Live: Invite-only grant scheme 'pork-barrelling by design': Haines
Independent MP Helen Haines has taken aim at an invitation-only grants scheme, calling it "pork-barrelling by design".
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Politicians doomscroll too
By Evelyn Manfield
By Evelyn Manfield
Don't worry, you're not alone, politicians get sucked into doomscrolling too.
Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young says there are nights where she looks at the time and wonders: "What have I been doing? Why am I still on here?"
"Everyone knows that feeling of being sucked in…[the algorithm is] designed to do that," she said.
"It feeds harmful material because it manipulates our feeds, based on our emotions, our interactions, our data."
Following the government's announcement yesterday that it wants users to get control over whether or not an algorithm decides their feed, the Greens want action against the addictive nature of social media too.
She reckons some sort of "friction" to stop the auto-play of videos would help.
Spending on aged pension projected to fall below 2 per cent of GDP
By Ewa Staszewska
By Ewa Staszewska
Australia's spend on age and service pensions is expected to drop from 2.3 per cent to 1.8 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2066, according to new analysis.
The government's intergenerational report (IGR), which will be released in full later this month, projects economic opportunities and obstacles over the next 40 years.
The analysis shows the share of older Australians, aged 67 or above, receiving a pension or income support will decline from 66 per cent to 52 per cent over the same period.
Speaking to the Super Members Council later today, Treasurer Jim Chalmers will state the reduced pressure on the budget is due to having superannuation "at the core" of the best retirement system.
"In comparison, that number is nearly 10 per cent by 2060 in the UK, 8 per cent in Canada, 7 per cent in New Zealand, and 6 per cent in the US," Chalmers will say.
The IGR has revised its 2023 outlook, which predicted the portion of GDP spent on pensions would fall to 2 per cent.
Chalmers will argue super needs to be preserved against "existential" threats, including One Nation, who earlier this week suggested dipping into superannuation early for those struggling with cost of living.
Under the proposal, Australians who pay rent or a mortgage would be given a choice to divert a portion of their superannuation to their take-home pay for up to three years.
Key Event
Invite-only grant scheme 'pork barrelling by design': Haines
By Courtney Gould
By Courtney Gould
Independent MP Helen Haines has taken aim at an invitation-only grants scheme, calling it "pork-barrelling by design".
An investigation by the Centre for Public Integrity, reported by the ABC, found three-quarters of the funds from the Major and Local Community Infrastructure Program went to electorates held by Labor at the 2025 federal election.
Haines says she found out about the grants program a year ago when a local golf club asked how they could get an invitation to apply for a grant.
"I subsequently asked the minister for infrastructure [Catherine King] about this in question time last November and she very clearly stated that this was a program that was designed to deliver election commitments," she tells ABC's News Breakfast.
"In other words, this was pork-barrelling by design, which makes it quite different actually to sports rorts, which was pork-barreling by deception. So we've got two methods here but the same outcome."
Haines is calling for the Commonwealth grant guidelines to be rewritten to include enforceable standards.
Key Event
Albanese held undeclared honorary membership to golf club awarded $6 million
By Jake Evans
By Jake Evans
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese held an honorary membership to Marrickville Golf Club, which he has not declared on his register of interests.
The golf club was promised $6 million at the federal election, which was awarded through a fund that heavily favoured Labor seats.
Records of the prime minister's register of interests dating back to his entry to parliament in 1996 do not mention a membership to the club, either paid or honorary.
"We have him on the books as an honorary member, but I think that dates from a long time ago, that hasn't been reaffirmed," a spokesperson for the Marrickville Golf Club told the ABC.
"I don't know when he was put on the books as an honorary member, that may have been 15 years ago or more."
The Prime Minister's Office did not respond to questions about Mr Albanese's membership.
Read more of this exclusive report by Jake Evans at the link below.
Good morning 👋
By Courtney Gould
By Courtney Gould
Hello friends. Welcome to our politics live blog. I'm Courtney Gould from the ABC's Parliament House team, here to guide you through the day.
The government released its long awaited first draft of its Digital Duty of Care legislation yesterday, confirming the bill would grant users a choice between an algorithm social media feed or to just see the accounts someone follows.
A little birdie has told me Anthony Albanese will be out and about on the media rounds this morning to spruik the plan on breakfast television.
Also expect there to be more questions about friend of the blog Jake Evans's report on Labor's use of an invite-only infrastructure grant.
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