LEVY TO FIGHT DIGITAL GIANTS SWAYS CROSSBENCH

A tax on digital giants such as Google, Facebook and Uber has emerged as a popular sweetener for crucial Senate cross-benchers, as parliament returns to negotiate the Coalition’s signature income and company tax plans.

According to The Sydney Morning Herald, the final votes for the Coalition’s stalled $35.6 billion tax cut for big businesses have come down to the Centre Alliance, formerly known as NXT, whose senator Stirling Griff has confirmed that the party was “100 per cent behind a digital economy tax proposal”. Treasurer Scott Morrison has confirmed that a tax on digital giants is inevitable, and Labor has provided in-principle support for the move.

Elsewhere today, Deloitte researchers have hit out at perceptions of the income tax package as “unfair”, arguing that under both Labor and Coalition plans the top 20% of income earners will shoulder even more of the burden ($), while the Greens have outright rejected tax cuts to any income bracket and argued any new funds should instead go towards services.

NDIS REWRITES RULES ON AUTISM

The agency running the National Disability Insurance Scheme is considering a change to their definition of autism, which would replace the idea of an autism “spectrum” with a move to “subtypes”, as part of a redesign that could stop thousands of people from accessing the scheme entirely.

The Australian ($) reports that National Disability Insurance Agency is working with researchers on shifting to the increasingly-popular definition of autism as including multiple subtypes based on individual characteristics. The move comes as part of a broader cost-cutting redesign ($) that would restrict the number of people with autism from “automatically” qualifying for the NDIS, and could leave thousands with little to no support after the scheme becomes a default provider after July next year.

In other health news, an independent South Australia MP is urging parliament to fund the state’s ambulance fees ($), which currently clock in at a whopping $955 per trip.

PUSH TO RID WAR MEMORIAL OF ARMS DEALERS

The parent organisations of last year’s Nobel Peace Prize winners has hit out at the Australian War Memorial’s sponsorship arrangement with weapons manufacturers.

The Canberra Times ($) reports that the Medical Association for the Prevention of War, which fostered the award-winning International Campaign Against Nuclear Weapons, has used the federal inquiry into Canberra’s national institutions to criticise the AWM’s use of audio visual elements in the “BAE Systems theatre,” a reported lack of peace movement materials, and director Brendan Nelson controversial suggestion that navy members who “stopped the boats” from seeking asylum in Australia be honoured.

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THEY REALLY SAID THAT?

International law requires a proportionate response, and those people who have guns on one side and, on the other side has rocks, the people with guns have a responsibility to act in a way that is proportionate. And people have seen this acted out on their television screen in the past week, and certainly, I think the government needs to explain why it has opposed this independent investigation.

Anthony Albanese

In questioning why Australia voted against a UN inquiry into last week’s Gazan massacre, the only country other than America to do so, Labor’s shadow minister for transport and infrastructure calls a violent, heavily armed spade a spade.

CRIKEY QUICKIE: THE BEST OF YESTERDAY

A guide to Australia’s (many) political dynasties Charlie Lewis

“This week brought the news that Georgina Downer has been preselected as the Liberal candidate for the seat of Mayo (recently vacated by the Centre Alliance MP Rebekha Sharkie, who was taken in the great Section 44 purges of 2017/18). Should she be successful in the upcoming byelection, Downer — a research fellow with the right wing think tank the Institute of Public Affairs — will be the fourth consecutive generation of the Downer family to serve prominently in Australian politics.”

Liberal Party: Civil War — a blockbuster in the makingGuy Rundle

“The Liberal Party civil war has begun! From tunnels dug beneath Athenaeum Clubs, chi-chi little eastern ‘burbs trattorias, and the worsted section of Henry Bucks, members of insurgent group, the Lib Ming* have burst out, all guns blazing, blood spattering their black chinos. They’re fanatical, they’re organised, and they are of one mind: to halt the party’s creeping sideways moves towards ‘socialism’ at state and federal level.”

Does raising the minimum wage put bosses off hiring new staff?Jason Murphy

“The next decision on minimum wages is due out soon, and the Fair Work Commission will hopefully consider a new study published by the Reserve Bank of Australia. It provides strong evidence that lifting minimum wages is all upside. Last year, the Fair Work Commission (FWC) lifted minimum wages by a generous 3.3%. There was the predictable chorus of dissent. But as the commission considers its next decision, partisan rhetoric will hopefully be drowned out by actual evidence.”

READ ALL ABOUT IT

Labor ready to give Fair Work power to unions ($)

Tasmania Police probed over possible information leaks ($)

Brumbies cull backflip for Snowy Mountains is ‘madness’: professor

New figures show LNP wards get more road resurfacing under Graham Quirk than ALP and Green wards ($)

Injuries at $27.5 million Campbelltown leisure centre forcing council to spend more than $20,000 to protect patrons ($)

Federal Parliament’s white powder mystery deepens with claims of missing tapes

Aboriginal settlement in Australia was planned migration: study

Turnbull government expresses disquiet to Israel over Gaza violence ($)

Malaysia’s former prime minister Najib Razak fears for safety, seeks police protection

WHAT’S ON TODAY

Canberra

  • Federal Liberal MP Sussan Ley will introduce a private members’ bill to ban live exports. Today will also begin four days of Senate estimates committees.

Sydney

  • Day two of Vivid Sydney Preview Week will be held in Chatswood.

  • The NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption will hold a public inquiry public inquiry into allegations against conduct by NSW prison officers in February.

  • Volunteer of Year Awards winners from the past decade will be honoured at a special event at NSW Government House.

Melbourne

  • Round three of the banks royal commission public hearings will look at loans to small businesses. Counsel assisting the commission is expected to open the round, followed by first witness Phil Khoury, who conducted an independent review of the banking code of practice.

  • Official results of the Melbourne lord mayor by-election will be declared, following the Victorian Electoral Commission having named Property Council executive Sally Capp as the winner on Friday.

  • The National Energy Efficiency Forum panel will discuss the role of energy efficiency and demand a response in Australia’s energy system.

  • The inaugural Whitelion youth justice Q&A expert panel will discuss whether Victoria is striking the right balance between detention and rehabilitation for young offenders.

Mackay, Queensland

  • The Palaszczuk State Government will govern from Mackay and Whitsundays region this week, and is expected to meet with local communities and businesses and hold Cabinet and town hall meetings.

Adelaide

  • Darwin-residents Michael and Lidia Di Lembo, whose daughter died by suicide at the age of nineteen, will begin a charity bike ride from Adelaide to Darwin in support of the Black Dog Institute.

London, England

  • A public inquiry into the Grenfell Tower Fire in London is due to begin. The blaze took the lives of 72 people, including Australians Alexandra Atala, 40, and her mother, Victoria King, 71.

THE COMMENTARIAT

Welcome to the wild, wild west of lending — Jessica Irvine (Sydney Morning Herald): “If you thought the banking royal commission’s most sensational hearings – of fraud, bribery and lies – were behind us; think again. You ain’t seen nothing yet. From Monday, the spotlight turns on the bank’s behaviour when dealing with their small business clients. If you thought the behaviour of the banks when dealing with consumers was bad enough, remember this: there was substantial consumer law and penalties hanging over their heads when they treated customers that way. Wait until you see how they act when those laws don’t apply.”

Malaysia’s Anwar Ibrahim speaks an awkward truth — Benjamin Reilly (The Australian $): “Anwar Ibrahim’s pointed comments on his release from jail about Australia and other democracies “appeasing ruthless, corrupt, authoritarian leaders” made many squirm. But the reality is that Australian governments of both persuasions have long avoided talking about the growing problem of authoritarianism in our region. We have chosen, as Anwar observed, to promote trade and economic ties over our core values.”

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