Author: roymorgansocial

ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence virtually unchanged after the Reserve Bank leaves interest rates unchanged

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 26-Jun-24

ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence was virtually unchanged at 80.4 in the week to 23 June, although it has now spent a record 73 straight weeks below the mark of 85. Consumer Confidence is now 5.5 points above the same week a year ago (74.9), but is still 1.5 points below the 2024 weekly average of 81.9. A look at Consumer Confidence by State shows that there were increases in NSW and Victoria, but modest declines in Queensland, WA and SA. Now 19% of Australians (up 1ppt) say their families are ‘better off’ financially than this time last year, while 52% (down 1ppt) say their families are ‘worse off’. Looking forward, 30% (down 3ppts) of Australians expect their family to be ‘better off’ financially this time next year, while 35% (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 35% (unchanged) expect ‘bad times’. Meanwhile, 25% (up 4ppts) of Australians say now is a ‘good time to buy’ major household items, while 48% (down 2ppts) say now is a ‘bad time to buy’.

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

Coalition outlines vapes plan

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Original article by Ronald Mizen
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 26-Jun-24

Shadow health minister Anne Ruston has outlined details of the Coalition’s policy on vaping products, following the federal government’s decision to weaken its own vaping regulations. The Coalition proposes to subject vapes to a similar regulatory regime as cigarettes, which would allow flavoured vapes to be legally sold at outlets such as supermarkets, service stations and convenience stores. In contrast, Labor intends to restrict sales of vapes to pharmacies, while people over the age of 18 will not require a doctor’s prescription to buy these products. The Coalition will also impose an excise tax on vapes and ramp up investment in a crackdown on organised crime.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

Focus campaign on cost of living, PM tells party

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Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 26-Jun-24

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told a meeting of Labor’s caucus on Tuesday that his government’s MPs must prioritise the cost-of-living crisis, arguing that it is the top issue among voters. A number of cost-of-living relief measures that were announced in the 14 May budget will take effect from 1 July, in addition to the stage-three income tax cuts and an increase in the minimum wage. Albanese has also warned the Coalition to expect a union campaign against its nuclear energy policy; he said unions know that the policy will destroy jobs, undermine the manufacturing industry and result in higher electricity prices.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

ANZ-Roy Morgan Inflation Expectations in late June have stabilised at 4.8% – down only slightly from the month of May

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 26-Jun-24

The latest weekly ANZ-Roy Morgan Inflation Expectations are 4.8% for the week of June 17-24. This figure is below the average so far this year of 5.0%, and down 0.1% points from the month of May. A look at monthly Inflation Expectations for May 2024 shows the measure at 4.9% for the month – the equal lowest monthly figure so far this year, and down 0.3% points from April 2024 (5.2%). Looking back over the last few months, since the start of the year, weekly Inflation Expectations have moved in a narrow band of 4.8%-5.3% and averaged 5.0%. The data for the Inflation Expectations series is drawn from the Roy Morgan Single Source, which has interviewed an average of around 5,100 Australians aged 14+ per month over the last decade, and includes interviews with 6,026 Australians aged 14+ in May 2024.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS

Real and growing threat to grid if Australia goes for nuclear power

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Original article by Peter Hannam
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 26-Jun-24

The Australian Energy Market Operator has concluded that the rollout of wind and solar power needs to be accelerated as part of the energy transition. The latest edition of AEMO’s Integrated System Plan warns that there is a "real and growing" risk that replacement generation will not be available when coal-fired power stations are shut down, which underlines the need for increased investment in renewables. AEMO has also cautioned that nuclear plants could not be built and powered up before coal exits the energy grid.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN ENERGY MARKET OPERATOR LIMITED

Rinehart-backed Senex gas project gets go-ahead

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Original article by Angela Macdonald-Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 17 : 26-Jun-24

Senex Energy has belatedly received federal environmental approval for its Atlas gas project in Queensland. Senex had commenced the environmental approvals process nearly two years ago, and CEO Ian Davies stated earlier in 2024 that the ‘legislative bureaucracy’-induce delays had increased the cost of the project by more than $150m. Approval for the project has coincided with warnings from the Australian Energy Market Operator that the east coast may run out of gas. Senex is owned by Posco and Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting.

CORPORATES
SENEX ENERGY LIMITED, POSCO, HANCOCK PROSPECTING PTY LTD

Freedom at last for Julian Assange

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Original article by Andrew Tillett
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 2 : 26-Jun-24

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange arrived in Bangkok on Tuesday after he was granted bail and released from Britain’s high-security Belmarsh prison, where he had been held for more than 1,900 days. Assange has agreed to a plea deal with US authorities that will end his 15-year battle to avoid extradition to the US on espionage charges. Assange is set to plead guilty to a single criminal count of conspiring to obtain and disclose classified US national defence documents when he appears before a court in the US territory of the Mariana Islands on Wednesday. He is expected to be sentenced to time already served in the British jail, allowing him to return to Australia within days.

CORPORATES
WIKILEAKS

Seven West axes three of its most senior executives in major shakeup

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Original article by Zoe Samios
The Australian Financial Review – Page: Online : 26-Jun-24

Seven West Media veteran Kurt Burnette is said to be among the company’s senior executives to have been retrenched as part of a cost-cutting program. Burnette joined Seven in 1990, and was most recently the media group’s chief revenue officer. Seven Melbourne’s MD Lewis Martin, who is also the head of sport, has also been made redundant, along with chief marketing officer Melissa Hopkins. Recent media reports had revealed that Seven plans to shed up to 150 jobs in response to a difficult advertising market and the looming end of a revenue-sharing deal with Facebook’s parent Meta.

CORPORATES
SEVEN WEST MEDIA LIMITED – ASX SWM, SEVEN NETWORK LIMITED, META PLATFORMS INCORPORATED, FACEBOOK

Sev.en abandons its bid for ownership of Coronado

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Original article by Glen Norris
The Australian – Page: 15 & 18 : 26-Jun-24

Coronado Global Resources has advised that private equity firm Energy & Minerals Group has terminated a deal to sell a 51 per cent stake in the coal miner to Prague-based Sev.en. The $1.5bn deal had been slated to be completed on 22 June, but Coronado notes that amongst other things it had not received approval from the Foreign Investments Review Board by the deadline. The price of metallurgical coal has also fallen sharply since Sev.en launched its bid for control of Coronado in September, prompting doubts that the deal would proceed.

CORPORATES
CORONADO GLOBAL RESOURCES INCORPORATED – ASX CRN, ENERGY AND MINERALS GROUP, SEV.EN GLOBAL INVESTMENTS

Mortgage stress down in May and set to fall further in the months ahead after the Stage 3 tax cuts begin

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 26-Jun-24

New research from Roy Morgan shows that 1,514,000 mortgage holders (29.7%) were ‘At Risk’ of ‘mortgage stress’ in the three months to May 2024. This represents a decrease of 46,000 (-1.1%) on a month earlier and is now the lowest level of mortgage stress reached so far this year. The RBA left interest rates on hold during their June board meeting and there is no RBA board meeting to decide upon interest rates during the month of July. The level of mortgage holders who are ‘At Risk’ of ‘mortgage stress’ in May is the lowest rate since July 2023 (29.2%), and the first time this year the rate has dropped below 30% of mortgage holders. The lower level of mortgage stress in recent months has been driven by rising household incomes, which has reduced the financial pressure on some mortgage holders. However, the number of Australians ‘At Risk’ of mortgage stress has increased by 707,000 since May 2022 when the RBA began a cycle of interest rate increases. Meanwhile, the number of mortgage holders considered ‘Extremely At Risk’ of mortgage stress is now numbered at 976,000 (19.9% of mortgage holders), which is significantly above the long-term average over the last 10 years of 14.4%. These are the latest findings from Roy Morgan’s Single Source Survey, based on in-depth interviews conducted with over 60,000 Australians each year, including over 10,000 owner-occupied mortgage-holders.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED