Wednesday 27th of March 2024

the da turnbull code...

armchairarmchair

Malcolm Turnbull has hit out at conservative commentators who have criticised the large number of concessions the government made on its bill for a tougher building industry regulator, labelling them “armchair critics”.

In a media blitz at the end of the last sitting week of parliament, Turnbull trumpeted the achievement of passing the two double dissolution trigger bills and called for increased security in parliament.

The concessions have been criticised by conservative commentators including Judith Sloan and Grace Collier, who are particularly concerned that the two-year phase-in period means the code will never be implemented if Labor is re-elected in the meantime.

It will also leave companies that concluded enterprise agreements in anticipation of a tougher code at a competitive disadvantage to other companies including Lend Lease, they argue.

Turnbull told 2GB radio in Sydney the prospect the code would be torn up was a “very good reason for Labor not to be elected”.

He said the government had already planned to have a nine-month grace period, before agreeing to Derryn Hinch’s plan for a two-year delay.

Turnbull said that Sloan didn’t know “the real job of getting things done”.

“It’s easy to be an armchair critic. Sitting on the sidelines, sitting there writing your column in the Australian, knowing everything,” he said.

“My job is to deliver; I’m marked on results.

read more: 

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/dec/01/turnbull-rejects-...

bring on the looking glass...

The Australian economy is at risk of stagnating, or even shrinking, in the September quarter after official figures showed another steep fall in business investment.

Key points:
  • Capex fell 4 per cent in September quarter
  • Economists now tipping GDP move between -0.3 and +0.3pc for September quarter
  • Mining investment down 33.7pc over past year, non-mining up 7.2pc

Business spending on new plant, buildings, equipment and machinery fell 4 per cent in the three months to September 30, according to the Bureau of Statistics, which was less than a 5.2 per cent drop in the June quarter.

However, it was worse than the typical economist expectation of a 3 per cent decline.

In particular, Capital Economics noted the 1.9 per cent decline in machinery and equipment investment that feeds directly into the third quarter economic growth data due out next Wednesday.

"We previously estimated that GDP growth was between 0.0 per cent and 0.5 per cent quarter-on-quarter but, after these figures, we have settled on a forecast of 0.0 per cent," wrote Capital's chief Australian economist Paul Dales.

 

read more:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-12-01/australia-at-risk-of-negative-gdp-...