19 December | Federal Year in Review

The Albanese Government has had almost two years and seven months in power, and as their first term of Government after a decade in the political wilderness for Labor comes to an end, cost of living is the number one issue for many Australians.

The election is set to be as tight as ever, with recent polling putting the Coalition slightly ahead of Labor 51/49 on a two-party-preferred. However, the battle will take place in each local electorate, where we will see mixed results for the major parties and independents.  It seems likely though that the Prime Minister will lose his majority, with the balance of power falling to independents and minor parties. 

Inflation and interest rates remain high, and despite Labor’s attempts to ease pressure and provide cost-of-living relief, Australians feel that they are doing it tough. While Labor had managed to deliver two years of budget surplus, their Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook released this week shows that the budget will be in deficit for each of the next four years. The update included new spending on childcare, healthcare and infrastructure, and a large savings in aged care. 

With a Federal Election due by mid-next year, PremierNational has taken the time to look back at the political landscape of the past 12 months. 

The Albanese government started the year off the back of thirteen RBA rate hikes from May 2022. This culminated in a 4.35% cash rate over Christmas in 2023, which cast a daunting shadow over the national economy for 2024. Over the past year, the RBA has kept the official cash rate unchanged at 4.35% since November 2023. 

Treasurer Jim Chalmers on Monday announced one of the biggest reforms to the Reserve Bank since its inception in 1960, which includes a separate board to oversee its overall governance and another board to guide monetary policy. The reforms, which are intended to strengthen the institution and help its decision-making process, include post-meeting press conferences, more open communication with the public and two-day meetings to set interest rates.  

The interest rate committee will comprise existing RBA board members Ian Harper, Alison Watkins, Iain Ross and Carolyn Hewson plus governor Michele Bullock, her deputy, Andrew Hauser, and Treasury secretary Steven Kennedy. The additional members are Marnie Baker and Renee Fry-McKibbin. The first board meeting will be 17-18 February 2025, with a rate cut expected at the RBA’s 31 March–1 April 2025 meeting.  

In the September quarter of 2024, the Australian economy grew by 0.3%, which was the 12th consecutive quarter of growth. However, this was the lowest annual growth rate since 2020. The September quarter of this year also saw inflation at its lowest since the March quarter of 2021, employment remained strong and households took home more pay, with the implementation of the federal government stage 3 tax cuts seeing a 3.8 per cent fall in income tax paid by households. 

The Albanese government continued its overhaul of industrial relations, specifically around protecting workers’ rights in modern workplaces. 

The first part of the Closing Loopholes Bill passed in December of 2023, with the second half passing in February 2024. The legislation enshrined ‘same job, same pay’, ensuring that employees were equally compensated for performing the same role. The legislation also criminalised wage theft, ensured companies would be held responsible for industrial manslaughter and set minimum standards for gig economy workers. Another part of the legislation was the Right to Disconnect - employees now have the right to refuse contact outside of their working hours, and also can refuse to monitor, read or respond to contact from an employer or third party outside these hours.  The reforms came into place from 26 August 2024 for businesses with more than 15 employees and apply to small businesses from 26 August 2025.

The Albanese government also announced that it will pay superannuation on government funded Parental Leave Pay. Under the new law, eligible parents with babies born or adopted on or after 1 July 2025 will receive an additional contribution, based on the Superannuation Guarantee - 12% of their Parental Leave Pay - to their nominated superannuation fund. 

AGED CARE

The government, with support from the opposition, passed the Aged Care Bill 2024 in November, which will come into effect from 1 July 2025. The legislation delivers a range of improvements to the aged care sector, including an improved funding model for a sustainable aged care system in the future, tougher regulations, strengthened Aged Care Quality Standards and a Statement of Rights to ensure older people and their needs are at the centre of the new aged care system.

FOOD AND GROCERY CODE AND CONSUMER PROTECTIONS

With cost of living being a major issue, the Albanese Government has increased scrutiny of practices by major supermarket retailers with changes that are expected to help farmers who supply product as well as consumers. The voluntary food and grocery code was made compulsory and major supermarkets must negotiate in good faith with suppliers or face hefty fines. In addition to this a further $30 million in funding has been provided to the ACCC to crack down on supermarket price gouging.

ONLINE PROTECTION

The Albanese government focused on strengthening online protection through the passing of the Privacy and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2024 and the Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Act 2024. The Bill introduced extensive changes to Australia's privacy and data protection framework, building upon the existing Privacy Act 1988. Under the Bill there was expansion of the definition of ‘personal information’ and the introduction of substantially increased financial penalties for serious or repeated breaches of privacy, with penalties now up to $50 million. Certain small businesses and organisations that previously were exempt are now captured under the Privacy Act.  

In a world-leading change, the Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Act 2024 introduced a minimum age of 16 for accessing social media platforms. Under the legislation social media platforms are required take reasonable steps to prevent users under 16 from having an account on their platforms. The Minister’s Second Reading Speech, expressed the Federal Government’s minimum expectations of who will be captured by the legislation: “To be clear, the Government expects that this broader definition will capture services that are commonly accepted to be social media, and the services that are causing many parents the most concern. This will, at a minimum, include TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat, Reddit, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), among others.”