Australia to levy $1.8b flood tax

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced a new 1.8 billion Australian dollar (US$1.79 billion) income tax to help fund reconstruction in flood-devastated Queensland state without tipping the government budget further into deficit. With a slender grip on power after last year’s election left neither of Australia’s two major political forces with enough seats to govern alone, Ms. Gillard’s handling of the flood recovery will be pivotal for the Labor government.

It comes as Canberra begins counting the clean-up cost of its worst natural disaster in decades, estimated by officials Thursday to trim about A$5.6 billion from the government budget and cut economic growth by half a percentage point in the fiscal year ending June 30.

The proposed year-long temporary tax hit the Australian dollar Thursday, sending it down to US$0.9964 from US$0.9997 during the Asian trading day, on the belief that it could have a dampening effect on consumer spending and take pressure off Australia’s central bank to raise rates. Australian stocks ended flat.The temporary tax, to apply to the fiscal year beginning July 1 to Australians earning over A$50,000 a year, will cost around A$1 a week for someone on an annual income of A$60,000, rising to A$5 a week for someone earning A$100,000 a year. In announcing the tax, Ms. Gillard is judging that the political cost of not delivering on a promise to restore the budget to surplus by the year ending June 30, 2013, would be greater than any voter backlash against higher taxes. The great majority of Australians are ready to contribute, I have no doubt about that, Ms. Gillard said. But Tony Windsor, one of a handful of independent lawmakers keeping the Labor government in power, warned: Don’t count on my vote for the new tax. Mr. Windsor is calling for a permanent National Natural Disaster Levy to fund future crises including floods, wild fires, hail storms or cyclones. Another key independent, Robert Oakeshott, is undecided. Meanwhile, the increasingly influential Greens Party said it supports the idea of a flood tax. But it added it opposes Ms. Gillard’s proposed spending cuts to other government programsincluding solar hot water rebates and energy efficiency measuresto help fund the recovery costs. That raises the prospect the tax legislation could be voted down when introduced into Parliament next month. It beggars belief that the government would choose to cut climate change programs…to fund disaster relief when such disasters will be made worse by climate change, acting Greens leader Christine Milne said. Joe Hockey, shadow Treasurer for the main conservative Liberal-National opposition coalition, said a tax to fund the flood recovery effort is too much on top of an anticipated rise in food prices as a result of the damage to agricultural land. On top of the recent Labor party increases in the cigarette tax and also alcohol taxes and car taxes and given that electricity prices are rising, it is too much at this point in the economic cycle, Mr. Hockey said. Rick Kuhn, a political expert at Australian National University, described the tax as an incredible act of hypocrisy on the part of the government. It is placing the burden for the flood relief onto ordinary working class taxpayers at a time when the government is going to be cutting the corporate tax rate, he said, referring to plans to cut the company tax rate to 29% from 30% from July 1, 2013. Devastating floods have washed out thousands of homes, roads and rail lines and killed more than 30 people across resource-rich Queensland state since December, disrupting exports and destroying agricultural crops. Australia is the world’s largest exporter of coal used for steelmaking and the second largest supplier of coal for power plants. Separate floods spreading across Victoria state over the past two weeks have affected 60 towns in an area larger than Denmark. Ms. Gillard pledged Thursday an immediate government payment of A$2 billion toward the Queensland reconstruction effort, to be funded by cutting spending in other areas and delaying non-urgent infrastructure projects in other states. Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. economists warned the flood tax will act as another constraint on household spending, reinforcing market expectations that the country’s central bank will hold interest rates steady for some time. This federal government flood tax will cost jobs, slow the economy and destroy households that are just hanging on, said Scott O’Driscoll, National President of the United Retail Federation. Woolworths Ltd., one of the country’s largest grocery and general-merchandise retailers, this week downgraded guidance for earnings growth this year, partly citing disruptions from the floods. Given the economy already is taking a big hit from higher food prices, rents and insurance premiums, it seems strange that the government wants to take the chance of damaging it further, Macquarie Research Economics director Brian Redican said. These policies increase the risks to the economy recovering in a quick and timely fashion from the flood impact. Economist and Reserve Bank of Australia board member Warwick McKibbin panned the tax proposal as politically motivated, saying that relaxing the government’s goal of restoring the budget to surplus in fiscal 2013 is a better option. (WSJ)

Assange gets Gillards support : WikiLeaks

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has said on Friday that WikiLeaks did not commit any criminal offense in the country by releasing secret documents. Talk to media in Sydney, she said that we have received the advice and the advice is that there had been no breaches of Australian law.

Gillard has been criticized by WikiLeaks supporters and some members of her Labor government for subjecting prejudice on Assange in any future criminal case. Assange was released on bail in Britain on Thursday while he awaits a possible extradition to Sweden where he was charged for sex crimes.WikiLeaks has provoked fury in Washington with its publications of secret U.S. cables and vows to make public the 250,000 embassy documents it had obtained. The cables include details of overseas installations that Washington regards as vital to national security.

Answering a question Gillard said that she did not receive any advice about changing the laws to deal with similar leaks in the future.

Sohna says asked Zardari to quit Punjab govt

Minister for Labor and Manpower Ashraf Sohna confirmed the irregularities of billions of rupees in the purchase of equipment for Nawaz Sharif Social Security Hospital, Lahore. He said that additional 3 crore rupees were paid in the purchase.

In a press conference, Ashraf Sohna also maintained that he would stand down from his post, in case the allegations remain unproved. He said that he was the first minister who uncovered corruption in his own ministry. He said that he asked President Zardari many times to quit Punjab government. He said that Punjab CMs support for politicians can avoid such things. He said that Rana Sanullah had written to call a meeting to allies but he didnt call such meeting.

It is worthy to note that trendpk.com unearthed a millions of dollars corruption in purchase of angiography and other equipments for more than double the price for Nawaz Sharif Social Security Hospital, Lahore. According to trendpk.com sources, it is known that angiography machinery at Nawaz Sharif Social Security Hospital has been bought through commission mafia for 0.9 million dollars. While Punjab Institute of Cardiology Lahore bought the same Toshiba machine along with 30 beds and stretchers in half the price, which was 0.4 million dollars.

Strike against attack on Salamat Jan in Gilgit

Staff Report

GILGIT: A strike is being observed in Gilgit against an attack attempting to kill Salamat Jan, President of Labor wing, N-League.

Salamat Jan was severely injured in firing by unidentified gunmen last night. He was taken to Combined Military Hospital (CMH) for treatment. Police arrested four suspects who may be involved in the incident. Trend Pk

Australia govt rapped by court on immigration laws

CANBERRA: Australia’s minority government suffered a setback in its promise to strengthen border security when the country’s highest court ruled on Thursday that tough laws meant to deter asylum seekers were unfair.



The unanimous ruling by the High Court of Australia’s seven judges will force the Labor government to reshape its policy of detaining asylum seekers on offshore islands and blocking their access to appeal courts when refugee claims are rejected.



That could undermine Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s election promise to choke off an influx of seaborne asylum seekers, and reopen a divisive debate about asylum seekers that could eventually hurt her government’s popularity.



Border security is historically a volatile issue in Australia, with voters fractured over asylum seeker treatment.



The

Gillard sworn-in as Australian PM

Australia’s Prime Minister Julia Gillard has been sworn in on Tuesday and is now faced with the challenge of holding together a precarious coalition government after cliffhanger elections.
The ceremony caps weeks of drama after the party revolt against former leader Kevin Rudd, followed by polls that produced the first hung parliament in decades and left Gillard relying on Greens and independent MPs for support.
Gillard’s first cabinet as an elected leader contains potential divisions with Rudd sitting alongside the party powerbrokers credited with orchestrating the sudden and surprising Labor mutiny in June. The prime minister was forced into a late change just hours before the ceremony by announcing a minister for Aboriginal health, following strong complaints when the post was left out of the original line-up. Ex-Midnight Oil singer Peter Garrett returns with an education brief despite being reprimanded after a botched free home insulation scheme that was blamed for four workers’ deaths and hundreds of house fires. Garrett is one of three government members sharing education after Gillard, a former education minister, decided to split the ministry, prompting concerns among student groups and universities over a possibly fractured approach.
Disillusionment with the major parties was blamed for creating Australia’s first minority government since World War II, despite strong economic growth and low unemployment underpinned by buoyant mining exports to Asia. Gillard has promised to introduce a new tax on resources profits and measures to ease pollution, while maintaining an eclectic coalition which groups an environment-minded MP with two conservative-leaning independents. Gillard, a red-headed industrial lawyer, became Australia’s first woman leader by ousting Rudd on June 24 and called polls three weeks later, banking on a wave of support. But the anticipated honeymoon period failed to materialise as many voters turned away from the two main parties and handed the environment-focused Greens a record ballot share.

Australian PM sworn in after election drama

CANBERRA: Australia’s Prime Minister Julia Gillard has been sworn in on Tuesday and is now faced with the challenge of holding together a precarious coalition government after cliffhanger elections.

The ceremony caps weeks of drama after the party revolt against former leader Kevin Rudd, followed by polls that produced the first hung parliament in decades and left Gillard relying on Greens and independent MPs for support.

Gillard’s first cabinet as an elected leader contains potential divisions with Rudd sitting alongside the party powerbrokers credited with orchestrating the sudden and surprising Labor mutiny in June.

The prime minister was forced into a late change just hours before the ceremony by announcing a minister for Aboriginal health, following strong complaints when the post was left out of the original line-up.

Ex-Midnight Oil singer

Asian stocks tumble as dollar hits new 15-year low

HONG KONG: Asian stocks tumbled on Wednesday after Wall Street was spooked by fresh concerns over European banks while Japan’s exporters fell as the dollar slipped to another 15-year low against the yen.

Tokyo plunged 2.18%, or 201.40, to 9,024.60 as the yen hit 83.33 to the dollar.

Sydney shed 0.79%, or 36 points, to close at 4,537.2 and Shanghai slipped 0.64%. Hong Kong fell 1.43% by the break.

Stocks took their cue from a 1.03% fall on the Dow in New York, where investors returned from the Labor Day holiday to reports that Europe’s banks may not be as strong as first thought.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday that stress tests in July to measure the strength of Europe’s banks showed they held more potentially risky government debt than believed.

The results of the tests showed that all but seven of 91 lenders were strong enough

US jobless claims surge more than expected

WASHINGTON: The employment report for June released by the US Labor Department confirms that the United States is in the grips of a protracted economic slump with no recovery in sight. If anything, the report suggests that the economic situation would best be described as a depression, rather than the official designation of a slow “recovery.”

The Labor Department reported a net loss of non-farm jobs of 125,000, primarily due to the expiration of 225,000 temporary US Census government positions.

However, the private sector generated a mere 83,000 net jobs, well below economists’ projections and barely half the number of new jobs needed to keep pace with the normal monthly growth of the labor market.

According to Friday’s report, two-and-a-half years after the official start of the recession in December of 2007, there are now 15.2 million workers who are unemployed and 25.8 million who are either unemployed or underemployed. Some 6.8 million have been unemployed for more than 6 months. The official underemployment rate including workers who have given up looking for a job and part-time workers who want a full-time job stands at 16.5 percent.

Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of Friday’s report, ironically, is the nominal fall in the official jobless rate to 9.5 percent from 9.7 percent in May. This is because the decline is due entirely to a contraction in the statistical labor force, a result of the staggering growth of long-term unemployment.

The official labor force shrank by 652,000 workers, primarily due to long-term jobless people giving up looking for work and therefore no longer being counted for the purposes of estimating the unemployment rate. Had these so-called “discouraged” workers continued to look for work, the official rate for June would have been 9.9 percent.

East Timor welcomes new Australian PM

DILI: East Timorese Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao on Friday welcomed new Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard and thanked ousted leader Kevin Rudd for his “steadfast support”.

“The peoples of Australia and Timor-Leste share a strong and mature friendship which will continue under the new leadership of Prime Minister Gillard,” he said in a statement, using his country”s formal name.

“We look forward to working with her and her cabinet on critical matters that concern both our countries and the region.”

Gillard was appointed prime minister on Thursday after deposing Rudd as leader of the Labor party.

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