Local Post Offices
I’ve spoken to many Post Office licensees, and it’s become increasingly apparent that Australia Post is running Local Post Offices (LPOs) out of business as it morphs into a parcel delivery service. Indeed just last week came the revelation that the Board of Australia Post has supported a plan to reactivate licence buybacks, not long after Australia Post had danced around the issue of closures and ending perpetual licenses in Senate Estimates.
LPOs are obviously facing changing circumstances which require that they evolve. But that shouldn’t be at the expense of essential services because LPOs are not only small businesses, they’re also a key part of local communities that ensure people can stay connected, pay their bills and do their banking. This is on full display in West Hobart where Australia Post’s refusal to issue a new LPO licence has caused great unease in the community.
I challenged the Communications Minister about closures during Question Time last week and her response was very disappointing. For now at least she looks happy to just read the lines seemingly prepared by Australia Post, which is why I’ll keep pressing the Government to change course and start prioritising the public interest instead.
AI data centres
There’s a lot of reasonable community concerns about the proliferation of data centres in Australia, not least because of the environmental impact they have, consuming vast quantities of power, water and land.
If we plan it right, being a significant centre for global data centre infrastructure could provide Australia with some leverage, and maybe even some steps towards digital sovereignty, in what is an increasingly competitive and dangerous global AI race. But if we roll out the red carpet without demanding proper limits, safeguards and dividends for communities, we risk giving away too much for too little. And that’s a habit in this country where we do it with too many industries. And once they’re in, it’s hard to roll anything back.
In my view the Government should make approval of data centres conditional on companies investing in additional renewable energy generation, meeting strict water efficiency conditions, contributing to local infrastructure upgrades, supporting skills and training programs and providing other direct benefits to communities.
Capital gains tax and negative gearing changes
I have long campaigned for reform to address the distorted tax treatment of investment properties because the housing crisis has been fuelled, at least in part, by overly generous CGT and negative gearing concessions. To that end the Federal Government’s changes are good, and I supported them with a clear conscience because they were a part of my election platform.
But the Government’s reforms are far from perfect and the changes to the legislation, in particular the significant expansion of the small business exemption and the exemption of income from discretionary testamentary trusts, are both necessary and very welcome.
Overlaid is the fact that these reforms were not taken to last year’s election and seemed to come out of the blue. This is true and I can understand the criticism coming from some parts of the community. Presumably the Government, holding an enormous majority of seats and facing an Opposition in complete disarray, felt that it should take the opportunity to seize the moment. People will decide for themselves what all of this says about the Government, but one thing is clear, and that is that trust seems to be perennially in short supply among politicians and we must work constantly to reclaim it.
