As we are talking government revenue...
Good morning dear readers,
Welcome to a bold new experiment for Australian #politicslive.
I’m not writing my usual blog today but as we wind up to the budget on Tuesday, here is our first Politics Live readers’ edition. It is a place for you to discuss today’s politics, and to share links to breaking news and to the most interesting stories and blogs on the web.
While Malcolm Turnbull meets Donald Trump to add some warmth to the rather awkward start, the readers blog will focus on the numbers and policy details of Budget 2017.
I will not be posting minute by minute news as this is a place for you, dear reader, to have a say.
Feel free to express your views robustly below the line but please treat others with respect and don’t resort to abuse. We would like to think this could be a bit of a haven from the social media slanging match.
You can find all the Australian politics stories here.
But here are some of the main ones on our site this morning.
The gathering budget storm clouds are coalescing around the government’s Gonski 2.0. Tony Abbott is leading the charge against any cuts for overfunded Catholic and independent schools. Meanwhile a 2016 report by Gonski panellist Kathryn Greiner via David Lipson of the Lateline found the NSW Catholic system had been redistributing funding away from small bush schools for larger Sydney schools.
Late yesterday, Labor’s Tanya Plibersek indicated Labor would support cuts to schools over the Schools Resourcing Standard - a departure from previous commitments under Julia Gillard that no school would be worse off.
That schools policy change - Gonski 2.0 - requires legislation. Labor has ruled out supporting the full package. The Greens remain a live option for the government. Richard Di Natale wants to see the details.
In the meantime, Katharine Murphy has spoken to Speaker Tony Smith on how to be a bipartisan speaker.
Smith has revealed he would not use to hand the government a majority if Turnbull has no working majority on the floor.
Josh Robertson reports almost three times as many people support Westpac’s decision to rule out funding Adani’s Queensland mine than disapprove of it, a survey has found.
And I foreshadowed some migration changes will appear in the budget. Namely, that aged parents of migrants will get access to 15,000 five-year temporary visas at $10,000 each. I suspect other visa changes are coming too. Discuss.
I will try to get down into the thread if the day allows it. Go well and keep it nice.
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