Change or risk oblivion: Former Liberal Cabinet Minister's warning
As the Coalition heads towards reunification, the focus returns to how the opposition forges its path back to government, after this month's near wipe out.
A former Liberal Cabinet Minister is urging the party to take responsibility and listen to an upcoming review of the result, or risk fading into oblivion.
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News.com.au
3 hours ago
- News.com.au
NSW government to launch new authority fast-tracking big business projects
The NSW government is launching a new authority to fast-track major projects and an $80m funding package, as the state gears up for a new wave of investment and innovation. The government will invest $17.7m to establish the Investment Delivery Authority - modelled on the Housing Delivery Authority - to accelerate approvals for major projects and attract investment across sectors such as technology and energy. Businesses have raised concerns about lengthy and complex approval processes, which the government says has hampered productivity and discouraged investment. The new authority is expected to assist around 30 large-scale projects annually and help unlock up to $50bn in investment each year. Premier Chris Minns said major projects from the private sector were 'getting bogged down in red tape', making it harder to do business in NSW. 'Our state is open for business and this change will encourage more people to bring their best ideas to life in NSW, all backed by our government,' Mr Minns said. Treasurer Daniel Mookhey said the authority would streamline processes and clear bottlenecks. 'We have listened to what we are being told, loud and clear: everything in NSW is awesome, except for how long it takes to get major projects done,' Mr Mookhey said. 'We are creating a way to address the blockages, speed up the process and ensure NSW is properly open for business.' The Investment Delivery Authority will accept expressions of interest from domestic and international investment projects valued at more than $1bn. It will be supported by an investment taskforce within Investment NSW under the premier's department. Its leadership team will include senior public servants from the premier's department, treasury, planning, housing and infrastructure, and Infrastructure NSW. The authority will make recommendations to the treasurer, the planning minister and the minister for industry and trade. Planning Minister Paul Scully said the reforms were a key step toward lifting productivity. 'The Investment Delivery Authority, supported by the Investment Taskforce, will identify and clear barriers that businesses may face, while advising on reforms that promote investment, competition and productivity in NSW,' Mr Scully said. In tandem with the new authority, the government is investing nearly $80m in a wide-ranging innovation funding package to support startups, scale-ups and emerging technologies under the newly launched Innovation Blueprint. 'NSW is not just open for business, it's serious about being a global leader in innovation, industry, and investment,' Mr Minns said. The largest slice of the funding is $38.5m to support Tech Central, followed by $20m for commercialising emerging technologies, particularly in housing and energy. The remaining funding has been split across several areas, including $6m to help manufacturers adopt innovative technologies and $4m each for housing construction innovation and supporting female and regional tech founders. Industry and Trade Minister Anoulack Chanthivong said the investment would help nurture the next generation of tech giants. 'With this nearly $80 million of funding, we will ensure we nurture, grow, and support the next Afterpay, Atlassian, and Canva from the early stages through to the most vulnerable periods of a startup's life cycle,' Mr Chanthivong said. Kate Pounder, former Tech Council of Australia Chair, welcomed the commitment to diversity and regional inclusion. 'This significant investment in innovation will cement NSW as a world leader in the tech sector,' Ms Pounder said. 'Most hearteningly, this money will also go where it is needed most, to female founders, and those from diverse cultures and backgrounds, as well as our budding tech giants living and working in Western Sydney and regional NSW.' Business NSW CEO Daniel Hunter described the changes as 'game-changing'. 'With a clear plan to streamline approvals and coordinate government agencies, the new Investment Delivery Authority is exactly what NSW needs to turn ambition into action,' he said.
West Australian
10 hours ago
- West Australian
Opposition alliance parties only going to get closer says Zempilas following all or nothing Love comments
Basil Zempilas has denied the Opposition Alliance is close to splitting up despite comments by his Nationals counterpart Shane Love that the junior partner would break the agreement if it was not formalised. Speaking to media on Sunday, Mr Zempilas said he was surprised to see Mr Love's comments and thought the two parties were working well together. 'I'm not disappointed, but I was surprised only because the sense that perhaps was portrayed does not match the reality,' he said. 'The absolute sense is that from those inside both teams and those who have been observing the early weeks of this new parliament, we are working very well together as a cohesive, high-functioning, united Opposition Alliance.' The comments come after The Sunday Times reported comments from Mr Love saying the two parties should go it alone if a formal Coalition agreement could not be met. 'To be anything in the middle (of being fully separate or in a formal Coalition) has really not proven successful,' Mr Love said. 'For me, we either have an agreement where we are definitely working together, or we be separate.' The traditional Coalition partners have had a tense relationship in recent times. In late 2024, leading up to March's State election, the alliance was on the brink after Mr Love pledged not to form a Coalition government with the Liberals unless they agreed to rewrite Labor's firearm law reform. Mr Zempilas said he believed the two parties were stronger together but that a formal Coalition agreement took time to develop. 'I've got a very good vantage point, I'm well aware of how well we're working together, I'm very aware of how good the relationship between Shane Love as leader of the Nationals and my own relationship as leader of the Liberal Party is,' he said. 'We're working very, very well together. My sense is that we are nowhere near a walking away, in fact if anything, we are only going to get stronger and come closer together.' Mr Love clarified his comments on Sunday in a statement, saying if the parties were to win the 2029 State Election, they needed to do it together. 'The current Opposition alliance is functioning well, our parliamentary relationship is focused, co-operative, and firmly united in holding the Cook Labor Government to account,' he said. 'The Nationals WA recognise the pressing need for a longer-term Opposition agreement that provides clarity, stability, and strategic direction beyond the current short-term Alliance. 'While we await the Liberal Party's return to the negotiating table, the Opposition parliamentary teams will continue to work together effectively.' Deputy Premier Rita Saffioti slammed the disunity of the opposition. 'The Nationals and Liberal Party have been a mess for many, many years so this is of no surprise,' she said. 'My analysis is it's like watching an episode of The Big Brother house and they keep going into the diary room to complain about each other.'
Sydney Morning Herald
10 hours ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
The Libs have been handed a golden opportunity. Now watch them stuff it up
One of the great entertainments of political commentary in Australia over the past decade and a bit has been speculating on what new and inventive way the Liberal Party will find to comprehensively bugger itself up. I can't help thinking this must have crossed Treasurer Jim Chalmers' mind as he fronted the National Press Club this week to announce that he will undertake a process to develop a new productivity agenda. Chalmers' speech was solid, but so it should be after so many have said the same things so often to so little avail. His words and aspirations have been written for him many times over, sometimes with hope, other times with emotions ranging from dull rage to despair. Sometimes even by the Coalition. We need productivity reform, politicians all know we need it, the media all know they know we need it, yet no-one ever does it. There's a simple reason for that: it's hard. The treasurer dwelt in his speech on why it's hard. Reforming an economic system requires trade-offs. Some choices will cost some people. They may or may not be recompensed in the rejig. Chalmers doesn't want the media to simplify economic reform by explaining it in terms of 'winners and losers', as they do after each budget, but there will be winners and losers in the short, medium or long term as a result of any new tax system. And, naturally, the opposition will do what the name says on the tin. It will oppose. Given the last years of Liberal shenanigans, the real question is how it chooses to do that. In one scenario, Sussan Ley leads a team which analyses and criticises the government's productivity proposals to ensure the best outcome for Australia and Australians. Should they choose this version of their own adventure, there will be plenty of material to tackle. The prime minister has already shown that he has no instinct for making business more efficient or even any understanding that a healthy economy relies on the private sector, creating new wealth instead of just shifting existing money around. In the first term of the Albanese government, the size of the public sector grew relative to the size of the private sector, so now each private employee is supporting more public sector salaries. Loading Then-employment minister Tony Burke passed through an industrial relations bill which makes it harder for businesses to scale up without locking themselves into costly arrangements. Meanwhile, the 'Future Made in Australia' slush fund has been 'picking winners' (code for government making decisions on industries it poorly understands) by investing in bringing in an overseas quantum technology firm rather than backing existing quantum technology firms – ahem – made in Australia. Labor is even trashing its own legacy by changing rules on the superannuation system it forced people to contribute to, undermining trust that the money you lock away for retirement is really yours for later. It's hard to see how a government which made policies of this sort a priority and prefers the public to the private sector will back a productivity agenda which turns Australia around. But one of the great paradoxes of politics is that sometimes you need the party which is seen to be the touchy-feely side to deliver hard-nosed decisions. Think Labour prime minister Tony Blair in the UK, Democrat president Bill Clinton in the USA, or chancellor Gerhard Schroeder in Germany, all of whom delivered welfare reform in the face of their countries' badly designed benefits systems which were creating disincentives to work.
