Hi there. It's Tuesday, May 17, and you're reading The Loop, a quick wrap-up of today's news.
Today we heard a lot about election costings
After a lot of talk about policies and plans in the lead-up to election day — that's this Saturday, if you've forgotten — the Coalition has announced its official election costings, which is basically how it says it will pay for everything it is promising to do if re-elected.
Here's how the Coalition plans on finding the money:
- It would increase what's known as the "efficiency dividend", a mechanism that cuts public sector budgets by a certain percentage each year, thereby saving money
- The efficiency dividend currently cuts public sector budgets by 1.5 per cent per year, but a re-elected Coalition would increase that to 2 per cent for the next three years
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Treasurer Josh Frydenberg says this will raise more than $2.3 billion in revenue, to pay for every policy announced by the Coalition in this campaign.
Shortly after the Coalition revealed its costings, we heard Labor's response:
- Shadow Treasurer Jim Chalmers slammed the government and described it as "a laughing stock on the budget and the economy":
- Mr Chalmers said Labor would release its policy costings on Thursday
- The Greens also released their policy costings today, which you can read about here.
News you might have missed
- Shane Bazzi won his appeal against Defence Minister Peter Dutton. The refugee advocate won an appeal against a defamation ruling which had ordered him to pay Mr Dutton $35,000 over a now-deleted tweet. The Defence Minister had sued Mr Bazzi over the tweet, which accused him of being "a rape apologist"
- Elon Musk had another go at Twitter: The Tesla CEO has suggested that he could try to acquire Twitter at a lower price than he first offered, because — as he claims — there could be at least four times as many fake accounts on the social media platform than the company has disclosed. In a series of tweets, Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal tried to explain how the platform tackles spam accounts, to which Mr Musk replied …
- Ukrainian troops have left the Azovstal steelworks. There have been efforts to rescue the last remaining fighters from a destroyed steel mill in the devastated Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, a city that is now firmly under Russian control. Ukrainian officials said the troops who had been holed-up in the steelworks have now completed their mission, but that some are badly wounded.
What Australia has been searching for online
- Zara Phythian. The British actor and her husband, Victor Marke, have been jailed for child sex offences, as the BBC reports. Phythian — who portrayed the Brunette Zealot in the Marvel film Doctor Strange — was convicted of sexually abusing a 13-year-old girl with her husband, who also sexually abused a 15-year-old girl on his own. Phythian was jailed for eight years, while her husband was jailed for 14 years
- Jake Daniels. The 17-year-old, who plays soccer for Blackpool FC in the UK, has become the first active professional male footballer in England to come out as gay in more than 30 years. He said he was inspired by the example of Adelaide United midfielder Josh Cavallo, who became the first openly gay male player in a top-flight Australian soccer competition when he came out last year.
One more thing
- After winning this year's Eurovision Song Contest on the weekend, Ukrainian outfit Kalush Orchestra have now returned to their homeland. They were greeted at the Ukraine-Poland border by servicemen and women. The band launched into an impromptu version of their winning song, Stefania, with a little help from their compatriots, upon their return to Ukraine.
You're up to date!
Until next time...
ABC/wires
