POLITICS & POLICY

Feds press on the need to hike superannuation guarantee

The federal government is looking to lift Australia’s compulsory employer superannuation contributions from its current level of nine percent to 12 percent by year 2020, with part of the funds to be culled from the revenues set to be delivered by the planned minerals resource rent tax.
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Australian government to replace medals lost in natural disasters

Parliamentary Secretary for Defence, Senator the Hon David Feeney, today announced that the government will relax the policy on replacement of Australian Defence Force (ADF) medals so that medals lost during the Queensland and Victorian floods, the impact of Cyclone Yasi and the fires in Western Australia can be replaced.

Industry supports O’Farrell's calls for infrastructure reform

NSW Opposition Leader Barry O’Farrell’s speech to the National Press Club today makes a reasoned case for reforms to drive better infrastructure and productivity outcomes, says Infrastructure Partnerships Australia, the nation’s peak infrastructure industry group.

Novelty lighters, unsafe toys banned in Australia

Cigarette lighters that look like children's toys and 'sky lanterns' are among the first 10 permanent product bans made under the new Australian Consumer Law, said Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer, David Bradbury.

Swan predicts economic contraction for Q1 due to disaster damages

Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan confirmed earlier projections by economists that a slow down would characterise the first three months of the Australian economy as it starts to absorb the impacts of the twin disasters that ravaged the northern states of the country from December last year through the last week of January.

Egyptian protesters want Mubarak and his team to depart immediately

Concessions offered by the beleaguered government of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak were rejected as opposition leaders demanded on Monday for the immediate end of his 30-year rule as demonstrations calling for his ouster entered their 14th day, which has rattled this North African nation.

McClelland slams Abbott’s call on floods policy

Attorney-General Robert McClelland has slammed Tony Abbott’s calls for $100,000 low interest loans for small businesses affected by natural disasters in Queensland, saying this is $150,000 short of what’s already available for victims of the recent floods.

More Aussies wait in Egypt for delayed Qantas plane

Australians waiting to be evacuated from tension-filled Egypt may have to wait for awhile in escaping from the unrests gripping the North African nation as the second chartered Qantas plane dispatched by the government to fetch them got stuck in Germany.

Obama to lose big Arab allies

The sense of fear and anxiety underlined the dilemma facing Washington, which is working behind the scenes to push Mubarak aside without terrifying autocratic allies in the region.

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