Weekly Update: 9 May 2025

---

Highlights this week:

• The Albanese Government was returned with an increased majority, with the caucus set to meet today to finalise Cabinet representatives.
• The Federal Cabinet will be sworn in on Tuesday, May 13.
• The Liberal Party will hold a leadership vote on May 13, with Sussan Ley and Angus Taylor both announcing they will contest the leadership.

Quote of the week:
“Our relationships with the world are critical. Just one little fact is one in four of our jobs is trade dependent”

– Anthony Albanese, Prime Minister. Interview on Sky News, 8 May 2025.

---

Media & Communications Update:

Provided background information to SBS Insight ahead of its upcoming episode on scams, emphasising banks’ investments in scam prevention technology and the importance of a whole-of-ecosystem response.

---

Parliamentary Update:

• The Albanese Government secured a second term in Saturday’s federal election. Vote counting continues in several marginal seats, with final results expected in the coming days.
  •  Labor looks to have gained upwards of 90 seats while the Coalition currently holds 40.
  • The Cabinet will be announced imminently with Ed Husic and Mark Dreyfus moving to the back bench.
• Opposition Leader Peter Dutton lost his seat in Dickson to Labor candidate Ali France, triggering a leadership contest within the Liberal Party.
• Greens leader Adam Bandt lost the seat of Melbourne. The Greens lost all their former House of Representatives seats except for Ryan, which they may retain according to current vote counts.

---

Policy Update:

• Met with APRA to discuss the planning of the upcoming IRRBB – Parallel Run 1.
• Participated in a webinar hosted by the Global Anti Scams Alliance focusing on the intersection of modern slavery and scam compounds in South East Asia.

---

Regulatory Update:

• ACCC proposes to authorise AusPayNet for the wind down of Australia’s cheques system.
• ASIC released new regulatory guidance to support buy now pay later industry reforms.

---

Economic Update:

• The ABS released the Monthly Household Spending Indicator this week, which is going to supersede the retail trade data as of June 2025.
• Household spending for March fell 0.3% month on month seasonally adjusted. While in volume terms, the estimate remained unchanged which aligns with the retail trade data from last week, with retail trade taking up roughly a third of household spending.
• In seasonally adjusted annualised terms, household spending by value has increased 3.5% from March 2024 and volume increased 0.9%.

---

Coming up next week:

• Politics:
  • 13/05 – Liberal Party to decide new leadership
  • 13/05 – Federal Cabinet to be sworn in
• Data:
  • 13/05 – Building Approvals
  • 14/05 – Lending Indicators
  • 14/05 – Wage Price Index
  • 15/05 – Labour Force

---

Upcoming Submissions:

Published submissions

---

Upcoming Events:

---

Selected Media

• AFR – ‘Complacency’ is an issue for Australia amid global turmoil: Macquarie CEO
• The Australian – New first homebuyer scheme will guarantee house prices jump
• SMH – Buying a house is hard now but it could get much worse
• The Guardian – The Reserve Bank played it safe and didn’t cut interest rates in April – and households suffer
• SMH – Interactive: See how your polling booth voted in this election

Warm regards,
The ABA Team

Weekly Update