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Here are the latest updates from The Agenda Group in the policy and public relations spheres. If you'd like further detail on any of these stories, please don't hesitate to contact us.

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The Agenda Group

Who pays under a higher GST?

On last Sunday's ABC Insiders program Sunday, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull quashed months of accumulated speculation that his government would fund a cut in income tax with an increase in the GST saying, “At this stage, I remain to be convinced or be persuaded that a tax mix switch of that kind would actually give us the economic benefit that you would want in order to do such a big thing.”

But what are the differences in ‘economic benefit’ between the different taxes? Isn’t a tax just a tax? To analyse the economic (and political) viability of a tax, you have to start by looking at who bears the burden, or incidence of the tax.

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Cyber security: big business and growing concern

The NSW Department of Resources and Energy last month revealed that its regional NSW was the subject of a cyber attack in December, occurring not long after a significant breach at the Bureau of Meteorology and at a time when projects such as the $1.2 billion Shenhua Watermark coal mine were being considered.

Experts have drawn similarities between the attacks, saying hackers search for vulnerabilities to exploit to get to their ultimate target which may be more sensitive information.

What is clear from recent attacks is that cyber security is an industry that shows no signs of slowing down, and federal and state governments stand to be severely compromised if they don’t invest in up-to-date systems, education systems and internal procedures to ensure implementation.

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What does the RCEP mean for Australia?

Another round of negotiations for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) will kick off next Monday in Brunei, but what does this mean in light of the TPP?

Trade Minister Andrew Robb tabled the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal for ratification in parliament this Tuesday, which once implemented, will include the US, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam, accounting for roughly forty per cent of global GDP, thirty per cent of global exports and twenty-five per cent of global imports.

India is currently outside the TPP, but is part of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) negotiations launched by leaders from ASEAN in November 2012, and largely considered China’s answer to the TPP. The RCEP is an ASEAN-centred proposal not unlike the TPP’s ‘open platform’ that would initially include the ten ASEAN member states and countries with existing FTAs with ASEAN: Australia, China, India, Japan, Republic of Korea and New Zealand. 

Australia stands to gain much from the negotiations, with almost 60 per cent of Australia’s two-way trade, and 70 per cent of Australia’s goods and services exports represented with the other participating ASEAN nations.

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The US primary system explained

You will have no doubt seen a flurry of articles in the last week about the Iowa Caucus and the New Hampshire Primary in the lead-up to the November’s US presidential election, but for those of us not born in the United States, the process is confusing, to say the least.

The US process for choosing presidential nominees and ultimately their president is a fascinating mix of updated procedures to fix perceived failings amongst immutable historical requirements.

The process where the two main political parties, Republican and Democratic choose their nominees starts in February and can last for five months in party-sponsored contests called primaries and caucuses.

The modern primary and caucus process began after the 1968 election with the McGovern-Fraser Commission shifting from nominations controlled in the back rooms by party power brokers to a system where rank-and-file party voters would have a direct say in nominating their preferred candidate.

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