The pressure is building on PM Anthony Albanese to take action over Communications Minister Anika Wells’ travel schedule after it emerged, she billed taxpayers almost $9,000 for return flights so her husband could attend the three AFL grand finals, when she was Minister for Sport. Her three children also received publicly funded flights to Melbourne on each occasion.

 

Close to one million Australian workers hold more than one job, with those in community and personal care most likely to have multiple employers.

 

Qantas finally has all its A380s back in the air with the tenth superjumbo returning to the skies after nearly six years in storage and heavy maintenance. The A380 spent three years in the California desert due to the Covid pandemic, and then another 2.5 years at Abu Dhabi undergoing maintenance to ensure its safe return to flying.

 

It is not an exaggeration to say that the world is watching very closely Australia’s social media ban for under 16-year-olds which kicks off tomorrow, with the New York Times, BBC and many other international publications reporting on the world first, while the EU and Asian nations debate introducing similar rules.

 

Elon Musk’s charitable foundation grew larger than ever last year, but, for the fourth year in a row, the huge charity failed to give away the minimum amount required by law. According to a report in the NYT, the donations it did make went largely to charities closely tied to Musk himself.

Fear-o-meter

Politicians give up much of their lives to serve their electorates and deserve leeway when it comes to family travel. But Minister for Communications and former Sports Minister Anika Wells has pushed the barrow a little too far.

 

In recent days it has emerged that she and her husband flew from Brisbane to Melbourne for the 2022, 2023 and 2024 AFL Grand Finals. Other controversial trips involving her husband receiving publicly funded flights include a trip to the F1 in Melbourne last year, a trip to Adelaide which included a birthday party for a friend, and another to Thredbo this year during the ski season.

 

Family reunion entitlements permit federal MPs to claim as many as three return business-class flights per year for members of their family, on the proviso that the travel is between the MPs electorate and a destination other than Canberra.

 

Maybe Wells isn’t outside the rules, but the domestic travel alongside expensive flights to New York and Switzerland and France in the past two years doesn’t pass the pub test. And the sniff of impropriety is enough to do politicians over.

 

Ask Opposition Leader Sussan Ley. She lost her job as a frontbencher under Malcolm Turnbull when she flew to the Gold Coast for a work trip and bought an investment property while she was there. Not outside the rules, strictly speaking, but she still lost her job.

Fear & Greed Q+A today

On the $US17 trillion in Individual Retirement Accounts in the US, and the demand he's seeing for alternative investments:

 

“It is time to move on from the 60–40 portfolio - and it has been for a long time. When I started my career, there were three times as many publicly traded US stocks as there are today. Oddly, ETFs and mutual funds now have triple the number of listings as public equities. That 40 in the 60–40 always represented public fixed income as the diversifier… but mathematically that’s been less and less true for 25 years. If you’re truly seeking diversification, you need assets that zag when the stock market zigs, and public fixed income hasn’t done that. So you have to go elsewhere - and the only place left is non-listed private investments like private equity, private credit, precious metals and alternatives generally.”

Treasurer Jim Chalmers yesterday said federal energy rebates will end at the end of the year, ruling out a second extension. The Energy Bill Relief Fund initially provided a universal $300 household rebate for the 2024–25 financial year, paid in quarterly instalments. The government added a $150 extension covering July to December 2025, but that’s where it will end. Rebates for household electricity bills have cost the Commonwealth almost $7bn since they were introduced. Chalmers’ comments come as speculation increases about major reform in next year’s federal budget, which we might get a hint about next week when the MYEFO is released.

Greed-o-meter

Support	67%
Undecided / neutral	18%
Oppose	15%

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As mentioned above, Australia's world-first social media ban for under-16s comes into effect tomorrow. A Resolve Political Monitor poll for Nine newspapers looked at whether parents support the ban, and also whether they'll enforce it, amid reports teens will try to get around the restrictions imposed by the social media platforms.

 

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Source: Nine newspapers

Will pick and choose	53%
Will enforce ban fully	29%
Will take no action on ban	13%
Unsure	5%

Compliance