Author: roymorgansocial

Allan govt under fire for keeping credit report secret

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Original article by Shannon Deery
Herald Sun – Page: Online : 20-Aug-24

The Victorian government’s reputation for transparency is under scrutiny following the revelation that it has not released a private credit assessment that was completed two years ago. Treasurer Tim Pallas commissioned the report from credit ratings agency Fitch in March 2022, which included an assessment of the state’s financial position. Meanwhile, rival ratings agency Standard & Poor’s recently warned that Victoria’s credit rating may be further downgraded if the state government proceeds with the Suburban Rail Loop project without federal funding. S&P downgraded the state’s credit rating by two notches to AA in late 2020.

CORPORATES
VICTORIA. DEPT OF TREASURY AND FINANCE, FITCH RATINGS LIMITED, STANDARD AND POOR’S FINANCIAL SERVICES LLC

Liberal Party takeover of NSW branch after nominations fiasco ‘premature’, Mark Speakman says

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Original article by Nick Dole
abc.net.au – Page: Online : 20-Aug-24

NSW Liberal Leader Mark Speakman says he has twice spoken to federal opposition leader Peter Dutton about the efficiency of the NSW branch of the party, following its failure to nominate close to 140 councillors in next month’s NSW council elections. He says he can understand the concerns of the federal branch of the party, given that there is a federal election due next year, but that any attempt by the federal Liberal party to take over the NSW state branch following the council nominations debacle would be "premature".

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LIBERAL PARTY OF NEW SOUTH WALES

Roy Morgan Poll: ALP (50.5%) marginally ahead of Coalition (49.5%), but too close to call

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 20-Aug-24

If a Federal Election were held now the result would be ‘too close to call’, with the ALP on 50.5% (up 0.5%) just ahead of the Coalition on 49.5% (down 0.5%) on a two-party preferred basis, the latest Roy Morgan survey finds. The ALP or Coalition would require the support of minor parties and independents to form a minority government. The result once again highlights the importance of preference flows to determine the overall two-party preferred result. The Coalition primary vote increased by 0.5% to 38.5% while ALP primary support was up 1% to 30.5%. Support for the Greens was down 0.5% to 13.5% and support for One Nation was down 1% to 4%. Smaller parties and independents lost support this week. Support for Other Parties increased 1% to 5% and support for Independents was down 1% to 8.5%.

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ROY MORGAN LIMITED, MORGAN POLL, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, NATIONAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN GREENS, ONE NATION PARTY

GovERP IT flop the latest in $2.2b lost on projects

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Original article by Tom Burton
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 10 : 20-Aug-24

The federal government has cancelled the cloud-based GovERP project that had been commissioned by its Coalition predecessor. Nearly $341m has been spent on the all-of-government enterprise resource planning project since 2019, and an expert panel has concluded that the GovERP platform cannot be "repurposed" for use by government agencies such as Services Australia. The government has now cancelled about $2.2bn worth of IT projects that were initiated by the Coalition, including a business registry project for the Treasury that was set to be delivered five years and at a major cost blowout.

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AUSTRALIA. SERVICES AUSTRALIA

CFMEU headed for administration after Labor-Coalition agreement

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Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 20-Aug-24

Legislation to appoint administrators to the CFMEU’s state construction divisions was passed by the Senate on Monday, after the federal government agreed to several concessions sought by the Coalition. Amongst other things, the government accepted the Coalition’s push for a minimum administration period of three years and a maximum of five years, and for administrator Mark Irving to provide federal parliament with a progress report every six months. Irving has agreed that the CFMEU will not make any political donations or engage in "party politics" during the period of administration. Workplace Relations Minister Murray Watt has described the legislation as the strongest action a government has taken against a union in Australia’s history. The bill will be put before the lower house later this week.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF EMPLOYMENT AND WORKPLACE RELATIONS

Administrators for Rex to axe another 73 jobs at troubled regional airline

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Original article by Kate Ainsworth
abc.net.au – Page: Online : 20-Aug-24

Some 594 employees of Rex Airlines have been retrenched since EY was appointed as the failed carrier’s administrator in late July. EY has advised 261 of Rex’s remaining employees via email that 73 of them will be sacked because they are surplus to the requirements of an airline that is now solely focused on servicing regional areas; all of the staff to be retrenched had been a part of Rex’s ill-fated expansion into capital city markets. Rex will have about 1,200 employees following the latest job cuts, which is similar to its staff levels prior to its expansion and the COVID-19 pandemic.

CORPORATES
REX AIRLINES PTY LTD, REGIONAL EXPRESS HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX REX, ERNST AND YOUNG

Fortescue ‘portrayed former execs as dishonest’, court told

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Original article by Angelica Snowden
The Australian – Page: 13 & 16 : 20-Aug-24

Element Zero is seeking to have search orders awarded to Fortescue in May by Federal Court judge Melissa Perry thrown out; Parry granted the orders on the back of allegations that former Fortescue executives who are now directors of Element Zero had stolen Fortescue’s intellectual property. In trying to convince Federal Court judge Brigitte Markovic that the orders granted by Parry should be thrown out, the Element Zero directors told the court on Monday that Fortescue had sought to portray them as ‘shady actors’ who were seeking to steal its ‘green iron secrets’ so as to justify its request for the orders, which saw it raid their homes and offices.

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

Gold miner says $1b project unviable after Plibersek intervention

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Original article by Peter Ker
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 : 20-Aug-24

Regis Resources has indicated that it will consider all legal options after federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek effectively blocked its McPhillamy gold and silver project in NSW. Plibersek contended that her decision to place heritage protections over the headwaters of the Belubula River will only impact the proposed site of the mine’s tailings dam, and will not prevent the project from proceeding. However, Regis argues that there are no viable alternative sites for the tailings dam; the company adds that the approvals process would have to be restarted if it seeks a new site for the dam, which could delay the project by 5-10 years.

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REGIS RESOURCES LIMITED – ASX RRL, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF CLIMATE CHANGE, ENERGY, THE ENVIRONMENT AND WATER

News publishing deeply engrained in Australians’ lives with 21.7m readers and nine in ten engaged by up to four different titles every month

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 20-Aug-24

Total News Publishing readership figures from Roy Morgan show that news now reaches 21.7 million Australians aged 14+ each month, with strong readership across every profile group. The Roy Morgan data shows the depth and breadth of engagement Australians are having with news, with 67 million interactions per week. General News remains the most read category at 93% of the population, but there is high readership across other categories, including property, sport and travel. Some 64% of Australians read three or more content categories each month, while 91% read up to four titles every month. The data also shows that high net worth Australians are 28% more likely to read the news than the average Australian. It also shows that paying news readers are 24% more likely than the general population to be homeowners, more likely to experiment with new products and services, and 25% more likely to be big spenders.

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ROY MORGAN LIMITED

$1.5bn loss as Lendlease transforms

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Original article by Ben Wilmot
The Australian – Page: 13 & 17 : 20-Aug-24

Property developer Lendlease has reported its latest annual results, with the company posting a headline $1.5 billion loss, which includes $1.38 billion of impairments and charges on businesses it is selling off. LendLease had announced in May that it was abandoning its global ambitions after pressure from a number of activist shareholders that included Tanarra Capital and HMC Capital, and that it would be returning around $4.5 billion in capital to Australia, where it hopes to secure projects with high returns.

CORPORATES
LENDLEASE GROUP – ASX LLC, TANARRA GROUP PTY LTD, HMC CAPITAL