Author: roymorgansocial

Centrepay report that found major failings ignored by successive Coalition governments, author says

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Original article by Christopher Knaus, Lorena Allam
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 7-Aug-24

The federal government recently launched a review of the controversial Centrepay system for welfare recipients. However, the previous Labor government had also commissioned a review of the debt recovery system in 2012. That review was undertaken by Anna Buduls, who says her report has been "mostly buried" by successive governments since it was delivered just before the Coalition took office in 2013. Her recommendations included establishing a code of conduct for approved Centrepay operators and a dedicated complaints telephone line.

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AUSTRALIA. SERVICES AUSTRALIA. CENTRELINK, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

Labor taking sides in IR fight

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Original article by Joe Kelly
The Australian – Page: 4 : 7-Aug-24

The Mining & Energy Union recently filed an application with the Fair Work Commission to increase the wages of BHP’s labour hire workers at three coal mines in Queensland. The legal action may become a test case for the federal government’s ‘same job, same pay’ laws. Minerals Council of Australia CEO Tania Constable has accused Prime Minister Anthony Albanase of intervening in the FWC case. He told the NSW Labor conference in late July that the government will send taxpayer-funded lawyers to "back the workers and the unions" in the MEU’s case. The MCA contends that the government has not intervened in any other major FWC cases under its industrial relations reforms.

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MINING AND ENERGY UNION, BHP GROUP LIMITED – ASX BHP, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, MINERALS COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA

ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence down 1.8pts to 81.3 before the RBA meeting in early August

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 7-Aug-24

ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence fell 1.8pts to 81.3 in the week to 4 August; the index has now spent a record 79 straight weeks below the mark of 85. However, Consumer Confidence is now 6.3 points above the same week a year ago (75.0), although it is 0.5 points below the 2024 weekly average of 81.8. A look at Consumer Confidence by State shows there were mixed results, with small increases in New South Wales and Victoria, virtually unchanged in South Australia and significant decreases in Queensland and Western Australia. Now 21% of Australians (unchanged) say their families are ‘better off’ financially than this time last year, while 51% (up 2ppts) say their families are ‘worse off’. Looking forward, 30% (down 2ppts) of Australians expect their family to be ‘better off’ financially this time next year, while 34% (up 3ppts) expect to be ‘worse off’. Now 8% (down 1ppt) of Australians expect ‘good times’ for the Australian economy over the next 12 months, while 34% (down 1ppt) expect ‘bad times’. Meanwhile, 22% (down 1ppt) of Australians say now is a ‘good time to buy’ major household items, while 46% (down 2ppts) say now is a ‘bad time to buy’ (the lowest figure for this indicator since January 2023).

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

Labor’s attempts to tie gambling harm advocates into ridiculous secret agreements rejected

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Original article by Melissa Davey, Paul Karp
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 7-Aug-24

The Alliance for Gambling Reform is one of the organisations that have been invited to the federal government’s briefing on its proposed gambling advertising reforms. However, attendance at the briefing on Friday is conditional on signing a 12-page non-disclosure agreement. The Alliance’s chief advocate Tim Costello says his organisation will not sign the agreement, and he has questioned why it is necessary given that details of the reforms have been leaked to the media. The government has previously attracted scrutiny over its use of non-disclosure agreements in consultations over its legislative reforms.

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ALLIANCE FOR GAMBLING REFORM

New information from Roy Morgan Small Business Research indicates that higher NPS is achieved for small business owners when their bank looks after their total business and consumer banking needs

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 7-Aug-24

New financial data from Roy Morgan’s Single Source focused on small business suggests that the Net Promoter Score (NPS) is higher among small business owners who have both a business banking and consumer banking relationship with their bank than those who only have a business banking relationship. This suggests that the deeper banking relationship created by caring for both the small business owners’ business and consumer banking needs contributes to better outcomes for the customer and enhances the prospect of a positive NPS. While banking industry NPS improved in 2020 as banks provided deferrals on loan payments to households and businesses affected by COVID, NPS has declined since early 2022 coinciding with the cost-of-living crisis, and for close to two years has been in ‘negative territory’. NPS across the banking industry overall declined from 0.9 in June 2022 to -3.8 in June 2024, a 4.7-points fall. These latest banking NPS ratings come from the Roy Morgan Single Source survey, derived from in-depth interviews with over 60,000 Australians each year, of whom over 16,000 are small business owners and decision-makers.

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ROY MORGAN LIMITED

Liontown wants lithium breaks as prices teeter

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Original article by Brad Thompson
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 19 : 7-Aug-24

Association of Mining & Exploration Companies CEO Warren Pearce says it is holding talks with the Western Australian government with regard to royalty relief for lithium producers. The price of spodumene has fallen to $US870 ($1,337) per tonne, and Liontown Resources CEO Tony Ottaviano contends that the government should intervene in order to avert a similar crisis to the rout that hit the nation’s industry. He has also suggested that the federal government should expand its production tax credit scheme to include the upstream processing of spodumene.

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ASSOCIATION OF MINING AND EXPLORATION COMPANIES, LIONTOWN RESOURCES LIMITED – ASX LTR

No rate cuts before Christmas

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Original article by Michael Read
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 4 : 7-Aug-24

The Reserve Bank of Australia’s governor Michele Bullock says it gave "very serious consideration" to increasing the cash rate on Tuesday. However, the RBA’s board was of the view that the benefits of leaving official interest rates at 4.35 per cent outweighed the risk to the job market of an increase. Bullock emphasised that recent financial market volatility did not influence the monetary policy decision, contending that Monday’s sharemarket rout was an "overreaction" to one poor jobs report in the US. She also indicated that the RBA now expects interest rates to remain on hold until at least the end of 2024. Meanwhile, the RBA has advised that inflation is unlikely to return sustainably to its target range of 2-3 per cent before late 2026.

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RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA

MinRes job cuts add to thousands lost in WA’s mining sector route

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Original article by Brad Thompson
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 19 : 7-Aug-24

A spokesman for Mineral Resources has confirmed that the iron ore and lithium producer will reduce its head count, although the bulk of the job cuts will be at its Perth head office. Mineral Resources has not disclosed the extent of the job losses, although it is believed to be about 100. The move follows the company’s recent decision to mothball its high-cost iron ore mines in Western Australia’s Yilgarn region and a delay in the expansion of the Wodgina lithium mine. WA’s mining sector has already been hit by massive job losses in the nickel industry in 2024.

CORPORATES
MINERAL RESOURCES LIMITED – ASX MIN

Watchdog threatens critical Browse

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Original article by Colin Packham
The Australian – Page: 18 : 7-Aug-24

Woodside Energy’s CEO Meg O’Neill has emphasised the importance of the company’s Browse LNG project. She contends that Browse is the only gas field of sufficient size to meet the forecast demand for energy over the near-term. The Browse project’s future is under scrutiny following a preliminary ruling from Western Australia’s Environmental Protection Authority that it presents a "unacceptable risk" to marine ecology. The EPA is expected to make a final recommendation on the project in 2025, although it can be overruled by the federal government. O’Neill has also defended Woodside’s deal to acquire a low-carbon ammonia project in the US.

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WOODSIDE ENERGY GROUP LIMITED – ASX WDS, WESTERN AUSTRALIA. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AUTHORITY

Temu & Shein’s Australian customer base keeps growing -as more Australians continue to trade down in the first half of 2024 in response to the cost-of-living crisis

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 7-Aug-24

New data from Roy Morgan capturing the annual shopper base of these ultra cheap online disruptors shows that 3.8 million Australians aged 14+ have shopped at Temu at least once in the last 12 months, while 2 million have bought from Shein at least once. The research also shows that 80% of Temu shoppers and 76% of Shein shoppers are repeat customers; many are also high frequency buyers, with 48% of Temu shoppers having bought from it four or more times over the last 12 months, compared with 42% of Shein shoppers. Meanwhile, Roy Morgan estimates that Temu and Shein together had close to $3 billion in annual sales in the 12 months to June 2024 – $1.7bn for Temu and $1.1bn for Shein.

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ROY MORGAN LIMITED, TEMU, SHEIN