Australia news LIVE: Intergenerational report to be released today; Concerns around water buybacks in Murray-Darling Basin plan

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Key posts

  • Albanese open to reform but Chalmers shuts down talk of corporate tax cuts
  • Hundreds of millions in farms funding in limbo over water stand-off
  • Global warming to cost Australia up to $423 billion over 40 years
  • Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin on board plane that crashed in Russia
  • This morning’s headlines at a glance
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Albanese open to reform but Chalmers shuts down talk of corporate tax cuts

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has told company chief executives he wants to set up a “structured dialogue” with business to canvass future economic reforms, hours after the federal government dismissed calls for a cut to the company tax rate.

Albanese named migration and skills as two examples of policies where the government could work closely with business, while he played down the tensions on workplace relations reform during a speech to the Business Council of Australia in Sydney last night.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese addresses the Business Council of Australia 2023 Annual Dinner.Credit: Wolter Peeters

The speech came shortly after Treasurer Jim Chalmers warned of the spending pressures on the federal budget over the decades ahead and told the ABC’s 730 program the country could not afford to cut the company tax rate despite the council’s calls for the change

Albanese attended the Sydney dinner with Chalmers, Finance Minister Katy Gallagher, Trade Minister Don Farrell, Competition Minister Andrew Leigh and Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones, while using his speech to emphasise common ground between Labor and business.

Here’s the full story on the reforms. 

Hundreds of millions in farms funding in limbo over water stand-off

Victorian farmers will miss out on hundreds of millions of dollars worth of water-saving infrastructure projects unless the Andrews and Albanese governments sort out their impasse over the revived Murray-Darling Basin plan.

The state could also be cut out of the administration of any future community compensation deals, unlike NSW, unless it softens its long-term opposition to voluntary water buybacks.

Premier Daniel Andrews, left, and federal Water Minister Tanya Plibersek are in a stand-off over the revived Murray-Darling Basin plan.Credit: The Age

A federal government source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak publicly, confirmed Victoria would have received nine figures worth of federal infrastructure funding had it signed up to the revamped water recovery plan.

The source added that communities in northern, central and western Victoria would still receive compensation for any future water buybacks. However, because it has not signed up to the current plan, the Andrews government would not have control over those projects.

Instead, the federal government plans to determine the size and scope of any compensation and then have local councils administer the funds. That is in contrast with NSW, which signed up to the latest iteration of the Murray-Darling rescue plan, and will get a say in those projects.

Find out more about the plan here.

Global warming to cost Australia up to $423 billion over 40 years

Back in Australia, sweltering temperatures fanned by global warming will cost the economy up to $423 billion over the next four decades, reduce the nation’s production of wheat, and leave taxpayers footing the bill for more expensive natural disasters.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers will use the sixth intergenerational report, to be released today, to show the full impact of climate change on the economy.

This includes the tourism sector, with fewer visitors likely to come to Australia as attractions such as the nation’s beaches disappear.

Heatwaves, floods and natural disasters will deliver a $423 billion hit to the economy by 2063, according to the intergenerational report.Credit: Louie Douvis

The report, which forecasts how the economy, population and workforce are expected to develop over the next 40 years, will detail the major economic and fiscal threats posed by higher temperatures.

Chalmers will reveal that climate change will reduce labour productivity so much that it will cut the nation’s economic output over the next 40 years by between $135 billion and $423 billion in today’s dollars.

This forecast is based on the assumption that global warming will exceed the target set by the Paris Agreement on climate change, an international deal Australia signed up to that aims to limit warming as far below 2 degrees as possible.

Read more on this issue here.

Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin on board plane that crashed in Russia

In breaking world news, Russian warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin, whose Wagner group staged a failed mutiny in June, has been killed in a plane crash over Russia according to reports.

Russia’s civil aviation authority said on Wednesday that Prigozhin was on the passenger list of a jet that crashed while flying from Moscow to St Petersburg, killing all seven passengers and three crew on board.

Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin has reportedly died in a plane crash in Russia.Credit: AP

The private jet, believed to be owned by Prigozhin, went off radar about 160 kilometres northwest of Moscow, according to the flight-tracking service Flightradar24. It was reportedly cruising at about 8500 metres before it disappeared shortly after 6 pm Moscow time.

Wagner-linked Telegram channel Grey Zone reported the Embraer Legacy 600 aircraft was shot down by air defences in the Tver region.

It later reported Prigozhin was dead, although it has not been confirmed by Russian authorities.

Read more on this here, from European correspondent Rob Harris.

This morning’s headlines at a glance

Good morning, and thanks for joining me this morning.

It’s Thursday, August 24. I’m Caroline Schelle, and I’ll be anchoring our live coverage this morning, along with my colleague Olivia Ireland.

Here’s what you need to know before we get started:

  • The prime minister played down the tensions on workplace relations reform during a speech to the Business Council of Australia in Sydney last night.
  • Sweltering temperatures fanned by global warming will cost the economy up to $423 billion over the next four decades, according to the intergenerational report which will be handed down today.
  • Nurses, paramedics, pharmacists and physiotherapists will push for greater powers to prescribe medicines or treat patients, with a new review to look at the suggestion.
  • Qantas boss Alan Joyce has been summoned to a parliamentary inquiry for the first time in nine years, where he’ll be subject to questions about the group’s role in affecting cost of living pressures.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers will deliver the intergenerational report today.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

  • South Australia’s premier says the Voice campaign must use practical language to pitch to mainstream voters in the suburbs as his state shapes up as a crucial jurisdiction in the referendum.
  • Victorian farmers will miss out on cash for water-saving infrastructure projects if the Albanese and Andrews governments can’t do a deal over the Murray-Darling Basin plan.
  • The NSW’s anti-corruption watchdog has been given special powers in its investigation into claims senior Liberals were involved in branch stacking to help fugitive Jean Nassif secure development applications.
  • And overseas, Russian officals say Wagner mercernary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin was listed as being on board a jet that crashed north of Moscow, with no survivors.
  • India becomes fourth country to land a spacecraft on the moon, near the south pole which scientists believe could hold vital reserves of frozen water.
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