Author: roymorgansocial

Docked pay, red cards for badly behaved politicians

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Original article by Olivia Ireland
The Sydney Morning Herald – Page: Online : 21-Aug-24

The federal government will belatedly introduce a bill on Wednesday to establish an Independent Parliamentary Standards Commission. The proposed commission was one of the key recommendations of a landmark 2021 report by former sex discrimination commissioner Kate Jenkins, and it was originally intended to be operation by the end of 2023. It will have the power to investigate allegations of breaches of parliamentary standards by MPs, senators and their staffers. Amongst other things, politicians could be be suspended from parliament or be fined up to five per cent of their base salary for any breaches of the standards.

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Jakarta pact of strategic trust

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Original article by Ben Packham
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 21-Aug-24

The federal government has finalised a new defence agreement with its Indonesian counterpart during an official visit by president-elect Prabowo Subianto. Amongst other things, the two nations will hold more joint military exercises and increase maritime security co-operation, as part of a push to counter Chinese’s growing influence in the Indo-Pacific region. Prabowo, who is currently Indonesia’s Defence Minister, says he wants to strengthen the nation’s ties with its neighbours. Defence Minister Richard Marles will formally sign the agreement in Indonesia next week.

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INDONESIA. MINISTRY OF DEFENCE, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF DEFENCE

ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence down 0.9pts to 83.0 as buying sentiment drops to lowest for a month

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 21-Aug-24

ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence fell 0.9pts to 83.0 in the week to 18 August; the index has now spent a record 81 straight weeks below the mark of 85. However, Consumer Confidence is now 7.2 points above the same week a year ago (75.8), and 2.1 points above the 2024 weekly average of 81.9. A look at Consumer Confidence by State shows that the index decreased in most States, including New South Wales, Victoria, Western Australia and South Australia, although it was up slightly in Queensland. Now 23% of Australians (down 1ppt) say their families are ‘better off’ financially than this time last year, while 47% (unchanged) say their families are ‘worse off’. Looking forward, 32% (unchanged) of Australians expect their family to be ‘better off’ financially this time next year, while 32% (down 1ppt) expect to be ‘worse off’. Now 8% (down 1ppt) of Australians expect ‘good times’ for the Australian economy over the next 12 months, while 33% (down 1ppt) expect ‘bad times’. Meanwhile, 20% (down 4ppts) of Australians say now is a ‘good time to buy’ major household items, while 49% (up 2ppts) say now is a ‘bad time to buy’.

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

Fortescue insists spying on families wasn’t inappropriate

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Original article by Angelica Snowden
The Australian – Page: 13 & 16 : 21-Aug-24

Fortescue is being represented by Julian Cooke SC in its intellectual property dispute with ‘green iron’ start-up Element Zero. The company was founded by former Fortescue employees Bart Kolodziejczyk, Bjorn Winther-Jensen and Michael Masterman, allegedly using the iron ore miner’s intellectual property. Cooke has defenced Fortescue’s use of a private investigator to place the three executives and their families under surveillance, telling the Federal Court that there was a real risk that information pertaining to the pending court case could have been destroyed. The surveillance operation was followed by raids on the homes and business premises of the Element Zero directors

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FORTESCUE LIMITED – ASX FMG, ELEMENT ZERO PTY LTD, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

RBA sticks to its guns: no rate cut before 2025

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Original article by Joe Kelly
The Australian – Page: 4 : 21-Aug-24

The minutes from the Reserve Bank of Australia’s two-day board meeting in eatly August show that it considered increasing the cash rate to 4.6 per cent. The minutes have also reinforced expectations that the central bank will not reduce the cash rate in 2024, with the board concluding that restoring inflation to the mid-point of its 2-3 per cent target range would be delayed until 2027 if official interest rates were cut to 4.1 per cent in the near-term.

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RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA

Mining giant BHP eyes Indonesia after nickel collapse

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Original article by Duncan Evans
The Australian – Page: 19 : 21-Aug-24

BHP is believed to be holding talks with the Indonesian government regarding an investment in the nation’s nickel industry. The Indonesia Nickel Mining Association’s secretary-general Meidy Katrin Lengkey says the discussions about "specific investment opportunities" have being going on for "several months". Indonesia’s move to ramp up its nickel production with Chinese backing contributed to BHP’s decision to mothball its nickel operations in Western Australia.

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BHP GROUP LIMITED – ASX BHP, INDONESIAN NICKEL MINING ASSOCIATION

Nine swings the axe with 85 staff let go

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Original article by James Madden
The Australian – Page: Online : 21-Aug-24

A spokesman for Nine Entertainment has indicated that 85 employees of its publishing division will leave the media company in coming months after successfully applying for voluntary redundancy packages. They primarily comprise journalists and production staff at Nine’s newspaper mastheads, and include Ben Potter, Aaron Patrick and Michael Pelly from the flagship Australian Financial Review. Nine had previously announced plans to cut 200 positions across its operations, including up to 90 at its publishing arm; CEO Mike Sneesby attributed the move to the difficult advertising market and Meta’s decision to withdraw from revenue-sharing deals with news publishers.

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NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC

CFMEU courts war on Labor

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 1 & 6 : 21-Aug-24

The CFMEU’s national secretary Zach Smith says federal government legislation to appoint an administrator to its state construction divisions is "dangerous" and undermines the democratic functioning of unions. He adds that the CFMEU is considering its options but has yet to decide whether to pursue a legal challenge. However, sources have indicated that the union is considering a High Court ­challenge on constitutional grounds. The United Firefighters Union’s Victorian secretary Peter Marshall says all unions should challenge the legislation in the High Court, and warns that other unions could potentially be targeted in the future. The Electrical Trades Union’ state secretary Troy Gray contends that Labor has betrayed the union movement.

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CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY AND MARITIME EMPLOYEES UNION, UNITED FIREFIGHTERS’ UNION OF AUSTRALIA, ELECTRICAL TRADES UNION, HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

Foxtel, NRL, AFL face US privacy suit

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Original article by Max Mason
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 19 : 21-Aug-24

Pay-TV group Foxtel has been accused of breaching the US Video Privacy Protection Act by using Meta’s tracking pixel to send targeted advertising to people outside of Australia who subscribe to its streaming video services. The AFL and the NRL have also been named as defendents in two separate class actions, which are being heard by the US District Court of California. The class actions centre on allegations that the Watch AFL and Watch NRL websites use the tracking pixels to send data to Facebook about the content the user is watching, even if they are not logged into the social media site.

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FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE, NATIONAL RUGBY LEAGUE, DISTRICT COURT OF UNITED STATES

Readership of magazines is up from a year ago with over 11.5 million Australians now reading print magazines

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 21-Aug-24

The Roy Morgan Australian Readership report for the 12 months to June 2024 shows that more than 11.5 million Australians aged 14+ (51.6%) now read print magazines, up 0.5 per cent on a year ago. This market broadens to 15 million Australians aged 14+ (66.6%) who read magazines in print or online either via the web or an app. Print readership increased for seven magazine categories compared to a year ago. The increases in readership were widespread, with seven magazine categories increasing their readership – including five of the top 10 categories with readership of at least 500,000. The most widely read magazine category continues to be Food & Entertainment Magazines, with a massive readership of 7,396,000 (up 0.3 per cent on a year ago, and reaching a third of the population). Better Homes & Gardens is still Australia’s most widely read paid magazine, with print readership of 1,793,000, ahead of The Australian Women’s Weekly on 1.2 million. These are the latest findings from the Roy Morgan Single Source survey of 64,708 Australians aged 14+ in the 12 months to June 2024.

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ROY MORGAN LIMITED