More cost-of-living support possible in budget amid US-Iran disruption: Catherine King
Make us a preferred source
Make us a preferred source on Google
The news: Infrastructure Minister Catherine King said the government may contemplate more cost-of-living measures in the lead-up to the federal budget as the “long tail” impact of the Middle East conflict continues to be felt.
The first day of peace talks finished on Sunday morning AEST with the discussions to resume later on the weekend. But while King said that any success in ensuring the ceasefire holds would be welcome, there will still be an ongoing hit to the Australian economy.
Speaking on ABC’s Insiders on Sunday morning, King said that as the government heads into budget and “gets more indication of where this is going” it would consider “whether there’s need for additional measures for households and businesses”.
“They’re all things that we’re contemplating as part of the budget process,” she said.
The context: The federal government is launching an advertising campaign on Monday, called “every little bit helps”, encouraging Australians to use less fuel where possible.
“The advertising campaign is designed to ... make people aware of the national fuel security plan, make people aware of the actions that the government has taken to date but also that every little bit that you can do”. This includes taking public transport where possible, taking the load out of vehicles,” King said.
She said the government is trying to provide information to the public amid “a lot of anxiety” due to the global conflict.
“I think everybody is experiencing across the world that because of constraint in supply that means that fuel prices have gone up and particularly, obviously, the diesel price is holding much higher than anyone would like it to be,” she said.
“We hope very much that the talks in Islamabad over the weekend hold and that they are productive. It’s a fragile ceasefire ... the global community is hoping very much that this war ends and that the ceasefire holds,” she said, but added that “even if the Strait opens tomorrow there’s a long tail to this”.
“We don’t know what damage has been done to infrastructure, we don’t know how quickly shipping can resume as normal or what the consequences of that are.”
One of the issues being discussed is a toll on the Strait. King said such a charge would be “very challenging” and would “really breach” the free navigation of the seas.
“It’s not something I think Australian commuters would be happy with, not something the Australian government would be happy with, and I don’t think the global community would either”.
Speaking more broadly about electrification and electric vehicles, King declined to comment on whether the Fringe Benefit Tax incentive for EVs would be retained, saying she would “leave that” to discussions in the budget.
When asked about road user charge arrangements, she said her department is “working ... through that at the moment” and “it may not be the time for right now” as it’s not clear there’s a pathway through the parliament and the government doesn’t want to disincentivise EV uptake.
What they said: “Because this [conflict] has a long tail, of course, we have to keep thinking about what are the next things we need to do as a nation to continue to prepare ... and understanding what that means for businesses, for our farming communities, making sure we continue to transport goods and services,” King said.
The source: ABC Insiders
