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2h agoLiberal frontbencher Jonathon Duniam to leave Senate by end of October
2h agoBusinesses are increasing prices under cover of credit card surcharge ban: UBS
4h agoPocock says AI committee letter ‘heavily vetted’ by prime minister’s office
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Retailers are using the credit card surcharge ban to justify larger price increases, according to UBS economists.
Businesses were banned from including transaction surcharges from 1 October as part of a Reserve Bank-led reforms aimed at improving transparency for customers and, ultimately, lowering bank fees.
The RBA has predicted that shops would incorporate the bank fees into the final sale price, likely leading to a 0.1 percentage point increase to inflation.
But the UBS economists in a note to clients said this estimate was too low and that there was evidence that businesses, such as cafes, were using the surcharge ban as cover to pass on bigger price rises.
“The RBA’s estimate seems a lower bound estimate, particularly given recent increases in fuel and other input costs,” they said, estimating a 0.2% boost to inflation.
According to a survey of more than 1,500 cafes by Small Flat White, an online coffee price tracker, 17% of cafes have increased their prices since the start of the surcharge ban, with an average increase of 50 cents, or more than 10%.
That is multiples of the typical 1.5% card surcharge fee. The UBS economists said:
Resilient demand and still-elevated inflation expectations may be allowing merchants to use the change as ‘cover’ to pass through broader cost pressures (wages, fuel, and other input costs). Following years of above-target inflation, consumers may be more accepting of price rises. Evidence of ‘round up’ pricing in items such as coffee suggests pass-through could exceed the surcharge itself.
Resilient demand and still-elevated inflation expectations may be allowing merchants to use the change as ‘cover’ to pass through broader cost pressures (wages, fuel, and other input costs).
Following years of above-target inflation, consumers may be more accepting of price rises. Evidence of ‘round up’ pricing in items such as coffee suggests pass-through could exceed the surcharge itself.
‘Captive committees doing pretend inquiries’: Shoebridge
Greens leader David Shoebridge has called the parliamentary AI committee a “farce” after it was found a staffer in the prime minister’s office had appeared to sign off on language, and suggested edits to the letter before it was handed to Anthony Albanese/
Independent senator David Pocock, a member of the committee, accused Albanese’s office of “heavily vetting” the letter and its recommendations.
Shoebridge already had a bone to pick with this one, because then-Greens leader Larissa Waters had tried to put him forward for the committee but the government refused, and then the Greens refused to offer up anyone else. Labor instead put it to a vote in the Senate – allowing senators to choose either Shoebridge or Pocock for the last spot.
In a statement, Shoebridge says:
Captive committees doing pretend inquiries serve no one but a government ducking fr cover. The letter to the PM from this committee being edited by the PM’s office is a farce worthy of Utopia. Sometimes you look back and have to be grateful, not being part of this Labor farce was a blessing after all.
Captive committees doing pretend inquiries serve no one but a government ducking fr cover. The letter to the PM from this committee being edited by the PM’s office is a farce worthy of Utopia.
Sometimes you look back and have to be grateful, not being part of this Labor farce was a blessing after all.
In pictures: Angus Taylor addresses the Coalition party room
Earlier I mentioned cameras were allowed in to record Angus Taylor revving up his party room for the week.
Here’s a little look in.
The bells are ringing in the House and Senate
The Greens and Coalition are separately suspending standing orders in both Houses this morning.
In the Senate, Mehreen Faruqi has moved a motion to debate the war in Gaza. She says:
Three years of violently and rapidly expanding settlements in the West Bank, three years and counting. The Albanese government has done nothing, that is why the matter is urgent … rather than stopping the arms trade, rather than imposing sanctions on Israel to stop this genocide, they’ve been trying to shut down those of us who have been calling out this injustice.
Three years of violently and rapidly expanding settlements in the West Bank, three years and counting.
The Albanese government has done nothing, that is why the matter is urgent … rather than stopping the arms trade, rather than imposing sanctions on Israel to stop this genocide, they’ve been trying to shut down those of us who have been calling out this injustice.
Faruqi’s motion is voted down by the government and Coalition.
Immediately after, independent and former Greens senator Lidia Thorpe has her own motion to suspend standing orders to call the Albanese government to take more action against Israel, including applying further sanctions on Israel and Israeli politicians, and prohibiting trade with illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank. It fails without support from the government or Coalition.
Meanwhile, in the House, the Coalition tries to suspend standing orders to bring on a bill to immediately reinstate credit card payments to the Australian tax office. It also fails.
Government’s climate centre to identify ‘hotspots’ for impacts around the country
A priority for the government’s climate science centre will be identifying “hotspots” around the country where impacts will cause social and economic losses, according to a new three-year strategy for the centre.
The Australian Climate Service is made up of scientists and specialists at the Bureau of Meteorology, CSIRO, the Australian Bureau of Statistics and Geoscience Australia.
The new strategy says a priority until 2029 will be work that identifies “who is most affected by climate risk” and what can be done to “reduce harm and strengthen wellbeing.”
The assistant climate change minister, Josh Wilson, said the strategy had come after the release last year of Australia’s first ever national climate risk assessment. He said:
The challenge of a climate that is warming and shifting to volatile extremes is unlike anything we’ve faced before, and responding to those circumstances will require governments, businesses and communities to work together in new ways.
Future hazards will not mirror the past – impacts are shifting in timing, location and severity, placing growing strain on response and recovery systems.
Digital duty of care may be delayed by Senate inquiry
The Greens are considering seeking to refer Labor’s digital duty of care legislation to a Senate inquiry, potentially delaying the bill which is expected to be introduced this week.
The communications minister, Anika Wells, is at the National Press Club on Thursday to discuss the legislation. But with the Coalition again dealing itself out of negotiations and refusing to consider it, the Greens are in the box seat for this legislation and the minor party may want to see it pushed to an inquiry.
The Greens will seek “improvements” to the bill but say they are not interested in “killing” the proposal. The parliament’s sitting calendar only has two Senate weeks between now and the end of the year, with Senate estimates at the end of October, so the Greens say they want to look at the bill now, before the usual end-of-year chaos.
We’ll keep you updated as that progresses.
