THE Housing Industry Association (HIA) has welcomed yesterday's announcement to bring forward the start of the expanded Federal Government Home Guarantee Scheme to October 1.

"This promises to open doors for more people and is an important boost for aspirational home buyers in Australia,”  HIA managing director Jocelyn Martin said.

“This will make homeownership more accessible to those who may have previously been locked out of the market and something HIA successfully advocated for in lead up to this year’s election.

“Since its inception, HIA has been strongly supportive of the Home Guarantee Scheme. To date the scheme has helped more than 210,000 Australians get into a home of their own," she said.

“Previously the scheme has been capped at 50,000 new places each year, but today’s announcement will mean there are no caps or income limits and property prices have been adjusted in line with average house prices in both metropolitan and regional areas.

“This will mean more Australians can access the scheme and get into housing sooner," Ms Martin said.

“Under the First Home Guarantee, an eligible first home buyer can purchase a property with a deposit of as little as five percent.

“The guarantee offers help to those Australians looking to buy their first home, recognising that saving for a deposit is the largest obstacle to achieving home ownership.

“With the current cost pressures on households, a first home buyer is facing years to save a deposit and in that time they risk being priced out of the market.

”Recent analysis of the scheme shows that more than one third of all guarantees were issued to buyers in regional areas. It also showed an increasing proportion of younger buyers participated in the scheme each year since its inception highlighting its importance to a broad range of Australian’s.

“HIA has always maintained that owning your own home is the best form of financial and personal security a person can have. The expanded Home Guarantee Scheme goes a long way to helping that dream become a reality,” Ms Martin said.

www.hia.com.au

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REWIRING Australia has welcomed the Federal Government’s announcement to boost the development of renewable energy projects by proposing new guidelines for research and demonstration licenses. 

Energy Minister Chris Bowen today unveiled the plans to offer the updated licenses, which would encourage researchers, scientists and others to research new wind technology to ensure Australia is at the cutting edge of the sector. 

The licenses would be offered in all six declared offshore wind zones, including the Hunter region in New South Wales.

Rewiring Australia’s founder and chief scientist, Saul Griffith has spent years across Australia and the USA developing and engineering innovative renewable energy technologies, including floating offshore wind.

“The development and testing of this kind of technology is critical if we are going to get the most out of it in Australia. We need to encourage investment and innovation and this is one important way to do that,” Dr Griffith said. 

The Federal Government today said the projects might include monitoring technology to examine the feasibility of offshore wind for a region, or projects designed to demonstrate the viability of new technologies. 

Importantly, it is expected to slash the cost of the initial R&D license, making early-stage projects for proving deep-water technologies more financially viable and de-risking larger-scale investment.

“Australia is in a unique position; we not only have abundant sun to support solar, but with the sixth longest coastline in the world and 85% of our population within 50km of that coast, we’re well placed to scale up our offshore wind capabilities.

“A diverse mix of renewable energy will make Australia less reliant on imported fuels and expensive and aging fossil fuel plants," he said.

“We have the ability to become a renewable energy superpower in Australia, and supporting our innovators is one of the best ways to do that. Harnessing the strong winds out to sea will help deliver clean energy around the clock, and help us close down our expensive, ageing coal power stations on time, which is good for the energy bills of all Australian households,” Dr Griffith said. 

The Federal Government today said it was seeking feedback on the proposed new guidelines from today until October 3. 

“I commend the Federal Government for opening up the gates to crucial investments in offshore wind technologies with this license proposal. With the right framework to get this industry established, Australia can be a leader in this global energy opportunity,” Dr Griffith said. 

www.rewiringaustralia.org

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THE Joint Standing Committee on Treaties has commenced an inquiry into the Nuclear-Powered Submarine Partnership and Collaboration Agreement between the Government of Australia and the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

The treaty, signed in Geelong on July 26, 2025, forms a key component of the AUKUS partnership and outlines collaborative efforts to support Australia’s acquisition of nuclear-powered submarines.

The committee has invited interested individuals and organisations to make submissions addressing the treaty and its implications. Submissions are due by Tuesday, September 2, 2025, and can be lodged online via the Committee website.

Committee Chair, Lisa Chesters MP said, "This inquiry is a vital opportunity for the public to engage with one of the most significant defence and strategic agreements in Australia’s recent history. We encourage stakeholders to share their views."

Detailed guidance on preparing and submitting submissions is available on the Committee’s website.

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THE National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) and Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance (MEAA) have warned of serious risks to freedom of expression stemming from a code of conduct adopted by the Bendigo Writers Festival.

The festival issued a code of conduct to participants in La Trobe University-sponsored events directing them to “avoid language or topics that could be considered inflammatory, divisive, or disrespectful”.

It also mandated adherence to La Trobe’s Anti-Racism Plan, which adopts the Universities Australia definition of antisemitism. 

More than 50 writers, academics and hosts including NTEU and MEAA members withdrew from the festival over the code. 

“It’s especially galling that La Trobe University management has used its role as a sponsor of the festival to stifle academic freedom and freedom of expression – the very principles universities are built on," NTEU national president Alison Barnes said.

“This is exactly why the NTEU strongly argued against Universities Australia’s definition of antisemitism – it risks conflating uncomfortable criticism of government policies with discrimination.

“The NTEU will always unequivocally oppose all forms of racism and discrimination including antisemitism and Islamophobia," Dr Barnes said.

MEAA acting chief executive Adam Portelli said, “MEAA supports creative and media workers' right to freedom of expression, even when uncomfortable or inconvenient. In fact, it is in the very nature of artistic expression to be disruptive.

“These workers deserve the freedom to express opinions without fear of being silenced or censored," he said.

“This can be done while ensuring an environment free from discrimination and vilification.”

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“It’s not a choice between the economy and nature; you can have both or you can have neither,” ACF CEO Kelly O’Shanassy, who will attend the roundtable session on Better regulation and approvals said.

“The Great Barrier Reef, which supports 64,000 jobs and injects around $6.4 billion a year into the economy, is in serious strife because of repeated coral bleaching from hotter oceans.

“The Murray-Darling Basin, which supports more than 30% of Australia’s food production, is in a dire state, with some ecologists describing the ecosystem as on the brink of collapse," O’Shanassy said.

“Faster decisions are crucial, as is stronger nature protection. Australia’s failed national nature law facilitates neither. 

“The national nature law contains a series of convoluted processes with no defined outcomes or transparent institutions – a recipe for slow, unpredictable decisions and ecological and economic decline. 

“Three elements of environmental law reform are essential to faster decisions and stronger nature protection. 

“National environment standards are needed to define the rules on nature protection and guide project proponents on where they can build and where nature needs to be protected because of high conservation value habitat," Ms O’Shanassy said.

“An independent national EPA is needed to administer the standards through making assessment and approval decisions, ensure compliance and enforcement and oversee any accredited arrangements that allow for further efficiencies.

“Better coordination across federal, state and territory governments is needed, but the simplistic idea of handing over Commonwealth responsibilities to State and Territory governments for ‘single touch approvals’ won’t work," she said.

“Research by ACF shows roughly half Australia’s GDP (49% or $896 billion) has a moderate to very high direct dependence on nature. Speeding up decisions without boosting nature protection will simply accelerate extinction and put the brakes on our economy and jobs.”

www.acf.org.au

Read ACF’s submission to the Economic Reform Roundtable.

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WITH the Albanese Government’s Economic Reform Roundtable kicking off today, Weld Australia is calling out the false promise of deregulation.

According to Weld Australia, the Productivity Commission’s push to 'slash red tape' completely misdiagnoses Australia’s productivity challenge.

"The problem is not standards," a Weld Australia spokesman said. "It is non-compliance and weak enforcement. Regulations like the National Construction Code (NCC) and Australian Standards exist to protect people, property and the environment and underpin economic resilience".

Geoff Crittenden, CEO of Weld Australia, said,  “What the Productivity Commission calls ‘red tape’ are the very rules that keep people alive and our major infrastructure and assets safe and standing.

“Let’s be honest about what’s in the firing line: the National Construction Code, building codes, and Australian Standards. These are not there to stifle growth or productivity. They exist to protect people, property and the environment. Deregulation is not reform. It’s negligence.

“If anyone thinks safety standards are ‘excessive’, ask the family of the worker who fell through a roof and never came home. Ask the parents of a young apprentice who died in a confined space. Ask the owners staring at cracking walls in non-compliant apartments, or households whose homes burned to the ground because a cheap battery exploded.

"Ask the state governments forced to rebuild infrastructure at more than double the initial construction price because it wasn’t built to Australian Standards in the first place,” Mr Crittenden said.

“Removing regulations and standards boosts margins and profits for corner-cutters. It doesn’t build a safer, more productive nation; it builds risk.

“Australia’s problem is not too many rules. It is too little compliance; too little enforcement of the rules. In construction particularly, too many players only worry about standards if they get caught. Compliance and enforcement are chronically under-resourced. Against that reality, calls to ‘slash red tape’ are not only laughable, they reveal a complete misunderstanding of what is going on in this country.

“If we want to go the American way — weak compliance, big profits for a few, and catastrophic failures for the rest — keep talking deregulation,” Mr Crittenden said. “If we want a productive, modern economy, look to the countries that actually top the global productivity tables. Some of europe’s most productive economies like Norway, Denmark and the Netherlands, are also among the most regulated. They don’t cut standards to grow. They enforce standards to grow.

“Talk of freezing the NCC or watering down Australian Standards is dangerously naïve. The right response is enforcement: certify fabricators against recognised standards, inspect before steel is erected, and hold everyone to the same rules, including overseas suppliers. That’s how you lift quality, extend asset life and truly improve productivity.”

Weld Australia said Australia has already been paying the price of weak compliance. Recent cases include a Brisbane rail footbridge installed despite 1,150 welding non-conformances; a major recreation centre roof collapse during construction; and a flood of low-quality imported heat-pump water heaters in the absence of a clear performance standard. These are not isolated incidents. They are systemic red flags that shorten design life and push unplanned costs onto governments and communities.

Weld Australia’s is calling on the Economic Reform Roundtable to:

1. Enforce a level playing field for all fabricated steel: Mandate and enforce that all fabricated steel erected in Australia complies with AS/NZS ISO 3834, whether fabricated locally or overseas. This is the minimum to ensure quality and safety without disadvantaging Australian fabricators.
2. Adopt a harmonised procurement framework that bakes in compliance: Incorporate the South Australian ST-SS-S1 model into the NCC and state government specifications (including clause 7.7 for overseas fabrication) so that inspection and competence requirements are clear before steel is erected.
3. Establish a National Fabrication Authority: Create an independent, not-for-profit body to certify Australian and overseas companies to the same standards and to inspect fabricated steel before installation, mirroring Canada’s successful approach via the Canadian Welding Bureau. This can be implemented without new legislation by aligning State Government technical regulations.
4. Measure what matters: whole-of-life cost and economic resilience: Shift procurement and policy settings from lowest-price wins to asset life, maintenance burden and safety outcomes. That is how productivity genuinely improves.

“Standards enable safe innovation, consistent quality and predictable markets. The choice is not growth or safety. It is growth through safety and compliance. Where Australia is falling down is not the rule book. It is the absence of a capable, independent system to check and enforce the rules before failure occurs,” Mr Crittenden said.

“Australia needs courage and conviction to enforce regulations and Australian Standards. If the round table delivers one thing this week, let it be a commitment to compliance: one set of rules for everyone, verified independently, with safety and whole-of-life value front and centre.”

Weld Australia represents the welding profession in Australia. Its members are made up of individual welding professionals and companies of all sizes. Weld Australia members are involved almost every facet of Australian industry and make a significant contribution to the nation’s economy.

The primary goal of Weld Australia is to ensure that the Australian welding industry remains locally and globally competitive, both now and into the future. Weld Australia is the Australian representative member of the International Institute of Welding (IIW).

https://weldaustralia.com.au/

THE Economic Reform Roundtable must be open to meaningful reform that lifts living standards for those falling behind and makes Australia a better place, according to Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) CEO Cassandra Goldie.

“This roundtable is an historic opportunity to make Australia a fairer, better country, both for people and for the planet,” Dr Goldie said.

“We must move beyond sectoral interests and build consensus around solutions to lift the living standards of our community, especially those with the least. 

“Discussions about productivity cannot be separated from discussions about the kind of society we want to live in. Many members of our community have experienced an unprecedented fall in their living standards – and they need meaningful reform.

“We are hopeful that everyone in the room will bring ambition, along with a spirit of collaboration and curiosity, to the discussion over the coming days. We cannot afford to waste this opportunity.”

ACOSS has proposed a range of policy options to strengthen social services, support the community sector to innovate, streamline social security and broaden the income tax base by removing opportunities for people with high incomes to avoid tax via private trusts and property tax concessions.

ACOSS is also calling for reforms that improve employment opportunities, especially root and branch reform of a failing employment services system and boost access to social housing. ACOSS will also urge strong climate targets and investment to deliver faster benefits to households, reducing energy prices and consumption. 

“We must better prepare and train people for jobs and support people on low and modest incomes to secure affordable, accessible and energy efficient housing,” Dr Goldie said.

www.acoss.org.au

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THE Make Big Polluters Pay Alliance claims 75% of Australians believe that climate change is increasing the cost of living.

This new alliance is calling calls on governments to take action ahead of Economic Reform Roundtable.

New polling by the alliance has uncovered that the majority of Australians (62%) agree that coal, oil and gas corporations should pay for the damage caused by their climate pollution, including contributing to the costs of climate disasters.

The Make Big Polluters Pay Alliance said its polling showed there was general agreement (75%) that climate change and extreme weather is contributing to cost-of-living pressures.

The polling also found:

• 83% believe that everyone is paying the price of climate change through increasing insurance premiums and increasing food prices;
• 82% believe that fossil fuel companies are exporting most of the coal, oil and gas they produce overseas, meanwhile the cost of energy domestically is very high;
• 70% agree that the government should get coal, oil and gas corporations to take more responsibility when it comes to climate pollution and damages they cause.

Coal, oil and gas corporations, who the alliance said were responsible for three quarters of Australia’s climate pollution, "take billions in government handouts, and they often pay less tax in Australia than most Australians such as nurses, despite $370 billion in revenue in 2024-25. They make mega profits, sending most overseas, and they don’t contribute to the costs of dealing with climate change and their climate pollution".

Driven by a powerful coalition of climate impacted communities, development, faith, climate, youth, First Nations and Pacific organisations, including Oxfam Australia, Greenpeace Australia, ActionAid Australia, Bushfire Survivors for Climate Action, Pacific Islands Council of Queensland, and others, Make Big Polluters Pay launched publicly today and unifies a broad cross section of society, raising the voices of frontline communities in Australia and the Pacific. The alliance highlights how the fossil fuel industry "is putting the costs of climate change onto communities and not paying their fair share, which is also harming our budget sustainability, productivity and economic resilience".

Ahead of the roundtable, Make Big Polluters Pay is offering "a pathway to reconfigure Australia's economy and tax system so that those most responsible for climate change pay the price, not ordinary Australians".

According to the Make Polluters Pay Alliance, the Australian Government should:

• Put in place a climate pollution levy on coal, gas and oil corporations, which could raise $46 billion a year, ensuring they pay their fair share towards climate action
• Establish a Climate Compensation Fund to meet the needs of communities on the frontline of climate impacts, and support everyday households facing rising costs from climate change and the clean energy transition.

 Make Polluters Pay Australia Campaign strategic lead, Julie-Anne Richards, said, “Australia’s coal, oil and gas corporations are making around $370 billion in revenue per year, but often pay little or no tax. They are pushing the costs of the climate pollution they produce and the climate change it creates onto communities. Everyday Australians are paying through higher insurance, food and other bill costs, as well as the costs of recovery from climate disasters. It’s time these big corporations pay their fair share.”

Oxfam Australia interim chief executive officer, Chrisanta Muli said, "It's not fair that communities impacted by climate disasters, and everyday households are paying the price for climate change, while big corporations making huge profits pay nothing. Coal, oil and gas corporations, who produce three quarters of Australia's climate pollution, should be contributing to paying for the costs of their climate pollution to households and impacted communities here in Australia and in our Pacific region."

Bushfire Survivors for Climate Action CEO, Serena Joyner, said, “Australians are tough and our communities have had to be resilient in the face of repeated fires, floods and storms. But it's not fair that we are bearing the costs of escalating disasters caused by the pollution from big coal, oil and gas corporations. It's time they stepped up and paid their fair share to clean up their mess."

Greenpeace Australia Pacific CEO David Ritter said, “For too long, fossil fuel polluters have harmed our climate, environment, and communities in their pursuit of profit. They have spread misinformation to slow emissions reduction efforts, dodged their fair share of taxes, and used their money to lobby governments and launder their reputations. The era of impunity for fossil fuel corporations must end; it is time to make big polluters pay.”

Stella Miria Robinson, Pacific Islands Council of Queensland elder said, “Australia needs to accept its responsibilities in our neighbourhood of the Pacific Ocean by fairly compensating its island neighbours for the damage Australia businesses are causing, pushing us to extinction. As stated by others Australian industries have made huge financial gains in the name of “smart” business so they should extend that “smartness” to saving the planet and its vulnerable Peoples impacted by the unpredictability and threats of climate change.”

Michelle Higelin, executive director of women’s rights NGO ActionAid Australia, said, “This is a deeply unfair situation where Australia’s big coal, oil and gas companies are making massive profits, at everyone else’s expense. For the women we work with across the Pacific and beyond, the climate crisis is pushing them into a relentless cycle of losing their income, damaging their homes, and constantly having to rebuild their lives. It’s not fair that they’re being forced to pay for damage they did not cause, and that’s why we want to see big polluters pay their fair share.”

Make Big Polluters Pay alliance members include: Climate Action Network Australia, Climate Justice Coalition, Oxfam Australia, Greenpeace Australia Pacific, ActionAid Australia, Indigenous Peoples Organisation Australia, Think Forward, Uniting Church in Australia Victoria and Tasmania Synod, Tax Justice Network Australia, Jubilee Australia, 350 Australia, Bushfire Survivors for Climate Action, Pacific Islands Council of Queensland, GetUp!, Oxfam in the Pacific, Pacific Conference of Churches, Seed Mob, Loss & Damage Pacific Network, Pacific Youth Network, Plan International Australia, Centre for International Corporate Tax Accountability and Research, Beyond Gas Network, Cairns and Far North Environment Centre, Conservation Council of Western Australia, Nature Conservation Council of NSW, Queensland Conservation Council, Environment Victoria, Friends of the Earth Australia, Human Rights Law Centre, Environmental Advocacy in Central Queensland, Lighter Footprints, Nillumbik Climate Action Team, Peoples Climate Assembly, Publish What You Pay, Rising Tide, SJ Around the Bay, Women's Environmental Leadership Australia, Grata Fund, Yarra Climate Action Now!, Citizens Climate Lobby Australia.

About the research

Polling was commissioned by Essential Media and conducted between June 13–19 with a nationally representative sample of n=2029 Australian residents aged 18+. Quotas were applied to be representative of the target population by gender, age and location. RIM weighting was applied to the data using information sourced from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). Thepercentage of coal, oil and gas companies is based on the latest National Greenhouse Gas Inventory Quarterly Update.

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