The Point Live: Gas Giveaway Tracker hits the road; "Hey Albo" - Australia's biggest artists add their voices to gas tax pressure; Calls for above-inflation pay rise for low income earners.

We’ve been writing about how Rio Tinto and BHP’s lobbyists are misleading on tax claims.

A deeper dig into the claim shows that the MCA is conflating “tax and royalties.” The physical ads only refer to “tax,” while the online claim is extended to “tax and royalties”.

This is important because royalties and taxes are different.

Taxes go to the Commonwealth and can fund programs like Medicare. Royalties are paid to state governments as payment for extracting publicly owned resources. They are not taxes – they’re more like input costs (see this Fact Check for an excellent explanation).

And they don’t fund Medicare.

But even if you include royalties, the picture doesn’t improve much. State governments spent around $586 billion on health over the decade from 2015-2024 – far exceeding the roughly $167 billion collected in mining royalties.

The mining industry is a significant taxpayer. But the claim that it could fund Medicare on its own doesn’t hold up. It relies on selective years, blurred definitions, and a misunderstanding of how Australia’s tax and health systems work.

In policy debates, details matter.

Five social media platforms are under investigation for potentially breaching Australia’s world-first social media age limit.

Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube may have allowed children under 16 to access their apps after the age restrictions took effect in December, Communications Minister Anika Wells said in a statement.

Some children have been allowed to create new accounts straight after their previous one was deactivated, or repeatedly attempt age verification until they pass, the online watchdog has found.

Other platforms did not provide appropriate pathways for underage users to be reported, the eSafety Commission said in its first compliance report since the ban kicked in.

Ms Wells said the alleged breaches were unacceptable.

“The kind of tactics we’re seeing deployed by social media platforms to undermine Australia’s world-leading law are right out of the big tech playbook,” she said.

“If eSafety finds these companies have systemically failed to uphold their legal obligations, I expect the commissioner to throw the book at them.”

Systemic breaches of the age restriction laws can be punished with fines of up to $49.5 million.

When the ban took effect, some children said their accounts had not been deactivated.

Others reported being able to bypass age verification with relative ease.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has long conceded not every young person would be kicked off social media, but enough would be for the restrictions to be effective.

A number of other countries are now considering following suit and barring children from social media, including Austria, France, Denmark, Spain, Greece and Malaysia.

Indonesia also began blocking under 16s from having accounts on YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, X, Bigo Live and Roblox on Saturday.

Updated analysis by The Australia Institute reveals that a fair and appropriate increase to the minimum wage, and accompanying increases to award rates, would not have a significant effect on inflation.

The analysis examines the correlation between minimum wage increases and inflation going back 30 years, and finds no consistent link between minimum wage increases and inflation.

It also reveals that such an increase to award wages could be met with only a small reduction in profit margins.

The report, authored by Chief Economist Greg Jericho, based on previous work by both he and Jim Stanford that has previously been cited by the Fair Work Commission, finds that an increase to the National Minimum Wage and award wages of between 7.5% and 11.1% in the Fair Work Commission’s Annual Wage Review, due in June, is required to restore the real buying power of low-paid workers to pre-pandemic trends.

In this context the ACTU’s claim for a 5% increase is clearly modest given even the 7.5% increase would not significantly affect headline inflation.

Key findings of the report include:

• Last year’s decision, which lifted the minimum wage and award wages by 3.5 per cent, offset the inflation of the previous year but still left those on Modern Awards with real earnings below what they were in 2020.
• By June this year, the real value of Modern Award wages will be more than 4 per cent below what they were in September 2020
• There has been no significant correlation between rises in the minimum wage and inflation since 1995.
• Raising wages by 7.5 to 11.1 per cent this year is needed to offset both recent inflation and restore real wages for award-covered workers to the pre-pandemic trend.
• Even if fully passed on by employers, higher award wages would have no significant impact on economy-wide prices.
• A 7.5 per cent increase in award wages could be fully offset, with no impact on prices at all, by a 1.5 per cent reduction in corporate profits – still leaving profits at pre-pandemic levels

“Australia’s lowest paid workers have been hardest hit by inflation over the past 4 years and are set to be hurt the most from rises due to the Iran War,” said Greg Jericho, Chief Economist at The Australia Institute.

“The price rises of necessities always hurt those on low incomes more than those on average and high incomes. This analysis shows there is no credible economic reason to deny them a decent pay raise above inflation.

“It’s vital the Fair Work Commission ensure that the minimum wage not only keeps up with inflation but also returns the value to the real trend of before the pandemic.” 

The pressure on the government to introduce a flat 25% tax on gas exports is growing, with some of the nation’s biggest musical artists adding their voices today.

It follows the government last night supporting the Greens to set up a Senate inquiry into gas tax, which will report back before the May 12 budget.

The Australia Institute’s Gas Giveaway Tracker, launched yesterday, hits the road today, reminding those going in and out of Parliament House how much the nation is losing every day the government does nothing to properly tax gas exports.

Expect to see empty petrol stations today. Not empty of fuel, thankfully … empty of cars, with motorists waiting until tomorrow to fill up, when the halving of the fuel excise kicks in.

There are reports today that tech giants Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and Snapchat are under investigation for flouting the social media age ban.

There are calls today for the nation’s lowest income earners to get an above-inflation pay rise this year.

A lot to get through. Let’s get into it.