Tax reform is officially on the table! Guided by intergenerational fairness, business investment, simplicity & hopefully budget repair. But the hard part starts now- Can the media resist playing ‘rule in, rule out’? Will the Coalition engage constructively or become irrelevant?

This problem underpins so many of our other challenges - a lack of transparency, integrity & enforceable laws for lobbyists. E.g. gambling- How can people believe govt is acting in the public interest when the govt parrots gambling lobbyist lines? #auspol

After calling for tax reform at least 10 times throughout the last parliament (along with @spenderallegra and other crossbenchers), I see this as a win. Agreeing on the intergenerational inequity problem is the first step to building agreement on solutions. #auspol.

Good news (@smh): East coast is rapidly rolling out renewables & storage to replace coal. Bad news (@abcnews): WA is falling behind. WA needs a renewable energy target for our separate grid & a clear plan, so the $3bn from Rewiring Australia announced for WA can be spent.

It’s Tax Day at the Economic Reform Roundtable. Here’s my submission with ideas to address intergenerational equity.👇Instead of growing reliance on young workers, let’s look at negative gearing/CGT, stamp duty, resource rent tax, carbon tax, digital multinationals, indexing tax

We have our foot on the accelerator & the brake with decarbonisation - we effectively pay big mining companies to use fossil fuels. Capping diesel tax credits & transforming part into a decarbonisation incentive would reduce the mixed signals. #auspol

Wishing my crossbench colleague & friend @spenderallegra good luck today at the Roundtable. Her focus on long term reform, intergenerational fairness & productivity will make her a constructive & valuable contributor. #auspol.

At this rate, we will be passing on a lower standard of living to younger Australians. Both sides must convince us they have a tax reform plan that is fair & future-focused by 2028. If reform can still happen with a major party majority, prove it. #auspol

47kg of plastic/Australian/year, piling up & breaking down into fragments in our oceans, food & air. In 30 years we’ll have more plastic than fish. Recycling just delays landfill. We need a treaty & less plastic, not just more recycling. ⁦@minderoo⁩

Plastic pollution is everywhere, even in our bodies. It seems pretty obvious we need less of it. A global treaty must aim to reduce plastic production - we can’t let negotiations be derailed by the huge number of lobbyists attending.

We must fix our environment laws asap - for faster processes and stronger protection. Addressing approval duplication will be tough - it’s inefficient but inevitable if states are not appropriately prioritising nature. #auspol

China is refocusing its economy on renewables - driven by energy sovereignty, cost and clean air. With peak oil expected in 2027, Australia needs similar long-term thinking to secure our role in the net zero technologies that will dominate globally.

Why wouldn’t the Govt be releasing the National Climate Risk Assessment? Presumably because it’s alarming. We can’t make good decisions about how much we invest in climate mitigation unless we know what the alternative will cost us. The Govt must release it asap. #auspol

Ningaloo has a fever- 4 degrees higher & unprecedented bleaching. Meanwhile WA has no 2030 emissions reduction target & is the only Australian state with increasing emissions. Science doesn’t care about politics or economics. It happens anyway. #climate

All options need to be on the table to reduce reliance on income tax. A $3300 cash payment to all could offset an increase in a broader GST to 15%, making the bottom 60% of income earners better off. The $24bn raised could be used for tax cuts or budget repair. Let’s be bold!

Hiking up the cost of humanities degrees didn’t move more students into STEM. It just saddled our future critical thinkers with huge debts. Time to implement the Universities Accord recommendation & reverse Morrison’s Job Ready Graduates changes. #auspol

Here’s my submission for the Economic Reform Roundtable. If we don’t start a serious discussion about intergenerational equity and our tax system, we are letting our kids down. #auspol

If Day 3 is about ‘budget sustainability’ it must deal with tax reform. It won’t finalise a plan but must be the start of the serious conversation on tax that I and other crossbenchers were calling for all last term. We owe it to our kids to change the tax mix. #auspol

Making it an offence to download child sexual abuse material generators is only part of the solution - a duty of care for digital platforms is also needed. Emerging tech regulation must balance accountability between developers, deployers & users. #auspol

AI guardrails & productivity aren’t mutually exclusive. There’s low AI take-up in Australia so far. Productivity benefits won’t be realised unless we make AI safe. Govt must legislate nimbly. My AI Child Sexual Abuse Material Bill is an example. #auspol