Popular EV, battery perks at risk as razor gang debates new cuts
Subsidies for household batteries and EVs could be pared back further, although no final decisions have been made and either may still be untouched.
Adjacent to the budget update, ministers have started to discuss a broader shake-up of economic policy, with a focus on productivity measures to boost living standards. Economists such as Saul Eslake and HSBC’s Paul Bloxham are already warning that recession is a real chance next year.
One minister, who did not want to be named, said Albanese and Chalmers wanted to lean into AI. The Productivity Commission has cited it as the best hope to boost efficiency levels that have languished along with similar nations for years.
Amid concern about Australia’s slow uptake of AI in small and medium businesses, one option being looked at by Labor is a plan to encourage technology diffusion across firms. China has put a huge focus on pushing AI tools across the economy to yield gains.
Albanese made a splash on new AI safety regulations before departing Australia this week, putting the hard word on AI companies to prove to voters that Australia, unlike the US, would not let frontier labs dictate terms. But on the whole, Labor has tried to talk up the benefits of AI as it seeks tens of billions in investment from firms such as Anthropic and Open AI.
Putting AI at the centre of a new productivity agenda would help make the case to voters that the data centre build-out, which is putting upward pressure on inflation in the short term, could have a long-term yield for Australian prosperity.
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