Hey John,

It's almost December and this is Tam's Takes!

I don't know about you, but I have no clue where the year has gone! The next few weeks are sure to fly by.

But with Christmas coming up, it makes the current cost of living pressures even more obvious. Something I think the Government can do right now for hundreds of thousands of the poorest Australians is by making Jobseeker payments exempt from income tax. The age pension is already exempt, so why not Jobseeker? Take a look at this speech I did in the Senate to learn more about why I think this will help.

MY QUESTION TO YOU:

Do you put your Christmas tree up before December 1st or after? Do you have a hard rule about when the decorations go up?

Email me at [email protected] or reply to this email with your thoughts!

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MY HOT TAKE:

I saw an article that said up to 46% of jobs could be replaced by AI by 2030. Are you worried about this?
— Joe (via email)

Half the country losing our jobs — I’d say that’s pretty concerning! But then again, I’ve seen reports that it's more likely to affect white collar jobs than blue collar jobs. Accountants and lawyers might be at risk from AI, but ChatGPT is never going to be able to build you a house.

Seriously though, it’s out of fashion these days to have industry policy out of government. We used to have governments picking industry winners and losers based on what they thought was important to the national interest. Free markets saw that go by the wayside.

But if we’re going to lose 90% of jobs for lawyers, accountants, journalists, graphic designers, data analysts and other white-collar jobs, maybe we need a new kind of industry policy again.

We’re paying universities to put thousands of students through every year in jobs that aren’t going to exist in five years time. And we’re going to need 100,000 people trained in computer skills in the same time, and we’re not training anywhere near that.

The money we’re giving universities to put people through degrees that equip you for jobs that won’t exist isn’t going to good use. Maybe we could put that towards encouraging people — who are planning on studying in areas apart from digital skills — to study what we know we’re going to need. If they’re studying it for the incentives you’re going to have much more drop-outs, but you’ll have some who’ve never thought about a career in tech who find they love it, and those would be the ones you’d save from half a life on the unemployment grind. It’d be picking winners all over again, but at least that way you guarantee someone’s going to win.

Someone who doesn’t build houses, anyway.

YOUR TAKES:

Last month I asked you: Should the Federal Government cut the fuel excise again?

Here's some your responses:

The cut to the fuel excise should be subsidised for those on low income. For the rest of us it should stay as it is now. At this level, it’s enough to encourage people to switch to EVs. In addition, the govt should cut the incentives and subsidies to the gas and oil industry, which was ~$11billion last year. In addition they should be taxed with mo loopholes. They have made super profits in the trillions and don’t pay any taxes, so they don’t need any more taxpayers money toward their profits and doing this would save at least $8 billion to be used more equitably addressing homelessness or making education free for example.
— Jess

Absolutely the fuel tax should be lowered. Everyone is doing it tough, especially the most vulnerable. For me personally, I try to do all I need to do on one day so I'm not using too much fuel. For so long I have wanted to just go for a drive to get out of the city, but that is just a pipe dream at the moment
— Kim

No they should not cut the excise. Just learn how to be good managers of the revenue. They are hopeless to many hands in the trough.
— Michael

A fuel price reduction would help counter the current fuel price increase; fuel is an essential commodity for most and for country people unavoidable as we don't have access to public transport unless we live in a major regional centre.

I support a reduction in the cost - please!
— Susan

My thoughts on cutting the fuel excise? Here's a video of what I think:

Let's continue the discussion - reply to this email and let me know.

Time to start counting down the days until Christmas - 31 days, if you were wondering!

Until next time,

Tammy Tyrrell

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