Author: roymorgansocial

Treasurer’s panic and disloyalty

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Original article by Dennis Shanahan, Jack Quail
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 4-Sep-24

Former prime minister John Howard has criticised Treasurer Jim Chalmers for attempting to blame the Reserve Bank of Australia for the nation’s high interest rates. He contends that this has badly backfired, and RBA governor Michele Bullock does not deserve to be attacked in this way. Howard has also defended the performance of Bullock and the RBA’s board, arguing that they have had no alternative to raising the cash rate, due to factors such as the level of inflation and government spending. However, former RBA governor Bernie Fraser says the central bank has lost credibility and needs to reduce the cash rate sooner rather than later.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA

National support up in August as National-led Government increases lead to 10% points and RBNZ cut interest rates

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 4-Sep-24

Roy Morgan’s New Zealand Poll for August 2024 shows that support for the National-led Government (National, ACT & NZ First) has increased by 3% points to 53%, increasing its lead over the Labour-Greens-Maori Party Parliamentary Opposition on 43% (down 1% points). Support for the National Party rose 3.5% points to 36% (the highest level of support since February), but support for ACT dropped 1.5% points to 9.5%; support for NZ First increased 1% point to 7.5%. Meanwhile, support for Labour increased by 2.5% points to 26.5%, support for the Greens was down 1% point to 13% and support for the Maori Party dropped 2.5% points to 3.5%. A further 4% (down 2% points) of electors supported a minor party outside Parliament. The survey results for August would lead to 66 seats (down two seats from the election) being won by the current National/ ACT/ NZ First governing coalition compared to 54 seats (down one seat) for the Opposition. This latest New Zealand Roy Morgan Poll on voting intention was conducted by telephone – both landline and mobile – with a New Zealand-wide cross-section of 898 electors from July 29 to August 25. Meanwhile, the Roy Morgan Government Confidence Rating increased 7.5pts to 97.5 in August.

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ROY MORGAN LIMITED, MORGAN POLL, NATIONAL PARTY OF NEW ZEALAND, ACT NEW ZEALAND, NEW ZEALAND FIRST PARTY, LABOUR PARTY (NEW ZEALAND), GREEN PARTY OF AOTEAROA NEW ZEALAND, THE MAORI PARTY

Sacked CFMEU leaders remain in ranks of Victorian ALP

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Original article by Damon Johnston, Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 2 : 4-Sep-24

The militant CFMEU is under renewed scrutiny following revelations that about 300 of its members are also ‘grassroots’ members of the Labor Party in Victoria. They include four CFMEU officials who were sacked after the federal government recently legislated to appoint an administrator to its construction division. One of the sacked officials, Joe Myles, is also a member of Victorian Labor’s public office selection committee, which plays a key role in selecting state and federal candidates at elections.

CORPORATES
CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY AND MARITIME EMPLOYEES UNION, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

Andrew Giles approved rule change that raised risk serious criminals might keep visas

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Original article by Paul Karp
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 4-Sep-24

Former immigration minister Andrew Giles continues to attract scrutiny over his handling of visas for non-citizens who have been convicted of crimes in Australia. Documents obtained via freedom of information laws show that Giles had increased the threshold for ministerial reconsideration of visa cancellations on character grounds in March 2023. Giles had previously reviewed cases from the Administative Appeals Tribunal if a non-citizen was deemed to be a ‘serious risk’ of offending, but this threshold was raised to a ‘very serious ongoing risk’. This decision was overturned by Tony Burke when he took over the home affairs and immigration portfolio earlier in 2024.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF HOME AFFAIRS

Probe into investors in minerals firm

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Original article by Brad Thompson
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 : 4-Sep-24

A spokesman for Treasurer Jim Chalmers says the federal government will undertake a full assessment of whether the Yuxiao Fund has complied with an order to divest its stake in Northern Minerals. The Singapore-registered fund and its associates were directed to sell their equity interest in the critical minerals group due to their Chinese links. Yuxiao has sold its stake to two separate Hong Kong-registered companies, Qogir Trading & Service and Hong Kong Ying Tak, which will also be subject to government scrutiny on national interest grounds.

CORPORATES
NORTHERN MINERALS LIMITED – ASX NTU, YUXIAO FUND, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY

Australia’s only profitable lithium mine

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Original article by Elouise Fowler
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 & 20 : 4-Sep-24

Australia currently has seven lithium mines in the production stage, but Citigroup’s brokers estimate that the Greenbushes mine is the only one that is profitable at present. This is based on the running costs of each mine at the current spot price. Data from S&P Global Platts shows that the spot price of spodumene concentrate with six per cent lithium content has fallen by 23 per cent over the last 45 day, and was trading at $US720 per tonne on 2 September; this compares with more than $US8,000 per tonne in 2022.

CORPORATES
CITIGROUP PTY LTD, S&P GLOBAL PLATTS

ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence virtually unchanged at 83.1 in early September; Inflation Expectations drop to lowest weekly figure since November 2021

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 4-Sep-24

ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence was virtually unchanged at 83.1 in the week to 1 September; the index has now spent a record 83 straight weeks below the mark of 85. However, Consumer Confidence is now 4.4 points above the same week a year ago (78.7), and it is now 1.2 points above the 2024 weekly average of 81.9. A look at Consumer Confidence by State shows mixed results, with Consumer Confidence up in NSW and SA, down in Queensland and Western Australia, and virtually unchanged in Victoria. Now 23% of Australians (up 2ppts) say their families are ‘better off’ financially than this time last year, while 50% (up 2ppts) say their families are ‘worse off’. Looking forward, 33% (up 1ppt) of Australians expect their family to be ‘better off’ financially this time next year, while 31% (down 2ppts) expect to be ‘worse off’. Now 9% (up 1ppt) of Australians expect ‘good times’ for the Australian economy over the next 12 months, while 33% (unchanged) expect ‘bad times’. Now 21% (down 2ppts) of Australians say now is a ‘good time to buy’ major household items, while 49% (unchanged) say now is a ‘bad time to buy’. Meanwhile, Inflation expectations eased 0.2ppt to 4.6% this week, its lowest reading since late 2021.

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ROY MORGAN LIMITED, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ

Labor stares down furious CFMEU’s court challenge

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 2 : 4-Sep-24

The CFMEU’s former national president Jade Ingham says legislation to appoint an administrator to its construction division is "unconstitutional and undemocratic". He has launched a legal challenge to the legislation in the High Court, contending that the laws could potentially be used to target any organisation that "gets off-side" of the federal government. Workplace Relations Minister Murray Watt and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese have stated that the federal government had expected a legal challenge and has prepared for it.

CORPORATES
CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY AND MARITIME EMPLOYEES UNION, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF EMPLOYMENT AND WORKPLACE RELATIONS, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET

AirTrunk’s $23.5b AI pay day

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Original article by Paul Smith, Anthony Macdonald
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 20 : 4-Sep-24

US-based asset manager Blackstone has secured a deal to buy Australian data centre company AirTrunk. The deal values AirTrunk at about $23.5bn, eclipsing the previous record price of $US15bn ($22bn) for a data centre company. Sources have indicated that AirTrunk founder Robin Khuda will sell half of his 10 per cent stake to Blackstone for about $500m, while he will remain CEO of the company. Macquarie Group’s infrastructure arm and Canada-based PSP Investments will in turn sell their entire stakes in AirTrunk to Blackstone. AirTrunk owns 11 data centres in Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Malaysia.

CORPORATES
AIRTRUNK, THE BLACKSTONE GROUP LP, MACQUARIE GROUP LIMITED – ASX MQG, PSP INVESTMENTS

More than 2.7 million New Zealanders now read newspapers and magazine audiences are steady at almost 1.7 million

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 4-Sep-24

Roy Morgan has released its readership results for New Zealand’s newspapers and magazines for the 12 months to June 2024. The data shows that 2.71 million New Zealanders aged 14+ (63%) now read or access newspapers in an average 7-day period via print or online (website or app) platforms. In addition, 1.68 million New Zealanders aged 14+ (39.1%) read magazines, whether in print or online either via the web or an app. The New Zealand Herald is still the nation’s most widely-read publication, with a total cross-platform audience of 1,716,000 in the 12 months to June 2024 – almost five times as many as the second placed Dominion Post with a readership of 329,000. Meanwhile, 21 of the 49 magazines measured increased their print readership in the year to June 2024. New Zealand’s most widely read magazine is still the driving magazine AA Directions, which had an average issue readership of 397,000 during the year to June (an increase of 59,000 on a year ago). These are the latest findings from the Roy Morgan New Zealand Single Source survey of 6,167 New Zealanders aged 14+ over the 12 months to June 2024.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED