⏱️This edition of the National Account’s newsletter is a five-minute read.
👋 G’day everyone, Archie here.
Before we get into the news.
One of my mates is having a costume party for his birthday, and the theme is “dynamic duos”.
Anyone have any suggestions? (just reply to this email).
I hope you found a moment to relax over the weekend because we’ve got another week of news, so let’s dive in 🗞️.
Earlier, I’ve been diving into import tax.
(Stick with me here).
In January, the European Union introduced a tax on imports that create a lot of carbon pollution.
Aluminium, cement, fertilisers, iron and steel… that sorta thing.
They called it the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM).
The CBAM means imported goods pay the same pollution taxes as European-made ones.
The EU wants to stop "carbon leakage", which is when companies relocate to countries with weaker climate regulations to avoid costs and end up creating more emissions.
So what does this mean for goods coming from Australia?
Well, for my full rundown check out today’s video:
Also, if you haven’t subscribed to our YouTube channel yet, CLICK HERE.
In case you missed it (1 minute catch-up)🌊
What happened: Local councils on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales are falling into debt and ratepayers are footing the interest bill.
Waiting game: The state government will eventually reimburse the millions already spent on disaster recovery, but is so far very far behind.
Local voice: Last week I spoke with the Mid North Coaster’s Ellie Chamberlain, who explained councils often begin repair work in the immediate aftermath of a disaster with the expectation the state will cover the costs.
In one case on the MNC, a council is still waiting to be reimbursed $37 million.
The funding gap means projects the money would have been spent on get delayed.
Above is just a snippit from our chat - you can watch the full interview here.
Thank you for catching up with me, shoot me a message by replying to this email if you have any feedback, no need for formalities, just your thoughts. I really appreciated it.
I’ll be back on Wednesday.
Cheers, Archie