From The Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm Christinamio. It's Monday, November twenty five. One of Australia's most prominent rabbis has urged the Prime Minister to abandon his very mild approach to tackling antisemitism. Doctor Benjamin Elton of Sydney's Great Synagogue warned Anthony Albanese's failure to condemn antisemitism hasn't stemmed the problem. Three of the nation's top CEOs have warned Australia is on track to become the unlucky country.
West Farmer's Chief Rob Scott, BP president Lucy Nation and Cochlear boss Dig Howard say increased to regulation and a stifling business environment are killing Australian's opportunities for prosperity. Those exclusive stories a live right now at the Australian dot com dot au. There are just four cities days before the end of the parliamentary year and the government is
facing some big hurdles on key election issues. So where are they likely to have some success and when will they have to admit defeat.
That's today's episode.
The overwhelming majority of Australians are concerned about misinformation. Australians deserve to know more about what content is flagged, demoted or taken down.
It was a key piece of legislation intended to combat the proliferation of harmful and misleading content online.
It would empower the Australian Communications and Media Authority to look under the hood of the digital platforms and improve transparency about the systems and processes they have in place to protect Australians, including how they can apply with the voluntary code they signed up to.
But the Government's Misinformation Bill, championed by Communications Minister Michelle Roland, has been up against it from the get go, with the Coalition and the Greens opposing it in Parliament.
This bill is not about misinformation and disinformation. This bill is about the Albanezi government silencing the Australian people. Never in my life did I think that an Australian government would proceed down this path.
An early version of the legislation attracted thousands of submissions when it was first released last year, and the government had hoped to have the revised bill passed by this Christmas, but on Sunday morning, Michelle Roland acknowledged the writing was on the wall announcing it the Misinformation and Disinformation Bill has been scrapped.
A statement from Communications Minister Michelle Rowland was say, quote based on public statements and engagements with Senators, it is clear there is no pathway to legislate this proposal through the Senate. The Government will not proceed with the Communications Legislation Amendment Combating Misinformation and Disinformation Bill twenty twenty four.
As the Parliament gears up for its final sitting week of the year. The scrapped Misinformation Bill isn't the only labor legislation that's in jeopardy. Before her death almost a year ago, the late labor Peter Murphy spearheaded a campaign to ban gambling advertising online.
Online gambling has been deliberately and strategically marketed alongside sport. It's normalized gambling with sport as a fun, harmless and social activity. But we heard evidence about the way gambling advertising also grooms children and young people to gamble and encourages riskier behavior and the experience of parents that the torrent of advertising is inescapable.
In August, former Prime Ministers John Howard and Malcolm Turnbull, as well as a slew of former premiers added their voices to a growing chorus of people concerned about the impact of gambling ads on the community.
Mister Howard saying gambling losses are responsible for enormous harm across the community.
Labour did move forward with a plan to phase outwagering content on TV and a near immediate ban of online promotions, with a focus on reducing the saturation of gambling ads, the exposure of children and advertising during sporting matches, but it ruled out establishing a national online gaming regulator, with Social Services Minister Amanda Brishworth saying the government was working with the states and territories to unify the approach to gaming regulation.
I have been working very well with my state and territory counterparts. We have together brought in a number of reforms, really important reforms, and have worked really closely together.
But the gambling reform too, who is dead in the water.
And that's not all.
Also on the chopping block this week are the government's housing affordability and superannuation schemes, its big net zero transition plan Future Made in Australia, and plans to cap international student numbers. Labour introduced the legislation to limit the number of international students living and studying in Australia, saying massive immigration numbers were exacerbating the housing crisis and making it
more difficult for Australians to find a home. The plan was slammed by the nation's university sector, with bosses saying they'd struggle if international student numbers were slashed.
Using students as cannon fodder in a pole driven battle over migration and housing simply doesn't add up the danger of using these talented people as scapegoats to blame the housing crisis on. Is what we stand to lose by telling them to stay.
Home, The Green said.
The plan escapegoated international students, and the opposition criticized the proposed caps for not going far enough. They say they'll introduce their own legislation that cuts even deeper if they get up at the next election.
I think this was always coming to a head.
Rosie Lewis is a political correspondent with The Australian.
That being that the government had a lot on its plate and things weren't moving quickly in the Parliament, and now all of a sudden, we've got just four days left until Christmas, four days this week, and they no surprise, want to get everything through, but they're already having to concede that will be impossible. Interestingly, there are seventy six
government bills still before the Parliament. Some of the bills much more significant to Anthony Albanese's agenda than others, and it is a blow to the Prime Minister that on the day before Parliament resumes for its final week, he has had to concede that two significant bits of legislation, as you mentioned, the misinformation and disinformation laws as well as gambling reform won't be able to proceed because there
are no deals possible. There are even more pieces of legislation than those where we just don't know where they're going to land, things like his housing agenda, which the government says is it's number one priority. It's helped to buy and build to rent scheme, things like the Future Made in Australia agenda, which Anthony Albanesi really wants to
peg his re election campaign on. At this stage in the electoral cycle, months out from an election which could be as early as March, things are not looking good in terms of Anthony Albanesi having been able to persuade the Parliament to get his agenda through.
Coming up where the government could still get some wins this week. Ever since the Australian government imposed a world first media bargaining code on tech platforms in twenty twenty one, legislators around the globe have been keeping one eye on what we do in the social media space. So when Prime Minister Anthony Albanesi announced plans to ban Aussie kids from social media, it made waves.
This one's for the mums and dads. Social media is doing harm to our kids and I'm calling time on it and i want Australian parents and families to know that the government has your back.
The ban isn't without criticism, but it's poised to sail through Parliament with bipartisan support this week. It'll legislate a minimum age of sixteen years for social media use and put the owners on tech companies like a TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat, Reddit, Instagram and x formerly known as Twitter to enforce the new rules. If they don't, they could face fines of up to fifty million dollars.
It will be an important win, but it's one that we've seen coming for some months now because Peter Dutton has also really been championing this ban on under sixteen's using social media, Having said that once it's legislated this week, the government's giving itself at least twelve months to figure out the ins and outs of how this span would
actually work. So we're not actually going to know what it looks like, what will be required of young Australia or Australians older than sixteen until at least end of next year, but more likely twenty twenty six. But of course, in a week where there's going to be a lot of legislation blocked or rejected or not put up at all, any win is a win and Anthony Albanezi will certainly be talking about it in parliament.
The coalition is also set to back the government's proposed electoral reforms, which caps how much candidates can spend in a single electorate at eight hundred thousand dollars. It would also limit donations by unions and individuals to twenty thousand and six hundred thousand dollars, respectively, and require donations over one thousand dollars to be disclosed.
What we want to put in place is electoral reform that lasts over a period of time, that doesn't seek to secure a political advantage for any particular side of politics or indeed for and it's running as well.
Just lastly, Rosie. The government is also likely to pass its proposed new aged care framework, which will overhaul the way the sector is regulated in hopes of providing high quality care for older Australians. Plus the education reforms like fee free take places will get up. So where does that leave us at the end of the final sitting week of the year.
There's still a lot on the government's books, but the outstanding question is will they actually be able to do anything in the new year. And while many think that the election will be in May, that would give Anthony Alberanezi some sitting weeks in February and March, there is a real possibility that he could call in an election early, say in February four March, and we have no sitting weeks left, so there will be a lot of his
agenda held over, so to speak. And then the next question will be what does he take to his reelection campaign or what does he decide is just in the too hard basket, Even things like his religious discrimination reforms which he quietly dropped some months ago now which we assume we'll never see the light of day again, so there's a lot to watch in this space, but only the Prime Minister has the answer at this point, and he probably hasn't even made the decision on many of
those bits of legislation.
Rosie Lewis is a political correspondent with The Australian. You can read all our recording and analysis of this final parliamentary sitting week anytime at the Australian dot com dot au