ASX to rise as critics slam return to 'White Australia'
Good morning.
Here’s Yahoo Finance’s Thursday morning wrap.
ASX: The ASX is expected to rise on Thursday morning after mining shares rose overnight along with Wall Street’s three main indexes. It comes after the Aussie share market finished over 6,000 points for the first time since early September on Wednesday.
Wall Street: Wall Street finished higher overnight on investor hopes of more US fiscal stimulus. The President had canceled negotiations earlier this week, but on Wednesday called on Congress to pass some smaller bills including an airline bailout package.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 556.7 points, or 2.0 per cent, to 28,329.46, the S&P 500 gained 61.38 points, or 1.83 per cent, to 3,422.33 and the Nasdaq Composite added 211.55 points, or 1.9 per cent, to 11,366.16.
Budget reply: Labor leader Anthony Albanese will deliver the opposition’s Budget reply on Thursday, which will detail what Labor would do if it was in power. Public housing and childcare are expected to form key pillars.
Who got left behind?: The Budget was big on jobs for young Australians and tax cuts, but it’s been heavily criticised for leaving women, older people and those in need of social housing out of the picture.
$1t government debt: While the Budget helps solve some of Australia’s economic problems, there’s a “major roadblock” in the way, says Dave Taylor. Here’s what that is.
Super changes: They’ve been heralded as a way for Australians to save billions on unnecessary superannuation fees, but experts are warning that the Budget’s super changes could have some unintended consequences.
‘White Australia’: White Australia was trending on Twitter on Thursday morning as one particular Budget measure entered the spotlight: the need for people to speak English to pass the partner visa test. Shadow multicultural affairs minister Andrew Giles described the detail as “very concerning”, however Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the test is actually “pro-migrant”.
“English is Australia’s first language, and for person to be able to get into jobs, to be able to be protected in our society, for people to be able to access government services and function in the community, having a basic level of English is actually really important,” Morrison said.
The move is designed to save $4.9 million over the coming four years.
Indigenous funding: And an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander funding decision has also come under heavy fire. Indigenous groups and Labor have slammed the Government for sending $39 million to a non-Indigenous sport-based initiative for two reasons: it’s aimed only at boys, and is money that could have been directed to Aboriginal community-owned organisations.
With AAP.
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