Politics with Michelle Grattan

Politics with Michelle Grattan: Michael Brennan on Australia’s parlous productivity growth

The Productivity Commission’s nine-volume report has a tough central message. It says productivity policy has to focus on the areas that have proven the hardest in the past, rather than those where previously progress has been most readily achieved.

One key take from the report is that Australia is performing poorly in growing its productivity.

The commission makes recommendations across the policy spectrum, from education and health through workplace relations and migration to data and technology.

It points to the difficulty of improving productivity in the public sector, and more generally to the complexities, now that we have become predominantly a services economy.

 

In this podcast, Michelle Grattan discusses the blueprint for reform with commission chair, Michael Brennan.

Politics with Michelle Grattan: Antony Green, Professor Andy Marks and Ashleigh Raper on the NSW election

Voters in New South Wales are heading to the polling booths on March 25. For both Premier Dominic Perrottet and Labor leader Chris Minns, it is their first election as leader. The Coalition government has held power since 2011. Labor needs to gain a net nine seats to form majority government. If Labor wins, the party will be in power in every state and territory except Tasmania.

There are 10 seats in this election that are on a margin of less than 6%, including Minns’ seat of Kogarah on 0.1%. In several contests the fate of “teal’ candidates will be watched. Spending and donation caps, and optional preferential voting make the teals’ path to victory more difficult than in the federal election.

In this podcast, Michelle Grattan speaks with Antony Green, the ABC’s election analyst, Professor Andy Marks, from the University of Western Sydney, and Ashleigh Raper, the ABC’s NSW state political reporter.

Politics with Michelle Grattan: Chair of Retirement Income Review, Mike Callaghan, on reforming superannuation

Treasurer Jim Chalmers sparked a political row when he announced a tax hike on superannuation concessions for accounts with balances over $3 million, from 15% to 30%, to begin in 2025. Polling indicates the move has broad support from the public, although any change to super is always controversial. Opposition leader Peter Dutton has promised the change would be reversed by a Coalition government.

Mike Callaghan, a former treasury official, chaired the Retirement Income Review that was handed to the Morrison government in 2020.

Callaghan sees the Chalmers’ change to super as “an important step”.

Politics with Michelle Grattan: Greens leader Adam Bandt on trying to force Labor’s hand on reform

Adam Bandt aspired to power-sharing with a Labor government. That was never going to happen but, possessing the major slice of the balance of power in the Senate, the Greens have considerable potential muscle – at least in theory.

In this podcast, we get a glimpse of the gap between Greens leader Adam Bandt’s aspiration for ambitious reforms and the reality that the government is only giving concessions at the edges to the minor party.

“There’s a capacity for this to be a golden era of reform in this parliament,” Bandt says.

“For us to pass laws that tackle the climate crisis and to protect the environment. That tackle the cost of living crisis.

Politics with Michelle Grattan: Frank Brennan on rewording Voice question

Frank Brennan has been involved over decades in the big debates in Indigenous affairs. A Jesuit priest and an academic expert on the constitution, Brennan has advocated for recognising First Nations peoples in that document.

But he has concerns about the breadth of Anthony Albanese’s proposed referendum question, arguing its reference to the Voice making representations to executive government raises the prospect of many legal challenges. This issue of the potential for legal challenges is one that divides legal experts, with a number of authorities maintaining there is no problem.

In this podcast, Brennan elaborates on why he believes the referendum question should be reworded and the form he thinks the question should take.

Politics with Michelle Grattan: Kate Chaney on life as a teal MP

Kate Chaney was one of half a dozen new “teal” MPs elected to parliament last year, winning the previously solid Liberal seat of Curtin in Western Australia.

“It’s been a fascinating and steep learning curve over the last eight months,” Chaney tells the podcast. “As a crossbencher, you really have to think very carefully about how you vote on every piece of legislation and try as much as possible to connect with community and ensure that those votes are informed by community.”

Against the background of the stoush between fellow teal Monique Ryan and a staffer over long hours, Chaney says the workload is massive. “It’s definitely challenging trying to get across all of the legislation with only one personal staff member [working on legislation]. I do think that challenge is quite different to the work of a backbencher in a party. I have been very lucky to find [staff] who are passionately engaged and have experience that has made them very well-suited for the job while still bringing a freshness to it.”

Politics with Michelle Grattan: Senator Malarndirri McCarthy on Alice Springs and the Voice

In this podcast, Michelle talks with Malarndirri McCarthy, Labor senator for the Northern Territory and Assistant Minister for Indigenous Australians. McCarthy is a former journalist and also served in the territory parliament, including as minister for children and families.

Politics with Michelle Grattan: Treasurer Jim Chalmers answers critics of his ‘values-based capitalism’

Treasurer Jim Chalmers has rejected as “laughable” criticism he has turned his back on the Hawke-Keating reform era in his blueprint for “values-based capitalism”.

In this podcast Chalmers also reveals he spoke with Paul Keating while writing of the essay, published in The Monthly.

“Capitalism after the crises” looks at Australia’s future following three international crises: the GFC, the pandemic, and the current energy and inflation shock. Chalmers advocates government-private co-investment, the renovation of the Reserve Bank and the Productivity Commission, and improving the functioning of markets.

Critics have labelled his values-based capitalism highly intervention, and counter to the direction of the reforms Bob Hawke and Keating implemented.

Politics with Michelle Grattan: Albanese flags new progress in China relationship ’in coming weeks’

In this, our last podcast for 2022, we talk with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton. We spoke to each of them on the day the parliament was back to pass the energy package. 

Albanese, who met Chinese President Xi Jinping during the recent summit season, reveals he anticipates a further positive development in China's relationship with Australia within weeks.  

Asked whether he expected some relaxation of China's trade restrictions on Australia any time soon, he said: "I'm hopeful that any of the barriers to normal economic activity are removed and that we have stronger economic relations.

"China is our major economic partner and I think in coming weeks you will see further measures and activities which indicate a much improved relationship, which is in the interests of both of our countries, but importantly as well is in the interests of peace and security in the region."

Politics with Michelle Grattan: Energy crisis has ‘badly damaged’ social licence of coal and gas

Australians are currently confronting a cost of living crisis that includes soaring energy prices. Ministers have been working for weeks on a strategy to contain the prices of coal and gas, driven up by the fallout from the Ukraine war.

It’s the toughest, most complicated policy issue so far faced by Anthony Albanese, and it’s involved some head-butting with the NSW and Queensland governments.

In this podcast, we talk with Professor Bruce Mountain, Director of the Victoria Energy Policy Centre at Victoria University, about this energy policy conundrum, and the attempt to deal with it by price caps.

Mountain says: “One of the great difficulties in capping wholesale coal or gas prices is there’s no guarantee that that will impact the price of electricity. There’s a long chain to be followed between a wholesale cap on coal or gas and the price that the customer pays.”