Parliament returns with fights over the widow tax, gambling ad restrictions, and immigration policy. Clive Palmer loses his Swiss appeal. One Nation bans three media outlets from its candidate announcement.
Parliament returns next week from winter break with three legislative fights already mapped out. The government will unveil its immigration policy, defend its gambling ad restrictions against a hostile senate, and manage a cross-party push to scrap what critics call the "widow's tax" in its capital gains overhaul.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers on Tuesday released four draft bills with the next round of tweaks to the capital gains tax and negative gearing package that passed in June. The drafts address two criticisms: the loss of negative gearing access for people who inherit an investment property from a spouse, and the taxing of disbursements from discretionary trusts established at death. Chalmers called the changes a sign of the government's "commitment to consult" on the budget reforms.
Acting opposition leader Jane Hume said Labor was "still trying to clean up a mess of its own making." The Coalition, One Nation, independent David Pocock and the Greens plan a joint push next week to force the abolition of the widow tax provision.
Gambling inquiry yields explosive testimony
The Senate inquiry into Labor's wagering laws heard two days of testimony from Sportsbet, Tabcorp and Responsible Wagering Australia. The industry makes Australians the biggest gambling losers per capita, with $32 billion lost annually including pokies, according to an Equity Economics report commissioned by anti-gambling advocates.
Australian Rugby League Commission chairman Peter V'landys called the senators leading the inquiry "publicity-seeking extremists." The companies spent much of their time defending marketing practices – pictures of children wearing Bet365 shirts, gambling ads playing between Disney songs on Spotify. Department officials could not provide the basis for the advertising restrictions in Labor's legislation, taking a question on the reasoning behind the proposed time frames on notice.
The bill would limit gambling TV ads to three per hour between 6am and 8:30pm, with a complete ban during live sport in those hours.
Former Canberra Raiders player Luke Bateman told the inquiry he lost "tens of thousands of dollars a month" to problem gambling, saying there was "absolutely zero duty of care" from the companies. He described being flown interstate for race days where he was given alcohol and offered his choice of drugs. Bateman did not disclose during the inquiry that he had worked for Southern Cross Bet for six months after leaving the NRL. He confirmed that to the ABC on Wednesday, saying he was still struggling with gambling and quit the position to enter rehab.
Alliance for Gambling Reform chief advocate Tim Costello told the inquiry TAB and Sportsbet had funded travel, escorts and drugs for a high-spending gambler now in Silverwater prison on charges related to the theft of about $12.3 million. The companies denied offering customers access to illicit drugs and sex workers, and urged advocates to present evidence to authorities.
The Coalition said the government is ignoring gambling inducements causing "immeasurable harm." The Greens and crossbench pushed for amendments to protect children. But Labor is unlikely to entertain major changes to its gambling ad crackdown, the ABC reported, and would consider shelving the bill entirely rather than substantially rewriting it.
Immigration policy delayed
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke cancelled his scheduled National Press Club address for a new immigration policy, with some elements not finalised. The expected measures include a crackdown on asylum seeker work and appeal rights, a ban on visitors applying for family visas while in Australia, and a reduction in the number of backpackers allowed to extend visa stays beyond a year.
Pauline Hanson said Burke was "fighting his own cabinet, the unions and the Greens." The Coalition accused Labor of "coming late to the party" on lowering migration. As David Speers wrote in his column, Labor is acutely aware of the role One Nation's immigration stance has played in its rise, but also of the political sensitivities and backlash any change to the migration program will attract.
Palmer loses Swiss appeal
Clive Palmer lost his legal fight against the Commonwealth, with a Swiss Federal Supreme Court upholding a previous finding that he failed to classify himself as a foreign investor. He will pay $13 million in court costs. His case argued the government had breached a trade agreement by blocking his company's mining proposal in Western Australia. Accounts of his mining company found he has lost more than $160 million in royalties as he remains in a separate legal battle with his mining tenants.
One Nation bans three outlets
Pauline Hanson banned the ABC, Guardian Australia and The Age from the press conference where she announced her candidates for the Victorian election. She told Melbourne's 3AW the trio were "left leaning like your judges" and she's "not interested." The ABC still reported on the candidates and a protest of about 200 people outside the party's fundraiser. In May, One Nation's chief-of-staff James Ashby ejected two ABC journalists from the Farrer by-election. At the National Press Club in June, Hanson called for the ABC to become a subscription-only service and said SBS should be axed altogether.
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