Weekly Update: 10th May

Highlights this week:

• Announcement: Reports that The federal government will establish a Joint Parliamentary Select Committee into the impact and influence of social media
• Key data: 12,947 new dwelling approvals in March 2024, an increase of 1.9% from February.  

Quote of the week:
“As I have said before bringing down inflation, we want to keep employment growing. This is the difficult path we’re trying to navigate. Right now, we believe rates are at the right levels to achieve this but there are risks, and at this stage the Board is not ruling anything in or out.”  

— RBA Governor Michelle Bullock speaking on the Monetary Policy Decision 

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Parliamentary Update:

• The Daily Telegraph reports that:
  • The federal government will establish a Joint Parliamentary Select Committee into the impact and influence of social media, including its ability to spread misinformation and how algorithms and recommender systems impact what content is served to Australians, and how it in turn can affect people’s mental health.  
  • The spread of harmful or illegal content, such as scams, age-restricted content, child sexual abuse and violent extremist material will also be examined by the inquiry. 
  • Meta’s decision to no longer pay for local news content will also be scrutinised. 
• Education Minister Jason Clare discussed re-indexing of HECS-HELP debt with ABC Radio Melbourne and mentioned that the Assistant Treasurer had written to the ABA on lending and HECS-HELP debt. 
• Treasurer Jim Chalmers commented on the May RBA cash rate decision, and noted: “Our main focus in the near term remains easing inflation and helping relieve cost‑of‑living pressures.” 
• The Victorian Government delivered its Budget, focussing on families and delaying several projects to constrain debt increases in future years.  
• Western Australia also released their Budget, the first for WA Treasurer Rita Saffioti.  
• Housing Minister Julie Collins announced $90.6 million to boost the number of skilled workers in the construction and housing sector, as part of a focus on housing in the upcoming 2024–25 Budget. 
• Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones announced the opening of consultation on regulation of the tax and accounting sectors.  

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Policy Update:

The ABA:  

• participated in a workshop with the Data Standards Board to help develop a new Standards Assessment Framework for the CDR 
• participated in a preliminary discussion with the Attorney-General’s Department on the proposed AML/CTF Reforms 
• met with the Insurance Council of Australia to discuss industry perspectives on scams 
• met with Domain Group.   
• met with the NSW Productivity Commissioner.   
• in partnership with Deloitte hosted two luncheons, featuring distinguished speakers from Deloitte India’s team. 

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Regulatory Update:

• RBA – Statement by the Reserve Bank Board: Monetary Policy Decision. Read more 
• RBA – Graphs on the Australian Economy and Financial Markets. Read more 
• RBA – The Reserve Bank of Australia has published the dates for meetings of the Reserve Bank Board and the release of the Statement on Monetary Policy in 2025. Read more 

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Economic Update:

• There were 12,947 new dwelling approvals in March 2024, an increase of 1.9% from February. 
• Payroll jobs increased 2.3% in the year to April 2023.  

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Communications and Media:

• The ABA responded to commentary on how banks currently assess HECS debts within loan assessments by suggesting the Government refer the matter to the Council of Financial Regulators. Anna Bligh did radio interviews on this TOPIC with ABC Melbourne, ABC Radio National, 2GB and 4BC.  
• Anna Bligh did an interview with ABC 730 on the work the industry is doing to stamp-out financial abuse.  

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Coming up next week:

• Federal Budget speech from Treasurer Chalmers: 14-May, 7:30pm 
• Budget-in-Reply speech from Opposition Leader Peter Dutton: 16-May, 7:30pm
• Anna Bligh will be participating in a panel forum for future women at Parliament House: 15-May 7:30pm

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Upcoming Submissions:

Published submissions

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Selected Media:

• The Australian – Why the wave of bank bad debts was really a ripple 
• AFR – Business loan demand spikes, keeping inflation fears alive 
• ABC – Rise of mortgage brokers transforms the profit banks once made on home loans 
• Yahoo – Warning over Facebook Marketplace scam – the three words to look out for 

Weekly Update